01. In Search Of Yang (04:31)
02. Spirit Adapter (04:16)
03. Lecker Song (03:31)
04. Yata Yata (04:21)
05. Night In Taipei (02:11)
06. Golden Lion (04:41)
07. Elma (03:24)
08. Kasumi’s Quest (02:23)
09. Slow Burner (03:24)
10. Pattaya Wrangler (04:05)
11. Mooncake Melody (04:06)

On their fourth album Yatta!, the celebrated Dutch quartet YĪN YĪN extends, bends, and ignites a joyous mix of disco, funk, surf, psychedelia, and Southeast Asian motifs. UNCUT magazine previously dubbed their highly addictive sound “cosmic disco”—a fitting starting point—but as Yatta! proves, the band’s sonic footprint is an ever-evolving kaleidoscope of sounds, textures, and beats.

As with their breakthrough album Mount Matsu (2024), their devotion to getting the dance floor moving remains front and center. That impulse, already strong, has intensified — Yatta! lifting it to an ecstatic next level.

The result? An album that reveals a band whose groove just keeps getting deeper.

The opening track on YĪN YĪN’s new album, Yatta!, begins with a sample of the philosopher Alan Watts expounding: “There is no Yang without Yin and no Yin without Yang.”

Appropriately enough, the track – a jubilantly upbeat slice of disco action – is called “In Search of Yang,” and begs a question about the meaning of the group’s name. The group’s drummer and co-founder, Kees Berkers, explains: “Yin Yang is about balance between two different forces and Yin Yin would essentially mean two negative forces that cannot reach a common ground. So, YĪN YĪN is about finding a balance in the unbalanced.”

Certainly, over the last six years, the quartet from Maastricht in the south of the Netherlands has built a reputation for balancing an eclectic range of influences and using them to forge something that is affectionately retro and, at the same time, fresh and forward-facing.

The group’s origins lie in an experimental jam session in a remote village ballet school in 2017, leading to the release of the single, “Dion Ysiusk,” the following year. The debut album, The Rabbit That Hunts Tigers was released in 2019, followed by The Age of Aquarius in 2022. After a few personnel changes, the quartet’s line-up had, by 2023, arrived at its current form of Kees Berkers (drums), Remy Scheren (bass), Jerôme Scheren (keyboards) and Erik Bandt (guitar). 2024 saw the release of Mount Matsu, now followed by the group’s most complete statement to date, Yatta!

From the beginning, YĪN YĪN have been devoted to exploring global sounds with an emphasis on getting the dance floor moving – an impulse that reaches its peak on Yatta!

One major influence is the sound of Italo Disco – the spacey brand of disco music that arose in Italy in the late 1970s. “It has something of a mystique,’ says Berkers. “All the producers were using new recording techniques and effects, but there are not many pictures or videos of how they were creating things in the studio. You have to use your own fantasy and create your own story about how that music is created.” You can hear that sense of mystery on tracks like “In Search of Yang,” with its endless groove and trippy backwards guitar effects.

Across the album, YĪN YĪN specialise in creating the soundtracks to dream journeys, opportunities for the listener to visit places that exist in realms of the imagination.

“That’s a big reason why the music’s instrumental,” Berkers confirms. “It leaves a lot of room for the listener to fill in the gaps. You can really make your own trip of it. It’s very movie-like.” And it’s not just the movies we get to visit. “Kasumi’s Quest” is built around a mysteriously ascending and descending synth figure, coming come across like the music to a lost computer game – “an imaginary quest of an imaginary character in an imaginary world,” says Berkers. “It could be like a difficult quest in a dungeon, and Kasumi could be the character that you’re playing.”

If there’s a general direction of travel in YĪN YĪN’s expeditions, it’s towards the east, with Asian influences coming through loud and clear. “Lecker Song” feels like a 1960s Japanese soul-funk spy movie theme with a sample of a koto buried in the mix. “Yata Yata” could be the throbbing disco soundtrack to a Thai spaghetti western. “Night in Taipei” is an atmospheric ballad summoning a fragrant evening in the Taiwanese capital, and “Pattaya Wrangler” suggests a sundown stroll on the Thai city’s golden beaches.

