Yip-Yip – Pro-Twelve Thinker / 2005 Strictly Amateur Films / 12 Tracks / http://www.yip-yip.com / http://www.strictlyamateurfilms.com / Reviewed 30 July 2005

There is really no term for the type of music that Yip-Yup puts on “Pro-Twelve Thinker”. It is simply an amorphous mass of noise, using random trails of old movies, synthesizers and other noises to create some form of music. When cohesive forces provide enough of a pull toi include these different bits of aural disturbance, such as in the track “Mansion Days”, a bizarre, computer-like dance track emerges. For any one of the “Mansion Days” that are on “Pro-Twelve Thinker”, there are two or three tracks that do nothing but show Yip-Yip spinning their wheels (100 MPH Checker Champ, Pro-Twelve Thinker). Some tracks really fall in-between the lack of momentum and the hip catchiness simultaneously striven for by the disc; this is shown no better than by “Big Bass With Platinum Limbs”, a transitory type of track that shuffles along without fault for a large section of the song but lets its bottom drop out with Yip-Yip’s own version of a breakdown.

The inclusion of a horn-like sound during “High Heel To Mammal” really gives an individual a different look at the band, as well as keeping the disc from veering into a stale sound. One thing that can be said about Yip-Yip is that there is no lack of experimentation during the 24 minutes of “Pro-Twelve Thinker”; while the tracks often times flow nicely into each other, there are different moods elicited at different times during this disc. The happy sound of “High Heel To Mammal” is discarded by the futuristic and dark sound of the inorganic “Radical Posture”. Smartly cutting off the tracks before they become labyrinthine monuments to the band’s ego, Yip-Yip’s compositions on “Pro-Twelve Thinker” are short, memorable yet fleeting.

Aside from the randomly-placed movie quotations, the music on Yip-Yip is strictly instrumental; this is not a negative thing, as Yip-Yip provides enough aural googahs to make the entirety of the disc interesting. The disc ends without much in the way of a dramatic conclusion, and really feels as if the band is leaving the listening base with a cliffhanger instead of a conclusive end. Overall, Yip-Yip come out with always-entertaining music that really broach the limits of music. The tracks are by and large decent for instrumental, giving the listeners at least as much expression as a vocal track, but “Pro-Twelve Thinker”: still feels like there is something major missing. Give it a spin and try to make head or tails out of it.

Top Tracks: Familyman Conundrum, I Don’t Music For Chair Goals

Rating: 5.7/10