tUnE-yArDs

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

Ô Paon

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgCqq9ZzXq4

not cuz the loopsmanship is so incredible, just love this song

@ Jordan Dosh a different thing again. He uses Ableton, and with it, pre-programmed tracks, quantized loops. There's no mystery there.

I think, Jordan, you're looking at the 'technology used' and appreciating that, rather than considering that Merrill is using ten-year-old looping pedals, not in new ways, but in ways so effortless and compositionally interesting that it makes people like Dosh or Jamie Woon or myself look like suckers for new toys.

Also the best song on the record is "You Yes You" and you'll all feel similarly one day

whoa.

Sure, recognise the compositional brilliance of her loop use and all that but I just can *not* get with her voice. I'm sorry, I tried. I'm with Dan on this one.

really, dosh uses ableton? i didn't see a laptop onstage the last time i saw him, but maybe he's sneaky with controllers?

but in ways so effortless and compositionally interesting that it makes people like Dosh or Jamie Woon or myself look like suckers for new toys.

am i missing something in that tune-yards video - is she looping anything besides the beat and the vocal thing at the end? anyway, i'll stop being harry hater. i wasn't going to mention it but your looping is definitely more interesting/artful to me than tune-yards (and i've caught both live).

kinda agree with owen, the "I was BORN to do it" part gets me every time.

"don't need a living room ah diamonds YEAHHHH a chicken shack will do do do do"

do we see how the first loop is set in that video? seems like it's always the first one that's hardest to get right. once you've got that one you're not worried so much about setting the loop. sounds cool either way but if the first one was done at home or something it's a little easier. not sure if you can do that with the equipment she's using.

Also the best song on the record is "You Yes You" and you'll all feel similarly one day

This is my gf's favorite. I'm coming around, too.

yeah, it's up there

You know, I've liked this in fits and starts but I think think I like it more than I like it. I want to give it several more shots, though, since it doesn't deserve my unwarranted snap reaction that it's a more assured and interesting Coco Rosie.

I've seen a lot of "dude, gear, and loops" shows and IMO she is miles beyond anyone doing this sort of thing (never seen Owen P tho). You feel like you are experiencing music as it's being made in the moment rather than a bunch of triggered elements and processed electronics. And the fact that she builds the loops at the start of each song gives the evening an appealing and unusual rhythm.

i'm into it, but reserving superlatives ftm.

no longer reserving anything. in the running for album of the year. and yes, "you yes you".

ve seen a lot of "dude, gear, and loops" shows

are we differentiating between laptop/sampler/etc shows and people who use loopers specifically? 'cause this:

You feel like you are experiencing music as it's being made in the moment rather than a bunch of triggered elements and processed electronics. And the fact that she builds the loops at the start of each song gives the evening an appealing and unusual rhythm.

describes pretty much every looper i see. again, nothing wrong with tune-yards, i just don't see why people are freaking about what she's doing specifically.

i cant get into this. rather annoying i find.

Having finally heard some of this -- kinda in the middle here. I could totally see her and White Rainbow touring if they haven't already.

One of my favourites so far this year for sure. I do understand people taking issue with her voice, it's quite marmitey. (First time I heard a tUnE-YarDs song I went, "wait, I thought the singer was a woman?") She reminds me a lot of Antony, not so much in expression but in general fierce-individualist-with-gender-defying-voice mood.

Really, it's the way she sings lead that I take issue with. The sound-effecty stuff she does on "The Bizness" is actually very pretty but the braying shout she employs on the main melody is not really my bag.

jordan i dig this person a lot but what i like about the record is nothing to do with her use of looping -- which, i mean, i hadn't thought about to what degree that was a compositional tool for her before owen started posting about it in this thread

Saw her live earlier this week. I love how she basically builds the backbone for each song right in front of you. Impressive. I haven't heard the record but wouldn't be surprised if the live sound doesn't translate well to record.

Usually this kind of "difficult" project bores me less than a third of the way through – I still can't stand the first album – but I hear a lot of unexpected beauty in the squawks and squalls. Nothing I've written about this album matches nabisco's review.

Are there pictures of her without her mouth wide open? I know thats a live shot with that review, but even all of her staged promo shots seems to picture her preparing to bite into a Dagwood sandwich.

I refuse to believe all these soulless nu-indie bands are actual irl bands.

The Dirty Projectors, for example, don't actually exist. I am convinced of it.

great bisco piece, really well thought out

love her voice. more female singers should be brave enough to be unpretty.

(also, my guitarist bf does some very creative stuff with live looping and he loves both tune-yards records.)

"Brave enough to be unpretty" is a weird concept.

vocally unpretty, i mean. i think female singers are taught from basically the time their mouths open that they have to sound pretty and girlish.

Ah, okay. That makes more sense to me.

Although I find her singing style very composed and melodic, even when she's at her most growly.

men can sing abrasively but when women do it people take a step back.

I was going to say, I want to see a picture of her normal face because I kinda find her cuet!

she's totally cuet.

I feel like there are plenty of female singers out there with unpretty voices or aren't afraid to employ unpretty singing (some of whom are massively successful; hi dere Ke$ha, Katy Perry, Taylor Swift, Adele, Britney, Rihanna, Lady Gaga, etc etc etc)

(I include Taylor because, even though she was clearly told that she needed to sound as pretty and girlish as possible, she has a fucking horrible instrument and sounds like a farting flute)

all those voices are processed within an inch of their lives though. even if they don't have good instruments, the producers make them sound accessible/acceptable *enough*.

would say that ke$sha, katy perry, taylor swift and britney rely a great deal more on prettiness of sound (and pretty-girlyness of pop identity) a whole lot more than MG. not that that's a bad thing...

oh, and nabisco OTM

plus, their voices aren't what sell the records and concert tickets. it's the image, sex appeal, songs that sound radio-ready, etc.

unrelatedly, this record is awesome and stuff

i like the first record a little better cuz the songwriting seems more thought-out and the fact that it's just her makes it feel more personal. but the second one is great fun.

whoever's playing bass i like it a lot, what that person is doing: it grounds a lot of the chaos

tho the chaos of it is also totally great and fun and awesome in its own right

love this record

xposts but whatever

I would say the women I listed rely more on pop music than MG. The biggest gulf between them in terms of vocal production, based on the songs I've heard, is that ty songs use more vocal effects in the backing music.

Hearing Ke$ha and Katy Perry sing during live performances reveals that the weird, offputting-to-some things going on in their voices are not a result of vocal processing or autotuning; it's how their voices work. Also, no one really wants to hear Ke$ha singing outside of her niche, which is pop dance screamfests. Britney didn't actually have the ability to sing ballads until recently, which makes it kind of funny that all of her recent singles rely heavily on turning her into a sound effect (where her weird duck quack is more effective, anyway).

I am not denying that there isn't a shit-ton going on in ty songs, because there clearly is. The voice singing lead, particularly the voice bellowing out "The Bizness", is not nearly as far removed from our current crop of pop singers as the backing music would lead you to believe. Hell, nowadays Bjork isn't far removed from our current crop of pop singers; she probably could have a top ten hit if she threw some more sound effects into "Big Time Sensuality" and rereleased it as a single.

I mean you all are acting like she's Diamanda Galas or something

(as a related aside: someone posted a picture of merrill from a meredith monk concert the other night. i was happy to see those two worlds collide.)