It’s a fascination that has suffused YĪN YĪN’s sound since, in the early days, they stumbled upon a couple of compilation albums of psychedelic 60s and 70s guitar music from Southeast Asia. “Those albums had the most influence on that East Asian route we took,” Berkers recalls. “Via those compilations, we got to YouTube channels where we couldn’t read anything because everything was in Thai letters or in Chinese symbols – and that felt like we found the treasure!’”

Adopting Eastern tunings has imparted an unusual feel to YĪN YĪN’s music and challenged them as songwriters.

Berkers explains: “If you’re making music for a long time you get to some points where you think ‘I’m always doing the same thing.’ And then a simple YouTube channel or a compilation can give you that spark you need!”

There’s no shortage of sparks in Yatta!’s blend of dancefloor fillers and laidback soundscapes. Guitarist Erik Bandt explains: “We tried to make a mix of songs that are very energetic, danceable party starters, but also have songs that take you on trips and are more easy.”

Underpinning all of this is a welcoming, natural feel, with everything recorded directly to tape.

“It’s our most organic album to date,” says Bandt. “We recorded together as a team in the studio instead of recording separate tracks for drums, guitar, bass – it’s all live and that adds a certain feel.”

All of which explains the album’s title. Bandt says: “Yatta is a Japanese phrase meaning ‘We did it, we accomplished it!’ After we finished the album, we thought this simple phrase actually ties it all together.” Berkers continues: “It also speaks for a more general idea that we, as a band, succeeded to really become a band on a professional level. So, it’s also, ‘We finally are true musicians now. We have arrived.’ Basically, we made the dream come true.”

Yatta! Is the sound of four musicians finding their own globe-trotting groove, and having the time of their lives exploring it. Lucky for us, we’re invited too.

YĪN YĪN:
Kees Berkers: drums
Remy Scheren: bass
Erik Bandt: guitar
Jerry Scheren: keyboards

01. The Year of the Rabbit (03:56)
02. Takahashi Timing (05:24)
03. Pia Dance (05:08)
04. Tam Tam (02:23)
05. The Perseverance of Sano (03:02)
06. Komori Uta (02:29)
07. The Year of the Tiger (03:51)
08. Tokyo Disko (04:48)
09. Shiatsu for Dinner (05:36)
10. White Storm (05:16)
11. Ascending to Matsu’s height (02:34)

YĪN YĪN, the highly touted Dutch quartet from Maastricht, returns with a sonically expansive third album Mount Matsu. Recorded collectively in their own studio in the Belgian countryside, the album is a kaleidoscope of sounds and influences, occupying a no man’s land between Khruangbin and Kraftwerk, surf music and Southeast Asian psychedelia, Stax soul and mutant 80s disco, City pop and Japanese instrumental folk (sōkyoku).

Mount Matsu sees YĪN YĪN at their most mature and adventurous stage yet. Infectious pentatonic melodicism calling for multiple rewinds.

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After capturing widespread attention with their beloved debut album The Rabbit That Hunts Tigers (2019) and its acclaimed follow-up The Age Of Aquarius (2022), the Dutch quartet YĪN YĪN returns with their third LP Mount Matsu, and an expansive new sonic direction. While their earlier releases were a result of the chemistry between its founding members, drummer Kees Berkers and multi-instrumentalist Yves Lennertz (who recently left the band), the group’s lineup change has brought forward a more democratic creative mode. Members Remy Scheren (bass), Robbert Verwijlen (keys) and Erik Bandt (guitar) from the onset joined Berkers in the songwriting process, making the music on Mount Matsu much more than a sum of its kaleidoscopic influences.

“Art and ideas are personal and precious and the process of doing this truly together has been about more than just making an album. It was also a study of how collectives work,” notes Scheren, YĪN YĪN’s bass player since day one. “It’s sometimes hard seeing your own artistic ideas challenged as a member of a group, but we’re very proud of the result. When you truly co-create, literally every sound on a record has been tested through and through,” keyboardist Verwijlen adds. The process of creation, which took place in their studio in Belgium, felt like a long but satisfying ascent, hence the title Mount Matsu. The mountain itself is fictional but in Japanese matsu means pine tree and is (among other things) a symbol for rebirth and hope for the future.

