YACHT

The era of the one-genre musician is disappearing. What was once a simple case of "us vs. them” has been mashed-up into a definition-defying eight-minute dance track that everybody’s into. Of course, there have always been musicians who cross genre boundaries and there have always been bands that are what they are — Kiss, for example, are unlikely to cut a track with Paris Hilton, but don’t hold your breath. It’s the dichotomy between different styles and the play between popular and independent culture that make I Believe in You one of the most interesting albums so far this year. Yacht is the full-time project of the Blow’s Jona Bechtolt and it’s here he plays more with production, dance and crossing the popular with the synth. The jolting rhythm and vocals of opening track "So Post ‘Em All” bring to mind the childlike tribal simplicity of Animal Collective but Bechtolt quickly changes pace with "See a Penny (Pick it Up),” which opens with an infectious bass line that could cosy up to anything Timbaland has recently touched. "We’re always Waiting” couples a familiar beat with a lo-fi synth to create the anti-office version of "My Humps.” The best ode to the anti-genre, however, is the closing track, in which Bechtolt turns Jim O’Rourke’s Bachrachian "Women of the World” into thrash metal. Magic.