Consuming the Tangible

Ever have one of those workdays that beat you down to the point you can’t remember your name, let alone whatever you had planned when you got home? Today was one of those days, and with only two hours to go I’m going to be very brief about my love for Yoo II avec Nolan Potter, the (possibly) sole output from a two-hour live jam session between Austin, TX psych rocker Nolan Potter and the experimental explorers from Québec: Yoo Doo Right and Population II. TL;DR? Hawkwind circa Space Ritual meets garage groove for some sweet extended jams, perfect for settling down into a better headspace.

Nolan Potter should be familiar around these parts, so his name on anything is an instant buy for me at the moment. Same with Population II, a band I’ve been collecting for a while and just haven’t gotten around to reviewing. Yoo Doo Right is the unknown factor for me, but judging by how the five tracks wend their way over the length of Yoo II avec Nolan Potter there’s nothing out of character from what I do know. Maybe a little more noise and electronic elements – sometimes scattered about as accents like on opener “Cavelier (We’re Going Down)”, sometimes more robust as on “Ralliement” (here split across the sides of the vinyl).

No wheels being reinvented; this is almost straight ’70s space rock worship, although I love some the more jazzy stuff Nolan brings to the session – his horn playing is suitably skronky without sound like an amateur trying for Coleman-like free jazz. From a physical media perspective, as great as this sounds on a pair of killer headphones, music like this is made for a big room, a big amp and big speakers. My modest setup does just fine for my needs, and sitting in the middle of a live exercise like this is exhilarating, reminding me that I need to better overcome my anxiety about going out and see some more shows like this.