any medical intervention" and felt the album was suitable for "when I need to clear the cobwebs from my mind." Jedd Beaudoin of PopMatters wrote that the album "sounds like a dentist's drill on an expressway to your skull whilst some sinister someone submerges your hand in ice cold water and a dancing clown appears to do birthday magic tricks for you." He felt Sky Yen was a "real gem for the noise enthusiast," but noted what he felt was the absence of "any true compositions across its two 20-minute tracks." David Sprague of Spin commented that the "self-indulgent" album "sounded more like a mosquito dive-bombing a cheap tube amp than anything else." Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic called the album "a curiosity for devoted fans, especially since the primitive, droning electronics recall Krautrock, not punk rock." KEXP-FM describe the album as "oscillating madness." Trouser Press highlighted the simplistic production set-up and call the album "a collectors' item of minor interest." Sam Adams of The A.V. Club contextualised the album's "side-long electronic drones" as exemplifying Shelley's experimental music background, which was later evident in Buzzcocks songs like "I Believe" and "(Moving Away from the) Pulsebeat." Critic Dave Thompson described Shelley's oscillator experiments on the album as "sufficient", and counted the record alongside works by The Future, Cabaret Voltaire and Thomas Leer in that all "were all stepping out in one form or another and looking, too, towards an icy electronic future." Sky Yen was re-released by Drag City on 6 December 2011 as part of the label's reissues of the full Groovy Records catalogue. The album also featured alongside other Groovy albums in Drag City's 2012 box set The Total Groovy. Track listing Side one "Sky Yen Part 1" – 19:02 Side two "Sky Yen Part 2" – 19:31 Personnel Adapted from the liner notes of Sky Yen Pete Shelley – album cover Malcolm Garrett – album cover Maxwell Anandappa – plating References 1980 debut albums Pete Shelley albums Drag City (record label) albums Instrumental albums Experimental music albums by English artists Drone music albums by English artists Electronic albums by English artists Sound collage albums