The Director’s Cut: Yaya – You Decide LP [Tamango]

How to listen: There are a couple of ways to proceed. First, you can listen to the whole album, which you will find below, and then read the notes. Or, read the notes as you listen to each track. This will completely change your perspective on the whole release itself and bring you closer to the artist and their work.

INTRO

This track was created in Berlin alongside my sister Karice who provided some sick Yoruba vocal parts which talk about the importance of the family. Whist she was thinking about the lyrics, I was looking for some sick “Voodoo” percussion, to add a mystical touch to the track.

BE YOURSELF

I made this track when I was on vacation in the beautiful Maldives, sitting under a parasol with my feet in the crystal water and an insane view in front of me. Because it was a little break during my tour, I only had a laptop and a controller, so it wasn’t produced with tons of studio toys. Listening to the track, you can immediately feel the summer vibes that have inspired me. Later on, I added Karice’s voice when I was back in Berlin.

BLACK MAMBA

This one was born after a huge 24-hour marathon at the beautiful Space in Miami. I was so inspired and as soon as I got to my hotel I started working on it, creating one of my “typical” percussive grooves. Afterward, it was finished in Bangalore, India, where I added more details and a few small additional elements.

EBI AWON

I’m very close to this track, which is the most significant of the album for me because it has involved all of my family and I have some sweet memories of the days I spent working on it. The bass line was created thinking about my father, who always reminded me that the bass line is the most important part on a track. He was such a good lover of those firm and solid bass lines like the one on “Ebi Awon” and I’m pretty sure I haven’t failed his expectations. This track also features more Yoruba vocals sung by both my sisters Mayery and Karice; it was the very first time that all the three of us have worked on a track together and it was really an unforgettable experience. The lyrics are about the values of the family.

ONE WAY

Likewise, “One Way” was born in Bangalore last year when I took one week off in a hotel to spend some time to work on the album. I really wanted to do something different, I didn’t want to be always in the same studio to create the material across the project and I hope you can hear all the influences and inspiration that I’ve picked up so far.

LOST BEACH

The name comes from the “Lost Beach Club” which, in my opinion, is the best club in Ecuador. After having played there for a couple of days, I returned straight to the hotel by walking and I already had all the rhythmic elements of the track flowing through my mind. So, I turned on my laptop and I completed the track across the next two days.

LOVE & HATE

This one was designed and created in Thailand right after two weeks of endless and super hard Muay Thai training sessions in a camp near Koh Samui. I started working on it as soon as I sat on my flight to Bangkok and I was so relaxed and in such great shape that it all happened naturally.

OUTRO

As it happened for the Intro, the Outro to the album was also made in Berlin and it again features my sister Karice’s vocals plus some deep chords made with the Prophet.

See other Director’s Cut pieces here.