Ishi [man]: The last member of the Yahi, a Yana tribe in California.
Ishi [band]: A psychedelic time-traveling trip back to the 80s–as a disco Native American.
Ishi’s new album, Digital Wounds, is a sweet little number. These two fine men from Dallas take pride in their live performances. Their website claims they celebrate with their audience in, “an uplifting celebration of life and universal awareness.” AKA—they’re dope and seem to be really into celebrating the glory of the universe in the only way they see fitting—by dance. Ishi has an almost Ghostland Observatory vibe whilst performing (they also don some Native American garb and spew lasers).
In terms of their digital recording, they’re still pretty mystical. You can’t help but quickly bob your head to their crunchy synth and floating melodies. The best tracks off the album are without a doubt “Emotional Hard Drive” and “Touch the Future.” The others seem to get a little too repetitive for my liking—but if you’re into that, you can easily get lost bobbing to their beats. I think if Spongebob had another Jellyfish dance party (you all know the episode let’s be real) he’d play Ishi. That’s a pretty good compliment.
These guys do open up for a lot of really good acts like Toro Y Moi, SBTRKT, Phoenix, Pretty Lights, Passion Pit, Neon Indian, and Marina and the Diamonds (name droppin’ like a fool). If they can hone their sound a little more, I think they could be really big. The album is definitely worth a listen though, especially if you’re a fan of Breakbot or Miami Horror.
-Hannah Spector