Yay for Yosha

He’s like God with a drum kit!” These words were spoken last Saturday night, just outside saGuijo Bar and Café in Makati, and they were spoken because Yosha was about to play.

Yosha is a band — although they seem to prefer the term “collective” — made up of bassist Karel Honasan, keyboardist Nikko Rivera, drummer Michael Alba and vocalist Yosha. As you may have already guessed, the quote at the beginning was referring to Alba; those words all the more convincing because they came from someone who was a talented drummer himself.

That was just the beginning of the Yosha gushfest, however, as several other people (myself included) chimed in. “Their keyboardist is some kind of prodigy.” “The singer is amazing, I mean she looks like this shy little thing but when she gets going — oh, wow.” “Their bassist, he’s like God with a bass.” (Yes, that was the first guy again. He is apparently fond of comparisons to our Lord and savior.)

I first saw Yosha play a couple of years ago. To be honest, I didn’t get into them right away, their jazz-soul fare being a bit beyond what I was used to. But the second time I watched them, they blew me away — a lot of it had to do with the right place, and the right audience, aside from, of course, the band’s consistent excellence. (“When a band gets me on my feet, screaming like a cheerleader, for a type of music I don’t even usually like, then I know they’ve got something special going on,” I wrote in 2008. “Drawing from soul and jazz, Yosha brings the groove, the virtuosity, and the sheer joy of music-making, straight to their lucky audiences.”)

Last Saturday, I was blown away again. It was part one of Revolver Productions’ 6th Anniversary series of gigs, and the formidable lineup included the head-bobbing, heart-warming fun of Ang Bandang Shirley, the irreverent rock of The Bernadettes, the aural attack of Lip Service, the intelligent heartfelt tune-tales of Outerhope, the sibling stylings of Walkie Talkies, the ‘80s-influenced dance-rock rush of Taken By Cars, the sexy and slightly unhinged pop-rock of Turbo Goth, and of course Yosha.

They started with an inspired cover of Come Together, which would have made a good finale for a lesser band, but they were just warming up, as it turns out. They launched into Resolution off their debut album, then served up a couple of new unreleased songs, starting with Visiting Hours, which features an odd little carnival-music interlude in the middle (you almost get the impression that the band is so adept at what it does that it throws in things just to keep from getting bored). Tukso, which, as you may have guessed, is about playing hard to get, featured many breathless OMG moments, as Karel and company went into stratospheres of sonic ecstasy on their solos. They did things with their respective instruments that did not seem humanly possible. They finished up with Sabi-Sabi, which they dedicated to their fellow musicians on the scene.

If there is a downside at all to Yosha, it may be that afterwards, I recall how impressive the performances were rather than the actual songs. That may or may not be due to my lack of affinity for their style of music. But I urge any and all of you with working ears to go watch them sometime, and judge for yourself.

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Visit Yosha online at MySpace (www.myspace.com/yoshagroove) and Multiply (yoshagroove.multiply.com). Look for them on Facebook too. Their debut album, Baby Steps is available at Fully Booked, Magnet Katipunan and Audiophile.