Portland, OR livetronica trio Yak Attack began a three-night run in Colorado (their first shows in the state) at Fort Collins venue Hodi’s Half Note last night. The group, which consists of keyboardist Dave Dernovsek, bassist Rowan Cobb, and drummer Nick Werth – brother of Snarky Puppy percussionist Nate Werth, and a member in side-project Ghost Note – brought a ton of energy to their set, starting off with the deep groove of “Marians House”.
The group is reminiscent of another livetronica power trio, the now defunct Pnuma Trio, with their breakbeat and house stylings, layered with plenty of funk and jazz overtones. Both Werth and Cobb laid down a proper rhythm section all night long, which allowed Dernovsek to showcase his uncanny ability to create live loops and samples while going off on some epic solos via his rather insane setup. New track “Club Hit” (or what Yak Attack is currently calling it prior to the release of the upcoming album) showcased a seriously nice jam in the middle section of the song.
Following “Club Hit”, Yak Attack decided to go Netflix on the crowd, as they played their own modified version of the hit show Stranger Things theme song, with all its eery and sinister sounds, which made for some super dark and dank soundscapes, as well as a deep breakbeat groove delivered by Werth on drums.
The group encored with “Ahimsa”, which was dripping with funk and something akin to a Disco Biscuits-esque jam segment, with Dernovsek channeling his inner Aron Magner. Very impressive, indeed. With their first Colorado show under their belts, Yak Attack takes on Cervantes’ Other Side in Denver tonight, then finishes up the three-night stint at Owsley’s Golden Road in Boulder tomorrow night.
Yak Attack has opened up for TAUK, Turkuaz, Juno What?, and Break Science, as well as played some late-night parties post-STS9, The String Cheese Incident, and Phish out in the PacNW. Dernovsek discussed the Phish after-party in a recent interview: “That Phish show last year was the longest show we had done at that point, but lately we’ve been doing more things like 3+ hour sets with no breaks, doing segue sets, or playing house parties until 6:30 AM. It takes stamina, but the live jam/electronic scene has a demanding and discerning fanbase, and we have always strongly felt the need to keep pushing ourselves musically to keep people happy and wanting to come see us again.”
This is definitely a group you don’t want to sleep on. Keep up with Yak Attack via the bands Facebook page.
Setlist: Yak Attack at Hodi’s Half House, Fort Collins, CO – 9/20/16
Marians House
Radiant
Swing
Club Hit
Stranger Things*
Song for Philip
Ion The Sky
Encore: Ahimsa
*theme song from the Netflix series