“Sublime fantasy exotica by Memotone, one of the UK’s shapeshifting best” Boomkat 2023
“What’s most convincing about How Was Your Life? is neither the technological tricks nor the record-collector references, but rather its understated emotional register. The precise mood is as impossible to pin down as a spring breeze, but it is by turn gently euphoric, whimsical, and bittersweet. The album’s title suggests a deathbed glance back, and, given Yates’ ecological interests and the perilous state of the planet, perhaps that’s just what it is: a fond sunset appraisal of a beautiful place out in the country, before the skies darken one last time.” Pitchfork 2023
“Sounds like it was snatched from a dub version of some late 60’s session recorded by Rudy Van Gelder for the Impulse! label. It’s the sound of the wee small hours, reverbarating across time and place; everywhere and nowhere.” WIRE magazine 2020
“Chime Hours; oscillating from tortuous passages of hyper tech-noise to sleep-paralysis doom jazz tension via field recordings and inverted tech-step mutations with the kind of lucid vision that leads to a genuinely suspended disbelief.Â
Some mistily layered phantasia or sonic uchronia where the middle ages bleed into the future, and vice-versa.” Boomkat 2016
“From his suitably bleak vantage point, Yates deftly triangulates the English folk music of his rural upbringing that draws out sinister undercurrents. He blends in and responds to field recordings with the same restraint that makes his techno/classical meeting a rare success.” WIRE magazine 2016
“Blending a passion for experimental classical music with a clear understanding of bass music, Yate’s vision is quite strikingly unique,” Boomkat 2012
“Acoustic Abstraction one of the most inspirational sample libraries we have released to date. Developed by the insanely talented multi-instrumentalist Memotone, this beautiful collection of loops and samples has such a range of wonderful and diverse sounds, the first time we played it in the office, we were literally stunned to silence.” Samplephonics
ACOUSTIC ABSTRACTION SAMPLE PACK
“One of the most astounding pieces on the release (Life Between Screens) is Memotone’s ‘Abbots Bromley Horn Dance’, a thrillingly bizarre piece of music that blends moods, eras and styles in a single unit. Built around a chilling recorder melody that’s straight out of the May Day celebrations of The Wicker Man, Memotone undercuts this playfulness with large swathes of distorted noise before injecting dolor with mournful clarinet harmonies. It’s a truly singular piece that takes the listener into realms uncharted and unexpected, in the same way that Manni Dee hoped to draw the assembled producers away from the norm.” Truants – truantsblog.com
Memotone (Will Yates) is a learn-by-playing multi-instrumentalist and producer, working with minimal, ambient and contemporary classical music. Predominantly an improviser, recent years have seen memotone lean towards a more free-form approach, exploring jazz, drone and more meditative music, also showing a keen interest in sound design and textural experimentation. Will has released music with various labels over the years under numerous aliases, most notably; Sahko Recordings, Accidental Meetings, Patience/Impatience, Black Acre, Diskotopia, Avon Terror Corps, Bedouin Records (Bastakiya Tapes), Termina and more, also releasing various limited tapes and vinyl himself.
Will is an experienced composer, having written music for chamber ensembles, jazz trios and pop bands alike, and has worked with and written music for many artists and companies of high esteem over the years including Dmitry Evgrafov, Batu, Phealeh, Mister Water Wet, PALACE (Adidas, New Balance, Oakleys, Rimowa), BBC, LinkedIn and many more, branching into both pop mainstream (Ellie Goulding,Connie Constance) and the hidden recesses of the verdant underground (Avon Terror Corps, Industrial Coast, Pheasantry Society.)
REVIEWS FOR DEBUT ALBUM ‘I SLEEP. AT WAKING’ (2012)
“Like a great art-house movie memotone’s music can take you places you never knew existed.” – Q Magazine
” **** Arvo Part, Gorecki and DJ Shadow combine on this extraordinary neo-classical electronica album by multi-instrumentalist William Yates. Zithers, clarinets, ping-pong balls or samples from distant conversations are all employed as part of his arsenal. Often using field recordings to set a mood, Yates layers on live insturments, sometimes playing gorgeous melodies, at other points adopting a groove-laden, dissonant approach” – Mojo Magazine
For Bookings (Live Set) email: will@memotone.co.uk
If you need to get in touch with me directly you can do so via email or social media
Email Address: will@memotone.co.uk
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/will_memotone/
Twitter: www.twitter.com/memotone
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/memotone/82540332339
SoundCloud: www.soundcloud.com/memotone
Extreme Music: https://www.extrememusic.com/search?query=%22william%20yates%22