Everything about YOAVs upward trajectory so far has been a mixture of the charmed and the strange. Born in Romania to an architect that studied under Le Corbusier, raised in South Africa with his opera singer mother in a household where pop music was banned, YOAV spent 5 years in New York before his UK pop career started.
At the age of 19, his demo landed in the hands of a US record exec and the geeky teenager from Cape Town was flown out to the Big Apple on a development deal. Ditching the glasses he worked as a model to get a work permit while he evolved his unique musical style. When that style became too idiosyncratic for their tastes, he moved to London and was instantly snapped up by Rollo Armstrongs new label Field Recordings.
YOAVs fascination with New Yorks hip hop and house music blended with his poetic songs. He recreated synth sounds and drum beats by tapping and teasing his guitar and feeding the noises through a loop station. The resultant sound, a one-man Timbaland band as its been described, is shown in all its hooky glory with Club Thing.
Already proving a massive hit with DJs, Club Thing shot to No.1 in the Cool Cuts Chart the week it was serviced. This was on the back of 40,000 people downloading his first single Beautiful Lie at Christmas 07 when iTunes fell in love with it and made it their Single Of The Week. Not to mention the 45 date tour of the US during November and December 07, when Tori Amos personally invited YOAV to support her and he made it on to the US Billboard Heatseeker Chart just by selling EPs from his merch stand.
With a remix package that goes from main room Pete Tongs peak time man of the moment Funkerman to Brooklyn fashion/music impresario Aaron La Crates Bmore Gutter mix, looks like Club Thing could be a track for the brightest daytime slots as well as the naughtiest night time ones. Other remixes supplied by bloggers favourite RAC and Redroche.
Tour dates:
Thu 10 April - Beat Club, GLASGOW
Fri 11 April - The Ark, EDINBURGH
Sat 12 April - Ironworks, INVERNESS
Tue 15 April - The Plug, SHEFFIELD
Wed 16 April - The Cellars, EASTNEY
Thu 17 April - Barfly, BRIGHTON
Fri 18 April – Camden Crawl, Camden, LONDON (Venue TBA)
Sun 20 April - Academy, BIRMINGHAM
Mon 21 April - The Cooler, BRISTOL
Wed 23 April - Dingwalls, LONDON
In the meantime there’s a hot free download to be had: http://www.u-download.co.uk/onebyone.
