YACHT

Yacht and the Straight Gaze
Yacht during the Flat Tail Music Festival 2010 in Corvallis, Oregon.
Background information
Origin	Portland, Oregon, USA Marfa, Texas USA Los Angeles, California, USA The Western American Utopian Triangle
Genres	Electropop, alternative rock, dance punk, synthpop
Years active	2002–present
Labels	DFA Records, Marriage Records, States Rights Records
Associated acts	The Blow, Bobby Birdman, Jeffrey Jerusalem, Key Losers, Lucky Dragons, Architecture in Helsinki, Devendra Banhart, The Badger King, White Rainbow
Website	teamyacht.com

Members	Jona Bechtolt Claire L. Evans Rob "Bobby Birdman" Kieswetter Jeffrey Brodsky

Yacht (stylized as YACHT, Y△CHT or Y▲CHT) is an American band from Portland, Oregon, Marfa, Texas, and Los Angeles, California. The core group consists of Jona Bechtolt and Claire L. Evans , but expands to include musicians Rob "Bobby Birdman" Kieswetter, and Jeffrey Brodsky as touring members.

Yacht has released albums on States Rights Records, Marriage Records, and DFA Records.

Early history

Jona Bechtolt chose the name Yacht in reference to Y.A.C.H.T., an alternative school in Portland, Oregon. Bechtolt told SPIN Magazine "It stands for Young Americans Challenging High Technology. It refers to an education program that was held in Portland, Oregon. I was enrolled when I was 16, back in 1996." [1]

2002–2008

Yacht was the solo project of Jona Bechtolt from 2002–2008.[2] During this period, he released three albums, Super Warren MMIV, Mega, and I Believe in You. Your Magic Is Real, on record labels in the Pacific Northwest area.

In January 2006, Yacht was commissioned for two performances for the New York based art and technology platform Rhizome, as part of their "Crap-tops vs Laptops" show. In February 2006, Yacht performed at the Museum of Modern Art's P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center and produced an hour-long internet radio program with Clear Cut Press; a Northwest-based publisher of new literary work. In April 2006, the Aurora Picture Show commissioned a Yacht performance as part of their Media Archeology Festival in Houston, Texas.[3]

For the 2007 release of I Believe in You. Your Magic Is Real on Marriage Records, Bechtolt performed a concert on an actual yacht[4] on the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon. In October the same year Yacht played at one of China's earliest music festivals, Yue, organised by Split Works.

Live performances during this period included dancing along to music[5] as well as elaborate PowerPoint presentations.

2008–2010

In 2008, Yacht expanded to a duo with the introduction of longtime collaborator Claire L. Evans as a full member, contributing vocals to many of the songs on the 2009 album See Mystery Lights,[6] Yacht's first full-length release on DFA Records. From this point forward, Yacht re-identified itself as a two-piece.

The album cover for See Mystery Lights was designed by Texas-based artist Boyd Elder,[7] who previously designed album art for The Eagles. Pitchfork rated See Mystery Lights an 8.5, calling it "a triumph," and Rolling Stone wrote that Yacht "split the different between Talking Heads and electro pop, and make a breakthrough album of digital ear candy.” It was chosen as a "Critic's Choice" by New York Times critic Nate Chinen.[8]

During this period, Yacht began publicly discussing their personal philosophy, and published a book called The Secret Teachings of the Mystery Lights: A Handbook on Overcoming Humanity and Becoming Your Own God which explained their beliefs.[9] They also maintain a list of their beliefs on their website.[10]

In January 2010, Yacht added a live band, "The Straight Gaze," consisting of musicians Rob "Bobby Birdman" Kieswetter, and Jeffrey Brodsky to their live show. This incarnation is known as Yacht and the Straight Gaze.[11]

2010–present day

In June 2011, Yacht released Shangri-La, their second album on DFA Records. They made a double video for its first two singles, "Utopia" and '"Dystopia (The Earth Is on Fire)," directed by experimental filmmaker and documentarian Rene Daalder.[12] In 2012 they recorded "Le Goudron", a cover of the Brigitte Fontaine song (1969). In early 2013, retailer Kohls used Yacht typeface imagery and lyrics from "Shangri-La" on a series of tshirts momentarily available online, until the band notified the company about possible legal liabilities.[13]