Their mostly instrumental songs, still deeply rooted in the Southeast psychedelia Asian and funk from the 60́s and 70s, are occasionally embellished with hushed vocal harmonies, adding even more depth to their soulful expression. “We’ve decided to only sparsely use vocals, which leaves plenty of room for the listener’s imagination. You can really let your fantasy run wild as you listen and dance to it,” says drummer Berkers. And while off-kilter disco tunes with a trans-local character, neo-Thai psych funk jams and folk-styled soul ballads remain central to their sonic identity, the influx of fresh ideas results in an even more eclectic and effervescent sound image.

There are moments where the Dutch quartet flirts heavily with the dancefloor. Idiosyncratic nu-disco songs like ‘Takahashi Timing’, ‘Pia Dance’ and ‘Tokyo Disko’ conjure a welcoming hands-in-the-air vibe worthy of any digger’s vinyl crate. In the song ‘The Perseverance of Sano’, the worlds of Dick Dale and Wong shadow collide, creating a powerful neo-surf rock anthem worthy of a Tarantino soundtrack. The band’s essence remains unspoilt, though, particularly in ‘The Year of the Rabbit’, a signature moody YĪN YĪN tune that harkens back to their debut album, and the laid-back jam ‘Tam Tam’, a perfect backdrop to your morning coffee rituals. There’s also the trademark tune ‘White Storm’, boasting a spiralling 6/8 Afrobeat groove, floaty synth motifs and shimmering guitar licks.

Elsewhere, they rely on more dulcet tones. The erotic lullaby ‘Komori Uta’, with its shiver-inducing Birkin-esque female whispers, and ‘Shiatsu for Dinner’, with its tear-jerking guitar melodies and softly sung verses, tug at your heartstrings. Their knack for melodious psychedelia comes to the fore in the chaotic dreamlike bass-guitar dialogue of ‘The Year of The Tiger’, while closer ‘Ascending to Matsu’s Height’ comes across as a heartfelt tribute to the traditional sounds of the guzheng (Chinese harp).

Mount Matsu marks a step back from the occasionally more Moroder-esque, rhythm-machine and synth-heavy production style of their second album towards a more organic, 70s live band aesthetic. This is encapsulated in the analogue warmth of their valve amp guitar sounds, vintage synth lines and acoustic percussion timbres, evoking the buzz of being in the rehearsal space with the band. “It was a real adventure trying to capture the new ‘YĪN YĪN’ sound,” notes guitarist Bandt, and that sense of discovery is keenly felt in the compelling music the band created.

Occupying a no man’s land between Khruangbin and Kraftwerk, Stax soul and mutant 80s disco, City pop and Japanese instrumental folk (sōkyoku), Mount Matsu sees YĪN YĪN at their most mature and adventurous stage yet. Infectious pentatonic melodicism calling for multiple rewinds!

1. Satya Yuga (02:08)
2. Chong Wang (04:22)
3. Shēnzhou V. (06:08)
4. Faiyadansu (02:49)
5. Declined by Universe (04:26)
6. Nautilus (04:01)
7. The Age of Aquarius (03:34)
8. Kali Yuga (03:50)

“Yīn Yīn hop and bound along, being whisked up by the pure joy of their experimentation, unafraid to see how far from home it takes them…eccentric, boundary-bashing, genre-melding groove.”
– The Line of Best Fit

YĪN YĪN’s dazzling second album dives even deeper into dancefloor propulsion and space travel atmospherics than their lauded debut The Rabbit that Hunts Tigers (2019).

While there is an expanded sonic richness on the new album as samples, drum computers and otherworldly synthesizers intertwine with the band’s taut playing, more than anything The Age of Aquarius is a simple, direct appeal to dance. The record’s groove manifesto can be put down to YĪN YĪN’s experiences on the road, where the positive energies picked up from their audiences fed back into a sound that increasingly “kept people moving.” 

Funk and disco beats. Electro experimentation. Global retro vibes.

A shimmering, cinematic sweep.

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YĪN YĪN’s new long player, The Age of Aquarius, is a simple, direct appeal to dance. It is also a record blessed with a considerable hinterland; with cosmic time, long studio hours and a determination to transcend the daily ennui of living in the Dutch city of Maastricht all playing their part.

