Where’s My Utopia

YARD ACT – The British Hip-And-Head Shaking Groove Team Found Their Utopia In Brussels

Posted on by JL

5 May 2024

Last week, British indie rock unit YARD ACT, who shot to the top like
a comet last year with their ace debut LP The Overload, conquered
Brussels at Les Nuits Botanique Festival.

Last March, they unleashed their 2nd longplayer, titled WHERE’S MY UTOPIA.
A bit of ‘The Overload’ #2, sonically that is. Weird, as a fresh sensation, YA already sound familiar with their wayward, hip-and-head shaking grooves and James Smith ‘s non-stop parlando and his poetic stories. Who cares that they sound familiar as long as they keep on throwing super sticky hits at our ears, on repeat, like this one.

The concert was a rhapsodic celebration of the end of a 2-month tour around the UK/Europe. Yard Act left it all on the floor as if it was their final gig ever. Performing
with extra help from two utterly cool female soul singers, a sassy saxophonist and
all amps to the max, the crowd went into a euphoric trance from start to finish. Not one
body wasn’t moving. Smiles and elation everywhere.

During the finale, Smith thanked everybody on stage and the whole YA team for
the past two months and invited the audience for support for Palestine, Ukraine
and Soedan. The Leeds team and all of us found their Utopia in Brussels.

Without a shadow of a doubt one of the best concerts of 2024. Hands down.

ALBUM


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YA: Instagram

Photos by Turn Up The Volume

YARD ACT Will Get Bigger Than They Already Are With Their 2nd Full Body-Shaking Album ‘WHERE’S MY UTOPIA?’

Posted on by JL

7 March 2024


Album artwork

British indie rockers YARD ACT shot to the top like a
comet last year with their ace debut LP The Overload.

Last summer they came back with a high-caliber, stand-alone single,
named The Trench Coat Museum. A harbinger for album number two,
titled, WHERE’S MY UTOPIA that is out now.

Press info:” The return of Yard Act. Where’s My Utopia? is the follow up to the Leeds
band’s critically-acclaimed debut record The Overload which arrived in January 2022. Written in snapshots of time between a relentless touring schedule, and produced jointly by the band and Gorillaz’ Remi Kabaka Jr, the quartet’s second act is a giant leap forward into broad and playful new sonic waters. Across the record, influences ranging from Fela Kuti to Ennio Moricone via Spiller’s ‘00s pop smash ‘Groovejet’ make themselves known.”

NME: “The Leeds quartet seek to obliterate the ‘post-punk’ tag with an eccentric second album that’s packed with surprises… Co-produced by Remi Kakaba Jr of Gorillaz, ‘Where’s My Utopia?’ is sonically playful from the get-go. Where’s My Utopia?’ marks an outlandish yet assertive second chapter for Yard Act, going toe-to-toe with the peculiar world that we find ourselves in.” Score: 4/5.

TUTV: Sonically much richer and versatile than YA’s debut, and they still make your
hips sway, your feet move from left to right and back, and your head shake in circles,
“we make hits”, and that’s what counts the most to my ears.

Yep, 10 sickly sticky tunes and one 7+ minute spoken-word story with waterfall
wordsmith vocalist James Smith, who became a father amidst touring and dealing
with sudden fame, asking himself “I attained perfection / So why the fuck was I still
wondering what wankers would think of album two?”. Give it a couple of spins and
you will discover a masterly entertaining record.

Yard Act will get even bigger than they already are.

Singles/clips: Dream Job / Petroleum / We Make Hits

– DREAM JOB –

– PETROLEUM –

– WE MAKE HITS –

ALBUM


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YA: Facebook – Instagram

Leeds’ Famous Mavericks YARD ACT About Their Dream Job – ‘WE MAKE HITS’

Posted on by JL

New striking strokes

17 January 2024

British indie rockers YARD ACT shot to the top faster than they could
realise, last year with their ace debut album LP The Overload.

And they have the intention to go on with their own fervent flow.

Second LP, baptized, WHERE’S MY UTOPIA will show up on 1 March.

Pre-order info here.


