YYNOT (Rush tribute band)*

I recently discovered a Rush tribute band called YYNOT, whose faithful renditions of Rush classics are pretty awesome. They later started writing their own material and their debut album just came out earlier this month. On it, there are many instances of Rush's musical vocabulary, but there is also much originality as well. I'm pretty pleased with it and believe they will go on to do great things. I'm kind of disappointed in how freakin' loud it is, though--it almost blew the speakers in my car when I popped the CD in, and I struggle to find any volume setting that lends itself to comfortable listening--too low a volume produces a "full" sound yet you can't hear anything, and turning it up only distorts it all. It's too bad, and I hope that moving forward they won't make the same mistakes on their next album. I'll keep this one and enjoy it sometimes, because it's the only choice I have (it's not like I can just go on eBay and snag an "original '80s" release, since it was recorded in 2018). I am reminded of the "loudness wars", but in this case I don't think it's a war as much as it's just what people are used to these days--the band themselves are (rightfully) proud of their work, but seem to have no problem with the sound quality; likewise, their fans seem happy enough as well.

 

I'll check these guys out.

If you're into "bands heavily influenced by Rush," check out Tiles, from Detroit, especially the album Presents Of Mind.

 

I would have jumped on this, but, I won’t bother on a loudly mixed/mastered album.

 

I wonder how Tiles' audition for a new singer is going.

 

YYNOT's new video, "Wildest Dreams" premieres in three hours (from the moment I am posting this):

 

Definitely check them out. They are pretty good (especially if you're into later-day Rush) and seem to have a pretty decent following going if Facebook is any indication. They just released their second album.
But I could never get into Tiles, no matter how hard I tried. The production always seems thin and the vocalist does absolutely nothing for me.