Available
OFFICER! Yes Yes No No Yes No Yes
Officer! was founded by Londoner Mick Hobbs. His roots were in the Rock In Opposition scene of the late 70s and early 80s. Initially he worked as guitarist in The Work, subsequently he became closely associated with This Heat and their Cold Storage Studio in Brixton, working with artists like Family Fodder, Catherine Jauniaux or Zeena Parkins. The band's first album "8 New Songs By Mick Hobbs" came out in 1982 on casette only. It was followed by the second album, "Ossification". The third album, "Cough" was recorded and released in France in 1985. It is often overlooked in the band's discography, a fate that many cassette releases share. "8 New Songs By Mick Hobbs" and "Cough" have been collected to form the CD "Earlier Music", which is also available from Klanggalerie. "Yes Yes No No Yes No Yes " was the band's fourth album and came out as a vinyl LP in 1988, released by the band themselves. It was recorded in France and England between 1986 and 1988. Performing on the album are Antoine Gindt, Bill Gilonis, Claudia Schmid, Daniel Koskowitz, Felix Fiedorowicz, Keisuke Matsui and of course Mick Hobbs. Hobbs is a songwriter with a gift for plangent melody, ingenious arrangement and lyrics at once caustic and courtly, playful and profound. Full tracklist: 1. Coma 2. r Tune 3. Simone 4. Old St. 5. Remove Your Hat (Pts 1 & 2) 6. (I've Got A) Nice Girlfriend 7. (I Only Want To Make You) Smile 8. Truck 9. Hid It ('cos I Wanted You To Find It) 10. Gawping 11. Bright Star 12. Metacarpophalangeal 13. Yessy 14. Proximal Interphalangeal 15. Distal Interphalangeal 16. Whee! Price: € 18,-/copy incl. worldwide shipping.
As an album, Yes Yes No.. wanders from quirky sing-song child-like tunes with angular edges & subtly sarcastic lyric onto unwell recorder & synth work-outs with Hobbs wordy & cutting vocals been joined waving female vocals. Through jaunting-yet-off-kilter twee-pop strum along with throbbing synth undertones & playful world music elements. Onto off-color & sinister slurred white man funk, over to awkward indie rock wonders. The bonus tracks bring in more world music elements into the brew - we have the detailed clip-clopping & darting ethnic percussion meets rich n churning guitar strums of Poximal Interphalangeal, or piping & weaving synth meets African guitar tones and buzzing down feedback of Whee!. (...) In finish, if you enjoy wonky & off-colour Avant pop music that darts all over the genre map youll be needing to put this CD in your collection!.
(Musique Machine, July 2020)
Its very 1988, in many ways - a lo-fi guitar-pop with a quirky, folky attitude and the occasional tilt towards the weird, backed up with a pleasant richness of guest string and wind instruments. (...) It has a very strong ear for a catchy hook and a catchy riff, with elements like the chorus of Coma or the infectious opening riff of Simone undeniably strong pieces of song-writing.
(Chain DLK, July 2020)
Songwriter Hobbs heeft een duidelijke gave voor duidelijke melodieën, ingenieuze arrangementen en teksten die tegelijk bijtend en hoffelijk, speels en diepzinnig zijn.
Verwacht je maar aan een flinke geluidsratatouile, lo-fi gitaarpop, avant pop, blanke funk, indie, folk, twee pop, wereldmuziek worden uitgezonden en vinden zowaar allemaal hun weg naar dit album. Waarmee we meteen het grote pijnpunt van Yes Yes... blootleggen: dit klinkt bij tijden zo vermoeiend! Het betreft hier stuk voor stuk mooie liedjes (althans als toonvastheid voor u een overroepen eigenschap binnen muziek is), maar ze zitten zodanig vol dat je er bij momenten een punthoofd van krijgt.
(Dark Entries, October 2020)
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