Half Yogurt
November 4th, 2008
Many Seattleites are plenty familiar with the quirky, sometimes off-putting, often hilarious PWRFL Power, aka Kaz Nomura, now aka Half Yogurt. Nomura, who fled to Brooklyn earlier this year apparently in search of greater exposure, has embarked on a new solo project (though the billing deceptively read, “featuring members of PWRFL Power”) called Half Yogurt and is touring with the current electro-pop maestros of Portlandia, Starfucker. He opened for that band last Saturday (11/1) at the Vera Project, in what he said was only HY’s second stint.
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His set got off to an awkward (even for him) start when he dropped the quart of yogurt he brought on stage—instead of water, he intimated—spilling it all over his set list and the stage. It took him a few discomfited minutes to clean up and regain his composure. Once he began, though, fans of PWRFL Power would instantly recognize the deft, finger-crawling guitar work spewing forth from Half Yogurt’s fractured yet fluid solo art-rock. But where Power’s songs are heavy on the sardonic prose lyricism, Yogurt’s are primarily instrumental, and with the added distinction of long sentence-like phrases for titles. A couple verbose examples: “She Tells Me She Is Broke More Often Now ‘Cause I Have Given Her $50 Out Of the Blue In the Past,” and “Everyone Thinks Their Pets Are the Cutest, But They All Look the Same to Me”. He would read these from a drippy sheet of paper with a fraction of endearing difficulty.
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Whether you like his songs or not, it would be hard-pressing for literally anyone to deny this slight Japanese man his deserved credit. In other words, he can really fucking shred. Watching him perform is mesmorizing at times, inspirational at times, and, yes, a bit exasperating at others. Do yourself a favor and check out a clip of half of one of the cooler songs he played:
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