Who doesn't remember their first hangover; the throbbing of your temples, the cracked tongue sticking to the roof of your parched mouth, the buzzards circling overhead? You pray for anything, anywhere, to help ease the pain, as long as it's dark, and quiet. Really, really quiet. Solo musician Yoav remembers waking up painfully on hungover mornings to the sounds of vocal exercises, because when you grow up with an opera singer mother and sister, there's no such thing as silence.
Yoav's childhood was far from conventional. For one thing, the Israel-born, South Africa-raised musician was not allowed to listen to pop music, only classical and opera. This censorship led to an illicit love affair with rock-and-roll. He snuck out at night to practice chords on a battered guitar and ducked into alternative clubs (hence the hangovers) to hear the latest from Joy Division or The Cure. These moonlit escapades took him far from the ears of his parents and the grim restrictions of an Apartheid-era Cape Town at a time when listening to modern music had all but stopped and the biggest band to come through was Crowded House.
Fast forward a decade: Apartheid has ended, Crowded House has broken up, and Yoav is laying in the grass in New York's Central Park, tripping on mushrooms and playing acoustic guitar, when his style takes shape.
Rooted heavily in hip-hop and electronica, Yoav likens his unique, percussive playing style to DJing on guitar. Ever since that moment in Central Park, Yoav has crafted left of center pop songs to beats instead of melodies, and finally broke free from the singer-songwriter mold on official site and MySpace. You can also show Yoav some love by voting for him as Yahoo's "Who's Next" artist.
Yoav's childhood was far from conventional. For one thing, the Israel-born, South Africa-raised musician was not allowed to listen to pop music, only classical and opera. This censorship led to an illicit love affair with rock-and-roll. He snuck out at night to practice chords on a battered guitar and ducked into alternative clubs (hence the hangovers) to hear the latest from Joy Division or The Cure. These moonlit escapades took him far from the ears of his parents and the grim restrictions of an Apartheid-era Cape Town at a time when listening to modern music had all but stopped and the biggest band to come through was Crowded House.
Fast forward a decade: Apartheid has ended, Crowded House has broken up, and Yoav is laying in the grass in New York's Central Park, tripping on mushrooms and playing acoustic guitar, when his style takes shape.
Rooted heavily in hip-hop and electronica, Yoav likens his unique, percussive playing style to DJing on guitar. Ever since that moment in Central Park, Yoav has crafted left of center pop songs to beats instead of melodies, and finally broke free from the singer-songwriter mold on official site and MySpace. You can also show Yoav some love by voting for him as Yahoo's "Who's Next" artist.
VIEW 4 of 4 COMMENTS
erin_broadley:
that song is one of my favorites too. have yet to see him perform live. the tori tour must have been amazing!
boleyn:
I saw him open for Tori as well and he was incredible! Great pick for an interview 