By Josh Hughes
This Wednesday, January 11, at 7:00 p.m., Seattle/Bellingham group YOGOMAN will be performing at the Underground Coffeehouse. Jordan Rain, or YOGOMAN, will be performing with his group The Burning Band, who have been together since 2005 and continue to be an ever-shifting collective that plays Jamaican and New Orleans inspired dance music.
Having grown up in Seattle, Rain started making music in the underground scene throughout the 90’s, influenced by New Orleans reggae and Jamaican vinyl. His style incorporates elements of jazz, funk, ska, hip-hop, and dance-punk, and no YOGOMAN song sounds quite like anything else. As YOGOMAN Burning Band, Rain has released four albums along with two other solo records, and as a band they are currently quite embedded in Bellingham’s local music scene.
Rain, who sings, plays drums, and conducts the band, most closely associates his music with the reggae style Deejay, which is an improv style of music that revolves around talking and singing in an improvised, call and response manner. The moniker YOGOMAN is meant to be a cartoon alien mascot that livens people up and gets humans to dance and let their inner selves out, and it’s immediately evident that Rain makes happy music for people who want to be happy and who want to dance.
Rain shouts and lets his voice gallop all around the band’s arrangements, which include saxophone, clarinet, fiddle, bass, and much more. YOGOMAN’s website self proclaims the band as “an ever-evolving collective, that comes in many flavors and configurations of players. But one thing is consistent, which is the vision of YOGOMAN to bring people together through fun and vibrant dance music to all corners of the world”. Songs like “Red Dragon Bus” are delightfully goofy and have a universal quality that people of any age can connect with, and there’s an undeniable energy to all of their performances that can’t quite be captured on studio albums.
Since YOGOMAN thrives so heavily on improvisation, all of their live performances create something completely different out of the same material, so their set at the Coffeehouse is sure to be a unique set of danceable tunes and catchy, call and response choruses.
Sam Beam of Iron & Wine has vocalized his love for the band, saying “If you’re not having a good time to YOGOMAN’s music, you have to ask yourself, do I know how to have a good time?”, and the sentiment couldn’t be more true.
While the Underground has not announced an opener yet for the show, expect another band to share the lineup with YOGOMAN, and come to the Coffeehouse right at 7:00 p.m. for an energetic hour of Jamaican influenced jams.
Photo by Ricky Rath // AS Review