In an August 2012 interview with New York Music News, Claire Evans explained the Yacht band, business and belief system: "Yacht is the name we give to all the projects we do together. Usually that’s recording and performing music, but as we emphasize in our axiom of "band, business, and belief system," there are both materialistic and metaphysical dimensions to our work. It's full-spectrum."[14]

Band members

Jona Bechtolt – vocals, programming, guitar, drums, bass, percussion, claps, synths, keyboards, piano, effects
Claire L. Evans – vocals

When performing live, Yacht is accompanied by the following band members:[15]

Rob "Bobby Birdman" Kieswetter – vocals, bass, keyboard
Jeffrey Brodsky – drums, percussion
Katy Davidson (no longer with Yacht);– guitar, keyboard, vocals

Studio albums

Super Warren MMIV (2004) States Rights Records
Mega (March 8, 2005) Marriage Records
I Believe in You. Your Magic Is Real (May 15, 2007) Marriage Records
See Mystery Lights (July 28, 2009) DFA
Shangri-La (June 21, 2011) DFA

Other releases

Mike's Crest (2003) States Rights Records
The Winter Is Coming Jam (2004) States Rights Records
Radio Sessions (Split CD with Lucky Dragons) (2004) Ultra Eczema
We Float Around, Hang Out On Clouds (Black Label Collaborative LP with Lucky Dragons) (2005) Marriage Records
Our Friends In Hell (August 2007) States Rights Records
Instrumentals 2007 (December 2007) Marriage Records
Summer Song (August 2008) DFA
Don't Put Out [Digital 45] (June 2009) Marriage Records
See Mystery Lights (Instrumentals) (July 2009) DFA
Anthem of the Trinity (August 2009) States Rights Records
Psychic City (August 2009) DFA
iTunes Session (February 2010) DFA
The Afterlife (May 2010) DFA
Utopia (Remixes) (July 2011) DFA
Dystopia (Remixes) (October 2011) DFA
Shangri-La (Instrumentals) (October 2011) DFA
I Walked Alone (Remixes) (November 2011) DFA
Shangri-La (Remixes) (February 2012) DFA
Le Goudron (Cover of Brigitte Fontaine) (April 2012) DFA
Second Summer (Single) (December 2012) DFA

References

^ "How They Became YACHT". SPIN Magazine.
^ "YACHT Interview: SXSW 2010". Spinner.com.
^ "Media Archeology: Software Cinema". Aurora Picture Show. April 2006.
^ "Photos: YACHT on Yacht (Portland, OR; 05/05/07)". "Pitchfork". Retrieved 2008-03-31.
^ "YACHT destroys the stage at NME SXSW show". NME News. March 14, 2008.
^ Lindsay, Cam (August 2009). "YACHT Do More Than Rock". Exclaim!. Retrieved 2010-04-03.
^ Wolk, Douglas (August 2009). "Boyd Elder's album cover for YACHT". Print. Retrieved 2010-04-03.
^ Chinen, Nate (August 2009). "New CDs". New York Times.
^ Talbot, Lindsey (July 2009). "q&a with jona bechtolt and claire evans of yacht". Teen Vogue.
^ "YACHT Today". teamyacht.com. 2012.
^ "YACHT becomes YACHT & the Straight Gaze". The Oregonian. January 2010.
^ "YACHT 'Utopia/Dystopia' Music Video". NME. June 2010.
^ "Kohl's designer might have ripped off YACHT". "LA Times". March 2013.
^ "NYMN Interview – Claire Evans of YACHT". nymn.com. August 30, 2012. Retrieved September 23, 2012.
^ "YACHT Recruit Full Band for Tour". Pitchfork. January 2010.

External links

Official website
The Yacht Trust
Yacht on IFC's Dinner With The Band
Claire L. Evans' blog on the ScienceBlogs.com Network
Yacht Facebook Page
MTV Hive Hive Five listing of Yacht's 5 oddest gigs
Interview by Chris Chafin for Prefix
Article about and photos of the band in POSH magazine
Interview with Jona and Claire in LA I'm Yours
Interview with Jona and Claire from the Dickies Party from SXSW 2012
Interview with Jona and Claire from the Willamette Week April 2, 2012 by Robert Ham
Interview with Claire by Siobhán Kane on Thumped April 25, 2012
Interview with Claire from The Conversation on October 30,2012

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