I Just Read About That…

[DID NOT ATTEND: May 11, 2024] Cheekface / Yungatita

I saw Cheekface a year ago and absolutely loved their set.  I was really looking forward to seeing them again, but they chose to play at The Church, which I don’t go to.  For those keeping score, The Church holds 200 more people than the Ukie Club, so good for them.  Next time they come maybe they’ll be bummed up to Union Transfer.

Yungatita is a band I hadn’t heard of (although they have a song on Spotify “7 Weeks & 3 Days” that has over 77 million plays!

The band is the brainchild of East LA’s Valentina Zapata, Yungatita — who previously released a 2020 solo EP with a groovy, low-fi, retro sound titled Over You — returns with a full band in preparation for their slacker-pop debut LP, Shoelace & a Knot.  That “7 Weeks” song is bedroomy and synthy, but their newer stuff rocks.

Album of the year says that Shoelace 

is the perfect blend between fun, sunny amateur indie rock and ambitious, angry and screamy intentions behind said cutesy indie rock, all in a very digest 35 minutes that never leaves you bored. … infectious melodies and hunger in all of the instrumentals from the surfer-rocky guitar riffs to the hella dynamic and catchy drumming to the harmonies yungatita does with herself that serve as a melodious instrument themselves. The one word I’d use to describe this project is “catchy” – every single bit of instrumentation is an instant hit.

This sounds like it would have been a really fun show (and I would have been the oldest person there by 20 years).