YĪN YĪN see themselves as a bunch of musical dreamers. The track ‘Declined by Universe’ references the fact that “we’re all kinds of drop outs.” The beautiful, old and somewhat staid city of Maastricht, where the band is based, isn’t really conducive to setting up a bustling music scene: and it’s a place where the outsiders quickly recognize each other. YĪN YĪN are all “nightlife people”, which meant their friendship initially came about through co-organizing and deejaying DIY parties. Before the band formed, none had carved out a conventional career, or done the “very Dutch thing” of completing their studies. Things started to move for real when Yves Lennertz and Kees Berkers decided to make a cassette tape that drew on references to Southern and South East Asian music. Once the idea was formed, Lennertz and Berkers wasted no time in taking “a lot” of instruments to a rented rehearsal room in a small village near Maastricht. There the pair set up a couple of mics and recorded a number of songs in three days flat.

Yves: “When we put it [the recorded session] out on tape, the reactions were very positive. So we decided to do a live show in Maastricht. We asked our musical friends to help us out, and from that night on we became a full band: with Remy Scheren on bass, Robbert Verwijlen on keys and Jerome Cardynaals and Gino Bombrini on percussion.”

This “united against the world” stance is also heard at the end of ‘Declined by Universe’, where the band claps their own music, making the track initially sound like a live track. It’s a funny, maybe surreptitious statement of belief in what they do. YĪN YĪN also wanted to create an illusion of strength in other ways: ‘Declined by Universe’ sounds as if there is a large group of people playing, not just the core band. This was done by passing over sampling in favour of live recording multiple layers of percussion.  Yves: “In the end we were getting kind of silly and started applauding every take. We decided to keep that reaction in. I still visualize a sort of school building in Thailand where people are playing this when I hear the recording.” Maybe YĪN YĪN also see their position of a band hiding in plain sight in their own land reflected in the legend of Chong Wang. Kees: “Chong Wang is a historical mystical figure. Very little is known about him and some people even deny his existence. But we wrote a ballad for him on the first album and now dedicated another track for him.”

Regardless of attitude, the new record is bags of fun. Mainly because YĪN YĪN make dreamers music, in the sense that everything can happen, sometimes all at once. The working title was YĪN YĪN In Space, one that referenced the band’s inner vision of an entity that travels through space, encountering different planets, aliens, parties and galaxies along the way. Despite the name change, the music is still the soundtrack for that vision. And the intergalactic party vibes are strong. Nods to brilliant, invigorating dance music abound, some of the thumping beats in numbers like ‘Chong Wang’ the title track and ‘Nautilus’ drop some thumping 1990s-style electric boogie and italo disco chops along the way. Then there is ‘Shēnzhou V.’, which plots a stately course between eastern-inflected pop music, Italo and Harmonia-style electronic meditations. The record’s party vibe can also be put down to YĪN YĪN’s experiences on the road, where the positive energies picked up from their audiences fed back into a sound that increasingly “kept people moving”.

The expansive richness in sound and feel may also be down to the fact that more samples, drum computers and synthesizers are used on The Age of Aquarius than in their previous records, a process that intertwines with real-time playing in the studio. ‘Faiyadansu’, for example, started with a sample found on an old traditional Japanese koto record. Kees: “I first programmed a beat with 808 drums. Yves recorded guitars over that. Then we found some great vocal samples from a lady on YouTube who teaches the Thai language. These phrases and words all have something to do with enjoying food. The last step was to record some extra percussion on top.”

Cosmic appropriations of time also crop up in the titles, which may give the lie to some of the band members’ preoccupations with the state of the world. The Age of Aquarius is seen as a time when humanity takes control of the Earth and its own destiny as its rightful heritage, with the destiny of humanity being the revelation of truth and the expansion of consciousness. An old trope musically the Age is most famously referenced in the hippie musical, Hair. For YĪN YĪN it seems to denote the time when this record first took shape during the previous January, when the Age was meant to finally dawn. Other direct references to cosmic times are in the track names ‘Kali Yuga’ and ‘Satya Yuga’: the Kali Yuga, in Hinduism, is the fourth and worst of the four yugas (world ages) in a Yuga Cycle, preceded by Dvapara Yuga and followed by the next cycle’s Krita (Satya) Yuga. It is believed to be the present age, which is full of conflict and sin. Who said this was just a party record?