Vundabar is a Boston-based trio that delivers jangly, fuzzed-out
math-and surf-tinged indie rock shot through with plenty of post-punk
spirit. Formed in 2013 by vocalist/guitarist Brandon Hagen and drummer
Drew McDonald while still in high school, the duo eventually recruited
bassist Zack Abramo and began playing locally. Sporting a melody-rich
blend of knotty folk and loud-soft-loud indie rock à la Beantown
luminaries Pixies, Vundabar issued their debut album, Antics, in late
2013. They adopted a grittier tone on 2015's Gawk, which added grungy
post-punk to the mix. The cathartic and dense Smell Smoke arrived in
2018, delivering an earworm-heavy set that was both bracing and
sincere, and in 2020 the trio released the tight and succinct Either
Light, which saw them working with a producer, Patrick Hyland
(Mitski), for the first time. In 2021, online snippets of fans singing
along to the group's 2015 single "Alien Blues" flooded social media,
which garnered millions of streams for the seven-year-old cut. Devil
for the Fire, Vundabar's wide-ranging fifth studio effort, appeared
the following year. For decades the bright lights of New York have
drawn artists to its storied city streets — those seeking their
tribe, those looking to solidify their identity, and those hungry for
inspiration and fresh encounters, all there for the taking on this
new, broadened horizon. And now 26-year-old Ryan Kaiser has joined
those ranks, moving from Nashville to Brooklyn, at the tail-end of
2022. Except, unlike so many who have come before him, Kaiser’s
already made a name for himself creating daydreamy, sun-blasted,
Polaroid-pop as Yot Club. With Yot Club’s second full-length, Rufus,
Kaiser is expanding his sonic palette and challenging his own
established modes of music making by letting collaborators in. The
record includes co-writes with the likes of Tommy English (Carly Rae
Jepsen, Kacey Musgraves), and singers Charli Adams and Harrison
Lipton, with Patrick Wimberly (Lil Yachty, Joji, Blood Orange, MGMT )
on mixing duties, and the result is a collection of songs that sounds
bolder and brighter. From the shimmering surf-pop of opener
“Stuntman,” to the minor chord angst and quiet-loud-quiet pulse of
“New Day,” to The Strokesian swoon of album closer “Lazy
Eyes,” Kaiser lo-fi hooks have a new cinematic scope. But let’s
rewind to 2019 when his music first captured the ears and imagination
of listeners thanks to the song “YKWIM?” off his Bipolar ep, one
of three EPs he released that year alone. Newly graduated and still
living in his college town of Hattiesburg, Mississippi, it was a
pivotal year for Kaiser. Seemingly out of nowhere the streams on
“YKWIM?” started climbing: 500k streams a day soon ballooning to a
million. Unbeknownst to Kaiser, his song — which is now 2x RIAA
Platinum — had become a go-to sad song for nostalgia-centric
TikToks. The virality didn’t stem from a dance craze. It was about a
vibe. The knock-on effect was every major label came calling, but for
Kaiser, signing his music away for 25 years in exchange for an
non-recoupable advance was a hard no. Ultimately, Kaiser signed with
Amuse, a distro company-turned-label, where he retained ownership of
his masters and gained their full support for his vision. Kaiser
followed 2020’s Nature Machine EP with 2022’s Santolina EP, and
then, in 2023, he released his debut album off the grid and the EP
amateur observer. Not to mention a ton of loosies including
“LAUREN” with spill tab, and “Safe House” with Jordana,
releases which underscore his newfound explorations in collaboration.
Nostalgia is an oft-used descriptor too, but it’s one that
Kaiser’s unafraid to lean into — “I don’t like anything that
sounds like it was made now,” he notes — with his own song titled,
“Nostalgia,” ringing out like the perfect soundtrack to a movie
montage directed by John Hughes (with just a pinch of The Postal
Service). And then there’s “Drowning,” written with Charli
Adams, where Kincaid’s razored guitars recall Bloc Party. With
production credits including MGMT, Solange, and Lil Yachty’s latest
LP, Patrick Wimberly mixing brings a different dimension to Yot
Club’s sound. There’s an economy to Kaiser’s songwriting, a
feel-it, sing-it straightforwardness that cuts to the meat of the
matter, with his titles often providing the jumping off point, like
lead single “Pixel.” With its ticking urgency and cascading guitar
line, it was written and recorded in two days with producer Tommy
English, and features Kaiser on live, looped drums, with additional
slide guitar. “That song’s about getting caught up in your own
life and technology in relation to self-importance and how you see
yourself,” offers Kaiser. “It’s never been harder to appreciate
your own circumstances than it is today because you can play the
comparison game. It’s a complicated dynamic: the people whose lives
look the best can often suck, ’cos why else would they go to such
efforts to make it look like their lives are great!” Then there’s
“Human Nature,” written with artist Harrison Lipton, who also
plays in the band MICHELLE and happens to live down the street.
Written and recorded at Lipton’s parents’ 100+ yearold Connecticut
house, Kaiser describes it as a driving-down-the-Pacific-Coast-Highway
kind of tune. But those sunny sonics belie the melancholic
inevitability of so many splits: the lover you spent every day with
can eventually turn into someone you don’t recognize at all. “This
album is not meant to serve as an eloquent story where there’s
characters and side characters and betrayal and heartbreak,” he
says. “It’s just 13 separate episodes that restart and don’t
necessarily match each other, but I wanted to give it a character to
wrap it all together.” Rufus is not exactly Ryan Kaiser, but these
snapshots capture the essence of his experiences: a bad relationship
and fresh realizations; leaving it all behind to try and find footing
in a shiny new city that maybe isn’t exactly the imagined,
mythologized creative utopia. It continues Kaiser’s coming of age
— looking back, picking it all apart, trying to work it all out, and
constantly pushing forward.
music
171
Views
09/07/2025 Last update