Album artwork

James Smith (frontman): “You can see the cynicism and the silliness on the surface
of “We Make Hits” without much effort, but at its core, for me, it’s really an ode to friendship and the unfiltered joy you feel when you’re making music with the people you hold dear in your life. Meanwhile back in the Yardiverse, we’re getting the origin story of the hitmen Dynamite Dave and Dudley Sunglasses. A valid parable about the trappings of late capitalism, and the compromises we have to make to survive sometimes.”

With WE MAKE HITS they share new track #3.

Can’t argue with that. They produce (from their debut LP on) tune after tune after
tune. It’s what they do, it’s their dream job and their reward is, deservedly, gigantic.

WATCH/LISTEN

STREAM


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UK/Ireland

US

YA: Instagram

New Albums In 2024 – British Sensation YARD ACT With Their 2d One In March

Posted on by JL

31 December 2023


Album artwork

British indie rockers YARD ACT shot to the top like a
comet last year with their ace debut LP The Overload.

Last summer they came back with a high-caliber, stand-alone single,
named The Trench Coat Museum. A harbinger for album number two,
titled, WHERE’S MY UTOPIA that will show up on 1 March 2024.

Pre-order info here.

Press info:” The return of Yard Act. Where’s My Utopia? is the follow up to the Leeds band’s critically-acclaimed debut record The Overload which arrived in January 2022. Written in snapshots of time between a relentless touring schedule, and produced jointly by the band and Gorillaz’ Remi Kabaka Jr, the quartet’s second act is a giant leap forward into broad and playful new sonic waters. Across the record, influences ranging from Fela Kuti to Ennio Moricone via Spiller’s ‘00s pop smash ‘Groovejet’ make themselves known.”

Singles/clips: Dream Job / Petroleum

– DREAM JOB –

– PETROLEUM –

YA: Facebook – Instagram
TUTV: Facebook – Instagram – Twitter

YARD ACT – Leeds’ Indie Celebs Share New Funky-Bass Track ‘PETROLEUM’ From Upcoming Album

Posted on by JL

Daily noise that works faster than any stimulant

1 December 2023


Press photo

British indie rockers YARD ACT shot to the top like a
comet last year with their ace debut LP The Overload.

Last summer they came back with a high-caliber, stand-alone single,
named The Trench Coat Museum. A harbinger for album number two.
WHERE’S MY UTOPIA shows up on 1 March 2024. Pre-order info here.


Album artwork

Following infectious lead-single Dream Job they just dropped a 2nd one
called PETROLEUM. A bang-on bass-funky corker that triggers limbs action.

James Smith (frontman) “I lost it with the crowd in Bognor Regis and told them I was bored and I didn’t want to be there,” frontman James Smith said in a statement about the song. Me and Ryan [Needham] had a row after, and Ryan rightly dressed me down for the way I acted. It got me pondering the idea that, now this is a job, what are the requirements of it? People think they want honesty but they don’t, they want me to portray the version of honesty that they’ve paid to see and that’s part of the illusion.”

PETROLEUM

YA: Facebook – Instagram
TUTV: Facebook – Instagram – Twitter

Waking Up With British Indie Celebrities YARD ACT And Their ‘DREAM JOB’

Posted on by JL

Daily noise that works faster than any stimulant

26 October 2023

British indie rockers YARD ACT shot to the top like a
comet last year with their ace debut LP The Overload.

Last summer they came back with a high-caliber, stand-alone single,
named The Trench Coat Museum. A harbinger for album number two.
WHERE’S MY UTOPIA shows up on 1 March 2024. Pre-order info here.

First single DREAM JOB is an awesome funky-bass-driven earworm
with frontman James Smith telling about his dream post-Brex-shit job.

Smith: “In part, I was scrutinizing and mocking myself for being a moaning ungrateful little brat, whilst also trying to address how the music industry is this rather uncontrollable beast that hurtles forward unthinkingly and every single person involved in it plays their part. Myself included, obviously. As with pretty much everything else going through my head last year, trying to find the right time to articulate the complexity of emotions I was feeling and the severity to which I was feeling them couldn’t be found — or accommodated, so instead I tried to capture it in a pop song that lasts less than three minutes once the fog had cleared a bit. It’s good and bad. I’m still glad that everything that happened to me happened.”

ACT

STREAM

YA: Facebook – Instagram
TUTV: Facebook – Instagram – Twitter