tUnE-yArDs

This just got an A from Robert Christgau and is streaming on NPR. It's cool. Bizness is an obvious song of the year contender.

Pareles reviewed in the NYT and he gave it a qualified rave; only major complaint was the lyrics and I don't blame him there.

They're all over the place and often clever but sometimes just __shrug__

basically this and the quik are pretty much my fave albums this year so far.

freelancer Patrick Foster for the Washington Post loves it:

“Whokill” is one of this year’s boldest, freshest creations: A pulsating quick-step that feels utterly contemporary, careening down a city street while the detritus of consumed influence trails from the car windows.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/click-track/post/quick-spins-tune-yards-ralph-stanley-dj-quik/2011/04/19/AFjYmE6D_blog.html

That kinda makes want to hate it, but I will give it a shot.

It's definitely real good. Not what I expected at all.

the detritus of consumed influence

oh rlly

anyway I hated the first one and this one's more difficult but I like it a lot more!

I heard this (and Tune-Yards) for the first time today, it's definitely a good album but I'll need more time to process it. One similarity/influence I hear is dEUS circa The Ideal Crash, but maybe that's just the Zappa feel percolating down again.

This is a major record, people. Don't let the unconventional punctuation put you off. I'm telling you, this little lady is dy-no-mite!!!!!

ugh

i've come to really love this with repeated listens, it's leaps and bounds better than the first one (her ideas are too interesting to be mired in low fidelity). i've had the chance to play it out loud for some people over the past few weeks and have enjoyed the (mostly positive) reactions

I can't believe how little attention it's getting around here. It's such an ILM friendly record.

not for everyone i guess.

mental note: add this band to that thread about 'bands you'll never listen to because of their stupid name'

i.e. basically all of them?

She said the weird spelling was to increase her MySpace visibility.

i heard the single today ("bizness"?) and her voice kinda scared me off. maybe i will give the full album a shot later.

coming late to tune-yards - heard a few tracks off the new album last week and was v impressed, then went back to the debut. sometimes hard to believe it's a woman singing, due to the timbre of merrill's voice, but only occasionally. striking. a strong & distinctive vocals, memorable songs, forward-thinking arrangements & production, and a dazzling procession of reference points (which is to say i get where that washington post guy is coming from with his "detritus of consumed influence"). exactly the sort of record i'd like to be listening to this summer.

since i can't make sense of the dirty projectors comparisons i keep reading (a product of my own ignorance), i'll say that the music reminds me v slightly of animal collective, back when i thought i liked animal collective, circa sung tongs - you know, popping their panda tare heads up among the african, doo-wop, blues, hip-hop and gospel influences. probably a lazy reference point, but i'm hardly up to date on yr contemporary indie styles. cocorosie?

neneh cherry imo

should listen to neneh cherry i guess

Songs from the first album didn't make much of an impression on me -- I don't even remember whether I heard the whole thing or not. This one took a little while to sink in, but I'm pretty into it now. And I definitely hear the Dirty Projectors comparisons -- see, e.g., the guitar solo on "You Yes You" (about a minute in).

yeah, 'killa' esp. has a neneh vibe

it's a fair comparison. She's got a LOT of influences going on though; references the babenzele pygmies as a touchstone.

should listen to neneh cherry i guess

― normal_fantasy-unicorns (contenderizer), Monday, 2 May 2011 19:40 (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

yes!

big lol to those on another thread dissing her supposedly tokenistic/trendy/not-'authorized' appropriation of african music (weirdly patronizing suggestions to "do her homework") when she in fact spent time in africa playing with african musicians there

also surprised to find that she is 32. from her videos i thought she was like 24

anyways like a lot of AC or dirty projectors i *get* why it is praised but don't find myself reaching for it that often

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmleSfx9hn8&NR=1&feature=fvwp

Here, she makes a mockery of other so-called "live loopers". I can't even deal with this it's too good.

http://vimeo.com/22883825

i think i mentioned it upthread, but it becomes kinda a chore when she has to build up the loops at the beginning of every song

mad looping skillz tho

xp that's the nature of looping though?

also, the music aside, the looping she's doing there seems pretty standard? just technically i've been impressed with how jamie woon does it, in terms of dubbing out different elements of the loop etc: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cys2hJM0gaE

is that how woon plays when he's live? because if so i'm a little sad i didn't go see him

i dunno, what woon does is cool in that he's varying the textures and stuff. but the breakdowns in the tuneyards clip / the little vocal bonus bit at the end, those just made me go HUH CHOPS

possibly this is bcz i have such little rhythm that it would take me until i was 32 to be able to do that if i did nothing else in the interim

whereas to do what woon is doing i would merely need to be blessed with decent voice and two hands, like what he has

I love this album by the way. Top five.

