Michael Yonkers

The Profile

American experimental guitarist and songwriter known for 1960s basement recordings and heavily modified guitar/effects work; best known for the 1968 recording Microminiature Love.

Microminiature Love was recorded in 1968 in roughly one hour by a three-member band. Yonkers modified his Telecaster and built electronic junk to create cavernous, reverberated sounds. Sire Records reportedly wanted to re-record the album with session players; Yonkers declined. The record was rediscovered and re-emerged in the 1990s.

A close, personal review of Michael Yonkers' Microminiature Love emphasizing his basement experiments and obsessive repetition. Notes the 1968 one-hour recording and Yonkers' insistence on the original cavernous sound. Links the record's aesthetics to later experimental acts and to a 1990s rediscovery.