Pop Quiz: Yoav

Pop Quiz: Yoav

Aidin Vaziri | Think pop music has gotten a bit boring lately? That's because you haven't heard Yoav's mind-boggling premiere album, "Charmed & Strange," in which the singer-songwriter - who was raised in Israel and South Africa before making his way to New York, Montreal and London - violently coaxes weird and wonderful techno and hip-hop tunes out of his acoustic guitar. Yoav spent a good chunk of last year touring with Tori Amos. This week he returns to London to play a pair of arena shows with Underworld. And in April, he'll be back in California for an appearance at the Coachella Festival in Indio.


Yoav
Q: You're opening a pair of shows for Underworld. Are you worried that you're going to get pummeled with glow sticks?
A: I don't know. I think Underworld fans, if they can get over the fact that a dude has just walked onstage barefoot with an acoustic guitar and actually listen, they will be really into it. I'm going to open the set with a techno song I've been working on, and hopefully they will be taken aback because it will all be on guitar. There are worse things to be pummeled with than glow sticks.
Q: Will you be indulging in the festivities?
A: I've begged my management to give me a day off after the second show, but I don't think I can be off my head for my own set because there's a little too much going on. It's like a martial-arts routine up there.
Q: How do you pull it off without hurting yourself?
A: So far it's been fine. You have to stand close to see what my feet are doing. I'm controlling the volume knob with my big toe, operating a sampler with my left foot and a sampler with my right. The tricky thing is it has to become second nature so I can put the songs across because that's the most important thing. The only hurt will maybe happen from bad posture and shoulder stuff. Continue reading.