Yukon - Mortar

I owe this find to Hank over at Dark Forces Swing Blind Punches, who wrote about the Baltimore based Yukon back in December. With always having a backlog of music that I either need or want to listen to, it at times means I am late to the game, so to speak. Regardless, it took me awhile to fully listen to Yukon’s debut album Mortar, which came out on Terra Firma Records last year. When finally hearing the record, it really didn’t take long for it to find homes in my stereo here at the house as well my car.

For a lot of us out there, we yearn for the sound that made math-rock in the 90’s such a valued art-form. While it hasn’t ever really gone away, it’s definitely become a bit harder now to find groups that can truly display the same sort of power and innovative approach that was found then. Naturally, this is where I mention Yukon and praise them for being in the minority and putting out a fantastic record that absolutely should be heard by anyone that enjoys this type of music. That’s because they most definitely deserve it. Mortar is one of the finest slabs of post-hardcore/mathy goodness that I’ve heard for quite awhile really. It’s seriously a shame I didn’t find this record earlier in ’06, because I would have probably been giving it serious thought for a top twenty slot. With Mortar, it’s not only about the precision at which they pull off their craft, it’s also impressive in that they are able to cram so much into just thirty five minutes worth of music. While all the past math-rock favorites come to mind (Don Caballero, etc), Yukon throw in a twist of melody as well as dirtying up their sound a bit with a slight nod to The Jesus Lizard. There are a number of great things I could say about this album, but really what it all comes down to is that Mortar is everything that is great about math-rock.

Yukon – Legsick [MP3]
Yukon – Ribosome [MP3]

I’d definitely recommend heading over to Terra Firma and picking this up. It’s completely worth it.