Yass and Other Related Music

**Janszoon** · 03-12-2016, 09:47 AM

What is yass? Yass is a type of Polish music that I think of as being fundamentally a jazz subgenre—and it carries a lot of DNA from both free jazz and third stream—but it also pulls from a pretty wide pool of influences outside of jazz. Krautrock is a big and noticeable one, but there are a lot of elements of film scores, electronica, pop, post punk, lounge, tropicalia and exotica in there as well. Usually, but not always, it’s instrumental. It typically has a quirky, fun sort of vibe and tends toward odd or improvised compositions. The end result sometimes sounds very free jazzy—or not. Sometimes it sounds almost new wave-ish, but more experimental, or like a cousin of post rock, but with less guitars and less moodiness. At any rate, I like it and no one here seems to talk about it so I figure it deserves its own thread.

I should also mention, as a person who isn’t Polish, has never been to Poland, and can’t read Polish, my knowledge of yass unfortunately is basically that of an illiterate ignoramus trying to puzzle together the tiny scraps of English-language information available on the internet. So I apologize in advance if I have my facts wrong about anything. If anyone has any further information about any of the bands I’m talking about here or yass in general, I’m all ears.

03-12-2016, 09:47 AM	#1 (permalink)
Janszoon Mate, Spawn & Die Join Date: May 2007 Location: The Rapping Community Posts: 24,593	Yass and Other Related Music What is yass? Yass is a type of Polish music that I think of as being fundamentally a jazz subgenre—and it carries a lot of DNA from both free jazz and third stream—but it also pulls from a pretty wide pool of influences outside of jazz. Krautrock is a big and noticeable one, but there are a lot of elements of film scores, electronica, pop, post punk, lounge, tropicalia and exotica in there as well. Usually, but not always, it’s instrumental. It typically has a quirky, fun sort of vibe and tends toward odd or improvised compositions. The end result sometimes sounds very free jazzy—or not. Sometimes it sounds almost new wave-ish, but more experimental, or like a cousin of post rock, but with less guitars and less moodiness. At any rate, I like it and no one here seems to talk about it so I figure it deserves its own thread. I should also mention, as a person who isn’t Polish, has never been to Poland, and can’t read Polish, my knowledge of yass unfortunately is basically that of an illiterate ignoramus trying to puzzle together the tiny scraps of English-language information available on the internet. So I apologize in advance if I have my facts wrong about anything. If anyone has any further information about any of the bands I’m talking about here or yass in general, I’m all ears. __________________ A Night in the Life of the Invisible Man Time & Place 25 Albums You Should Hear Before the Moon Crashes into the Earth and We All Die last.fm Last edited by Janszoon; 03-12-2016 at 11:14 AM.