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Album Review: YOB, Pickathon 2019 – Live From the Galaxy Barn

YOB Pickathon 2019 Live from the Galaxy Barn

One suspects a certain amount of restlessness is in part behind YOB‘s issuing Pickathon 2019 – Live From the Galaxy Barn. The four-song set, which arrives as a benefit sending all proceeds to the Navajo Nation COVID-19 Relief Fund, is a digital-only offering at least for now, and perhaps stems from a drive to do something, anything, to help both those who need cash, and those who might find solace within YOB‘s music. The recording took place, as the title hints, at the Pickathon festival last year, held at Pendarvis Farm in Happy Valley, Oregon, which they played twice, including this set on Aug. 2. That’s about an hour and 45 minutes north of the band’s native Eugene, so close enough to be familiar without being hometown exactly. For what it’s worth, the three-piece sound entirely comfortable in their surroundings, and the final mix, which was handled by drummer Travis Foster working from Ben Stoller and Josh Powell‘s audio, is full and vibrant especially when treated with the volume that — speaking as a fan of the band — it deserves.

YOB had numerous shows canceled owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, including three this week as they continue to support 2018’s Our Raw Heart (review here) on Relapse Records, though Pickathon 2019 doesn’t actually feature any material from that record (they’d play “Our Raw Heart” in their other set), and as such, smacks less of a band trying to keep momentum going and more of a band looking to donate to charity. Fair enough. YOB have also donated select merch sales to the NAACP Legal Fund and Black Lives Matter, so Pickathon 2019 working toward Navajo Nation COVID-19 relief is likewise speaking to the central issues of inequality that have emerged in 2020, as the Native American community has grappled especially hard with the coronavirus. The set is comprised of “Ball of Molten Lead” (12:28), “The Lie that is Sin” (13:09), “Marrow” (19:22) and “Burning the Altar” (14:56), and runs just under an hour long total. While it’s YOB‘s third official live record behind Live at Roadburn 2010 and the full-album performance The Unreal Never Lived: Live at Roadburn 2012 — they also had a live EP out in 2012 through Scion A/V — Pickathon 2019 is every bit a performance worth capturing for the vibe that comes through the four tracks and the sense of comfort the band have with their surroundings.

Strictly speaking, YOB have little to prove at this point, except perhaps to themselves. Two decades on from their first demo, their reputation precedes them as forebears of cosmic doom and one of the most important American heavy bands of their generation. They have toured across continents since their 2009 return from a 2006 disbanding and have had an influence on artists across styles operating in their wake, all the while maintaining a persona of sincerity that has extended to frontman Mike Scheidt spending time during the COVID-19 lockdown performing acoustically in his kitchen. As somebody who’s been fortunate enough to see YOB on multiple occasions, the simple opportunity to dig into a new live recording is appreciated — I felt like they were doing me a favor as I paid my $7.00 for the download on Bandcamp — and from the electricity of their playing, which one can hear not only in the swells of volume and tone and crash, but also in the crowd’s hooting during quiet parts, desperate to express some of the tension surrounding them in the room. The lyrics of “Marrow” that speak of restless souls needing to feel one true moment would seem to be manifest here.

yob (Photo by Bobby Cochran)

Having a live version of that song, which is shorter in its 19 minutes than it was on  2014’s Clearing the Path to Ascend (review here), is a boon. It is the most emotionally resonant piece YOB — ScheidtFoster and bassist Aaron Rieseberg (also of Norska) — have ever written, and I wouldn’t think it anything but welcome in any setlist. The chance, however, to hear “Ball of Molten Lead” from 2004’s The Illusion of Motion by 2019’s YOB is evidence of the continually progressive path they’ve taken as a group. Scheidt‘s vocals are stronger and more confident, and his lead guitar takes swirling flight when it goes. Rieseberg and Foster add strength to the final charge late in the track, and the crowd immediately erupts when it’s done, following soon enough with the aforementioned hooting during the sparse stretch early in “The Lie that is Sin,” which originally appeared on 2009’s The Great Cessation (review here). It’s a credit to Foster‘s mix and the recording itself that the midsection of that track doesn’t sound like an absolute mess, as the full-volume push is huge but still discernible, and feels true to the original that came out 10 years before while again benefiting from the band YOB have become since, Scheidt‘s growls echoing out over broad expanse as the song moves into its 11th minute, the spine-twisting riff cutting itself short with precision heavy enough to crush a roach.

Twice in between songs Scheidt asks for changes to the mix in the stage monitors, but if there was an issue, it doesn’t seem to have had an impact on the recording or the show itself. “Marrow” is, as one would expect, gorgeous. I don’t imagine Pickathon 2019 will be many listeners’ first experience with YOB — it’s basically a fan-piece, and there’s nothing wrong with that — and as “Marrow” builds to its multi-tiered apex with a distinctively lush melody and still-patient roll, the band’s strengths are laid bare for the listener to consume, right unto the quiet stretch of guitar that finishes the track, in conversation with a host of prior YOB epics, none of them quite so inward-looking. “Burning the Altar” would feel like an epilogue in following to close out were it not so pummeling and consuming. In thanking the crowd before the song starts, Scheidt says something about “traversing highs and lows,” and “Burning the Altar” is one final brutal immersion. For all that, it’s also fun, with an immediate hook of a headbang-ready riff, its triplet-gallop and its final unfurling. A fitting closer, in other words, and one last opportunity for YOB to level the assembled before they’re done, which I’ll just assume is exactly how it played out.

I’ll be honest with you. I consider reviewing Pickathon 2019 an act of self-care. A favor I’m doing myself just by making the excuse to listen, let alone make the donation to Navajo COVID relief. Established fans of YOB won’t need prodding; the email notification of the release from Bandcamp came through like a call to prayer. YOB are a one-of-a-kind band, and if Pickathon 2019 is another chance to hear them in the absence of actual live shows, I’ll take it.

YOB, Pickathon 2019 – Live From the Galaxy Barn (2020)

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