YĪN YĪN (NL) | Control 15

Dutch psych pop outfit YĪN YĪN will perform for the first time in Bucharest – October 7 at Control Club – as part of Control 15th anniversary.

YĪN YĪN is an electronic band from Maastricht, The Netherlands, influenced by East Asian sixties and seventies music, the result being a colourful blend of psychedelic funk and disco.

The band currently consists of Kees Berkers (drums), Remy Scheren (bass), Robbert Verwijlen (keyboards) and Erik Bandt (guitar).

YĪN YĪN’s new long player, The Age Of Aquarius (Glitterbeat Records, 2022), is a simple, direct appeal to dance. It is also a record blessed with a considerable hinterland; with cosmic time, long studio hours and a determination to transcend the daily ennui of living in the Dutch city of Maastricht all playing their part.

The beautiful, old and somewhat staid city of Maastricht, where the band is based, isn’t really conducive to setting up a bustling music scene: and it’s a place where the outsiders quickly recognise each other. YĪN YĪN are all “nightlife people”, which meant their friendship initially came about through co-organising and deejaying DIY parties. Before the band formed, none had carved out a conventional career, or done the “very Dutch thing” of completing their studies.

Things started to move for real when founders Yves Lennertz and Kees Berkers decided to make a cassette tape that drew on references to Southern and South East Asian music. Once the idea was formed, they wasted no time in taking a lot of instruments to a rented rehearsal room in a small village near Maastricht and recording a number of songs in three days flat. Early 2022, YĪN YĪN had a major change in the line up when co-founder Lennertz left the band and got replaced by guitar player Erik Bandt. With new energy, the band are conquering stages across the continent.

The Age Of Aquarius has a patchwork aesthetic, pulling together loose strands of music from across the globe and placing them in service of the dancefloor – Uncut magazine