YUNX are Iain Law and Darren Taberner, a Manchester duo, and they have been making electronic music together since 1996.
Their previous album, ‘Insert Coin To Play’, went out on Touched Music, as did ‘Coevolve’ and ‘Imagine The Future’, and in 2024 the label went through their back catalogue and picked a best of, ‘Never Underestimate Your Experience’.
‘Iconiconical’ has gone to Neo Ouija instead: eleven tracks, on digital and on a digipack CD limited to a hundred copies, and it is out now.
It is not their first time on the label. Lee Norris, who records as Metamatics, Norken and Nacht Plank, started Neo Ouija on New Year’s Day 2000, and it closed in 2006 after thirty releases. It is back now, reissuing that catalogue alongside new records.
YUNX were on a CD only album during the first run, and Funckarma released on it too, so Roel Funcken’s old duo and YUNX have now shared two labels, this one and Touched.
The incredibly bouncy elasticity of Be Bop to the Shop is where we begin our journey with Yunx. A psychedelic acid house affair complete with some vaguely menacing atmospheres, intensify the mild peril the further we get into the opener, as the duo pile layers of sound onto one another for eight minutes 50 seconds, and to tremendous effect. What a start!
Funk in the Freezer lives right up to its nomenclature, delivering some divinely funked-up electronica, with some treated guitar licks and skittering drum patterns keeping things very cool indeed, in a jazzy way, albeit with the little silver box still at its core.
The creepy ticking clock and marching bass synth of Two Lazy Sisters usher in some of the most melancholic synthetic wailing we’ve heard for some time, before a driving beat sets the pulse quickening, punctuated by vocal stabs and arpeggiating 303. Combined, the melancholy gives way to a bubbling euphoria, especially when that acid REALLY gets going. Whoomph.
Metallic percs align with aqueous synths for Free which very much has a very 80s feel to it. The vocals certainly afford it such, and the piano line that reaches its crescendo at the 2/3 breakdown is superb. Very Factory Records.
The title track sidles in next, with a different hue to that of its predecessor. However, that is not to decry the deeply dark-disco-fied feel the track carries. YUNX haven’t brought the mood down here; that is not what we’re saying. They’ve just changed it, and to great effect.
The choppy, synth-drenched number 10 2 One boasts more acid lines than a battery factory, with thick, gloopy oscillations dominating the bottom end as caustic zaps ricochet wildly around the upper register.
Human Beats is a hypnotic composition. Staccato samples stutter the percs in this one, joined by vaguely rapturous string synths and a baltering piano refrain. This is a super trippy number and one of our favourite tracks on the album, thanks to the unexpected introduction of the choral ooo’s that enter that tracks final third. Simply beautiful and an emotionally rousing five minutes of your life you’ll be glad you spent listening.
Is it a warning? It sounds like. The Light In the North Is Shining comes next, bringing with it garbled synth chatter and radio static. What does the light mean? What does it tell us? Who knows, but like moths we are drawn in by its dreamy keys and laid back breakbeats.
Cheese is awash with lush pads that evoke a hazy atmosphere alongside those playfully sci-fi synth rises and an insistent break. There are definite jungle vibes going on here too, with some very familiar natural sounds sneaking around in the melee. See if you can spot them and let us know in the comments…
Penultimate track Moor Sanali draws us back to the funky opening elements of the album, its acid lilt floating gloriously around the vocal refrains that permeate the mix every so often.
Out for the Night could mean one of several things. However, its shimmering, lullaby bell-synth opener is so incredibly woozy that we’re undoubtedly entering the dream world with this one folks. A gorgeous finale.
Get it on Bandcamp. Really, this is one of the best albums we have heard in a long time. It has such a familiarity to it, yet it also feels fresh. Bravo.