Information

Updated 2022.07.12

YACHT lives in Los Angeles, California.

YACHT was founded in 2002.

YACHT’s members are Jona Bechtolt, Claire L. Evans, and Rob Kieswetter.

Claire is a writer and journalist. Her critically-acclaimed first book, Broad Band: The Untold Story of the Women Who Made the Internet, was published by Penguin and has been translated into six languages. She is a contributor to VICE, Rhizome, The Guardian, WIRED, the Los Angeles Review of Books, Rest of World, Eye on Design, Quartz, OneZero, and Aeon, among others.

Claire and Jona were the co-founders of an app called 5 Every Day, which published five things to do in Los Angeles every day for seven years and produced events at The Getty, LACMA, the La Brea Tar Pits, alongside rogue activations all over Los Angeles.

YACHT has had music placed in films, television, and commercials internationally and is represented by Low Profile for sync.

Jona and Rob also compose for film, TV, commercials, and podcasts. Clients include Apple, Instagram, Facebook, and MTV, among others.

YACHT has been fortunate enough to tour with:

M83 — US 2016
The Postal Service — US 2013
Hot Chip — US 2012
The Presets — US 2012
Light Asylum — US 2011
LCD Soundsystem — EU 2010, US 2007
Yeah Yeah Yeahs — US 2009
Chairlift — US 2009
Patrick Wolf — UK 2009
Vampire Weekend — US 2007, 2008
Dirty Projectors — US 2007, EU 2008
Architecture in Helsinki — AU, US, EU 2007
Tussle — US 2007
High Places — US, MX 2006, 2007
The Blow — US 2005, EU 2006
Anna Oxygen — US 2005, EU 2006
Lucky Dragons — US 2003, EU 2004
Bobby Birdman — 2002 – ∞
Little Wings — US 2002

YACHT has played in exceptional holes in the wall, stadiums, and special spaces around the world such as:

The Hollywood Bowl (Los Angeles, CA)
The Greek Theater (Los Angeles, CA)
The Smell (Los Angeles, CA)
Grand Prospect Hall (Brooklyn, NY)
The Kitchen (New York, NY)
MoMA PS1 (Queens, NY)
Brixton Academy (London, UK)
ICA (London, UK)
matter (London, UK)
Centre Georges Pompidou (Paris, FR)
Gaîté Lyrique (Paris, FR)
Palazzo dei Congressi (Rome, IT)
Paradiso (Amsterdam, NL)
NASA (Reykjavik, IS)
Supernatural Amphitheater (Meredith, AU)
O-nest (Tokyo, JP)
The Crowley Theater (Marfa, TX)
La Posada Milagro (Terlingua, TX)
The Astoria Yacht Club (Astoria, OR)

YACHT played one-off shows with:

Patti Smith @ The Surf Lodge (Montauk, NY 2013)

Eric Andre @ San Diego Comic-Con (2013)

Robyn @ The Paramount Theatre (Seattle, WA 2011)

Black Devil Disco Club @ South Street Seaport (New York, NY 2010)

The Sonics @ Casa Da Música (Porto, PT 2010)

The Chemical Brothers @ The Hollywood Bowl (2010)

The Breeders @ The Greek Theater (2009)

YACHT stands for Young Americans Challenging High Technology, but we’re neither young nor are we all American. We’re three people—Jona Becholt, Claire L. Evans, and Robert Kieswetter—working in Los Angeles, California. We ask questions and answer them with records, texts, videos, objects, installations, scores and performances. We make as much as possible with as little as possible. We learn by doing.

YACHT was founded in 2002 and has released seven full-length albums and handfuls of singles, EPs, and other special ephemera.

The bulk of YACHT’s releases have been for New York City’s DFA Records. YACHT’s seventh album, Chain Tripping, which was composed in collaboration with machine learning researchers and tools, was nominated for a GRAMMY Award for Best Immersive Audio Album in 2020.

YACHT have created and sold unplayable compact discs, published a philosophical handbook, built a 62-foot video installation for Dolby, designed an eyewear collection, created a fragrance, campaigned against NSA surveillance, programmed large- scale public art activations, and given presentations and spoken about their work in art museums, universities, festivals, tech conferences, and rock clubs worldwide.