I'm having similar issues with what I've heard off of this that I have with Sleater-Kinney; there is something going on in the vocals, something slightly on the reedy side of things, that sets my teeth on edge.

in the tune-yards clip she's just stopping the entire loop and turning it back on, no big deal. woon is doing similar things but in a much more subtle way - he's not playing a live instrument besides singing, so he does a lot more with bringing in and out the different layers of the loop, adding effects etc. that takes a lot more mental independence imo.

(btw that comparison only came up because SK was playing on THE CURRENT radio stream and I was all "wow I am not enjoying this in exactly the same way that I do not enjoy tUnE-yArDs")

in the tune-yards clip she's just stopping the entire loop and turning it back on, no big deal. woon is doing similar things but in a much more subtle way - he's not playing a live instrument besides singing, so he does a lot more with bringing in and out the different layers of the loop, adding effects etc. that takes a lot more mental independence imo.

Oh, I disagree with you there. Hands-free is much more difficult. Jamie is using pre-fab drum loops, a Kaoss pad for post-effects. His songwriting is limited to repeating a mantra over and over again. It's good, yeah! But it doesn't have Merrill's "chops fabulous" appeal, imo.

i guess i see so many guitar players around here doing (beatbox/percussion/bass/guitar) looping that it seems like old hat, and she's not doing anything different (not that it's easy). what woon's doing there feels fresher to me, and i like that the songwriting is loop-based (no chord changes). on the other videos i've seen he's not using any pre-recorded sounds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNnngd0oLgk

This is sort of off-topic, so apologies, but Merrill Garbus does some backing vocals on my friend's new record. Maybe you will like it? It's not very Tune-Yards-y but it's still good:

http://mwahaha.bandcamp.com/album/mwahaha

Specifically she helps with harmonies on "Love".

I dunno, Jordan, that Jamie Woon stuff doesn't distinguish itself for me, stylistically.

What I mean is this: when you get someone like Merrill doing the looping without post-effects or stuff, one is forced to adjust one's songwriting to transcend the technology... or at least, transcend the fact that one doesn't have a finger on a fader and another on a Kaoss pad.

Many people in Canada miss Merrill's old band, btw. (Don't watch the vidjo just give a listen)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7EhxAUprUY

sure, but that's what 95% of live loopers do. at least in this song, it just seems like she's doing very standard shit?

xp

i mean, looping chops: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3CGWOw9LHI

I love this album by the way. Top five.

― ginny thomas and tonic (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, May 18, 2011 9:30 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark

i'm into it, but reserving superlatives ftm. "bizness" just towers over the rest.

"bizness" just towers over the rest.

No way! My Country and Gangsta are both just as good if not better.

i like the whole album a lot but gangsta and bizness are high points.

i think i mentioned it upthread, but it becomes kinda a chore when she has to build up the loops at the beginning of every song

― ｐｒｉｎｔｆ (diamonddave85), Wednesday, May 18, 2011 8:37 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark

haven't seen tune yards, but this can be one of the best parts of loop-based live performance. saw Geneviève Castrée (Ô Paon) last year, and loved the process aspects.

and "Powa," "Wooly Wooly Gong" too.

i like the whole album a lot but gangsta and bizness are high points.

gangsta's a very respectable second

i just never warmed to this album.

I admired the previous album, but rarely wanted to play it. This one I actually enjoy listening to.

Saw her live last night. What an awesome gig. It made me appreciate her songs even more, especially the Nikki Nack ones.

they sound better live, yes.

New song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAadziqcQZw

The album, I can feel you creep into my private life, is out in January.

I am really surprised by how hard I've turned around on her. I guess once I acclimated to the shouting, I could start enjoying what she was doing.

lol reading upthread shows I have both a great mind for inference and a terrible memory

Very cool!!

Love it. Welcome back.

Love this.

"Heart Attack". Like the way the track starts very basically, then gradually blossoms to an opulent 70s disco sound. Album's going to rule. Don't like this video much though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-7je-jsuC4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Xd097nWH2s

I like the video better than the song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hcG6UgTHiU

this is the best thing i've heard from them in a long time

This 1000% reignited my fandom... I love when she plays to her strengths (biggest voice out there, puppets)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fy3xdHw4YTs

I mean it this performance is crazy and great, vocal performance alone even

yeah that's a fantastic performance

i feel pretty optimistic about the new album now

i kinda like the cover of Cannonball

Me too

i really like this album, her best since whokill! haven't paid enough attention to notice if there's any of the real embarrassing clunkers there were on the last one though

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KyXwmyjNco8

idioteque cover is cool too

oh meant to say "lyrical clunkers"

dang at that idioteque cover, nice blend of styles

now that i've paid attention to them i can say it holds up lyrically too! delightful

This album is REALLY REALY good

I agree

yes

That's quite the triple recommendation.

This is great and I can't really figure out what I want to say about it besides that