Headphone Highlights

Yacht

DFA, Portland, USA

Yacht are 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. Bechthold and new member Claire L. Evans make anthemic power jams, play them backwards and soak them in nearly-psychedelic cherry cola. Their heart is the shows: uncluttered, inspiring sessions of damaged dance moves and synchronized crowd-waving, backed by constantly changing elements - Power Point presentations, audience Q&A sessions, and shamanistic video environments. It wasn't until 2003, Bechtolt unveiled the project, with the largely instrumental album Super Warren MMIV, released by States Rights Records, followed by a 10" album 'Mega 10' which was re-released as a CD with accompanying DVD of Bechtolt's digital filmmaking. When not occupied with Yacht or the Blow, Bechtolt has worked as a collaborator and/or accompanist for Devendra Banhart, Bobby Birdman and the Microphones, amongst others, as well as remixing tracks for Architecture in Helsinki and White Rainbow. Yacht believe that "all people have a right to free thought, free expression, to write their opinions freely and to counter, utter, and write upon the opinions of others". So says their website - and so says their religiously inspired Headphone Highlights selection...