YACHT
Grunge / Psychedelic / Dance Portland, Oregon |
Billboard
Booking
Booking inquiries:
Ryan Craven of The Agency Group (US)
+1 (310) 385-2800
Andreas Oberschelp at Puschen Booking (Mainland Europe)
+49 (0)30 4434 0291
Tom Taaffe at International Talent Booking (UK & all other countries)
+44 (0)20 7637 6979
Blog - see all 51
DFA + PDX Aug 20
We welcome DFA into Oregon with our open arms.
Right before I Believe In You came out last year, I got an email from Jonathan Galkin of DFA Records asking me if I wanted to go on tour with LCD Soundsystem. The tour started two days from that phone call, because the schedu...
Bio
YACHT is a lot of things. It's kind of a band, but it's mostly a genre-and-media-spanning life project founded and led by Jona Bechtolt of the Northwest's very own Portland, Oregon. Bechtolt (and new member Claire L. Evans) make anthemic power jams, play them backwards and soak them in nearly-psychedelic cherry cola. YACHT's heart is the shows: uncluttered, inspiring sessions of damaged dance moves and synchronized crowd-waving, backed by constantly changing elements -- PowerPoint presentations, audience Q&A sessions, and shamanistic video environments.
In 2007, YACHT played more than 200 shows in 17 countries around the world, chasing album releases in North America, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and China, and touring with such luminaries as LCD Soundsystem, Architecture in Helsinki, High Places, and Vampire Weekend. With the new addition of Claire L. Evans, YACHT hopes to double their stamina and play over 500 shows this year and in more unlikely places: on airplanes, in planetariums, underwater, and on the roofs, and/or bathrooms, of very large buildings.
Bechtolt has been a promiscuous genre-smasher since his adolescence, when he decided that playing drums in the touring punk band he formed with his older brother was more worthwhile than attending a single day of high school. He's plied his unique breed of beat-heavy laptop wizardry and grunge ethos to endless collaborations, both as producer and drummer, with west coast mainstays like Devendra Banhart, The Blow, Little Wings, and Bobby Birdman. He's also been recognized by such bigwigs as David Byrne, who name-dropped Bechtolt's production on The Blow's Paper Television in his Artforum Top 10 list, Paris' Centre Georges Pompidou, where he was commissioned for a large-scale performance, and Vibe Magazine, who touted Bechtolt as 'indie rock's Timbaland' in their review of YACHT's I Believe In You. Your Magic Is Real. (2007, Marriage Records)
Evans, whose vocals have been featured on previous YACHT recordings, joined the band full-time this year. She's a science writer, media artist, immigrant, and musician who came of age in the underground noise scene of Los Angeles, playing in difficult bands like the disastrously chaotic Weirdo Begeirdo (Not Not Fun), the shambly Thunder Sundress, and Portland-based The World Court (Tomlab). She has presented her earnestly cosmic PowerPoint performances at MoMA PS1, The Kitchen, and the Portland Institute for Contemporary Art, and has collaborated with Bechtolt on literally hundreds of projects since they met in 2004.
"No one combines giddy bubblegum melodies with clinically precise programming quite like Bechtolt." -- Entertainment Weekly
"After spinning Yacht's new one, I Believe in You. Your Magic Is Real, we are prepared to echo the album title's assessment with respect to the artist himself" -- Time Out New York
"YACHT's not just music, it's a way of life." -- PAPERMAG
"YACHT Became This Week's Biggest Artist In The World" -- Idolator
"Don't miss the boat on YACHT." -- The Fader Magazine
"Bechtolt's hip-hop-influenced beats make you want to dance like you're a 10-year-old in aerobics class." -- Venus Magazine
"Jona Bechtolt is no more a normal human being than a toaster is a Fer- rari." -- austinist.com
"YACHT = megaphysical." -- Devendra Banhart
"Positive energy rainbow dome music from a next-generation west coast healer" -- Dave Longstreth, The Dirty Projectors
Discography - see all 5
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Summer Song EP
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I Believe In You. Your Magic Is Real.
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Our Friends In Hell
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MEGA
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Super Warren MMIV
Comments - see all 120
Please vote for Husk Magazine!
posted Oct 21
posted Oct 2
We are having a super awesome kick ass magical party at Doug Fir Sat Sept 20 and you are all invited. Check out the hot licks!
posted Sep 11
love the new tune and video!!!!!!!!!!!!!
posted Aug 24
the porltand show. i couldnt stop dancing and i got so sweaty. but i didnt have enough room and i swear my tongue tasted like confetti for a span of 2 minutes i got my fame you let me get on stage and dance really lame. thanks.
posted Jun 1
i believe in you too
posted May 18
like the music(Y)
posted May 14
YACHT rules! You're him!
posted May 7
posted Apr 16
thanks 'fer milwaukee, jona.
posted Apr 7
Magic =)
posted Mar 30
1-15 of 120 comments | view more
Brianp says:
I like the music --Toccara Jones Pictures
posted 2 weeks ago