Album Details

• Artist: Tune-Yards
• Album: Whokill
• Label: 4AD
• Year of Release: 2011
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: digitalbath on 2011-05-09

Media

A record so aurally pleasing, I listened to it thirteen times before writing this review. Tune-Yards has just released their full-length debut, Whokill on April 19th, 2011 and what an album it is! The group is composed of a bassist, Nate Brenner, and the rest of the band, Merrill Garbus. Garbus is quite the front(wo)man playing ukulele, rhythm sections (through the means of a loop station), and vocals. While the loops created by Garbus are quite unique, the wonder in them is lost on this record in not being able to watch her set them up on the spot, as she does in her live performances. Whokill is first and foremost a testament to Garbus' incredible singing voice.

Reading this review, I'm sure a lot of you expect her voice to be the typical female singing voice. This is simply not true at all. To tell you the truth, it wasn't until I watched some live videos that I knew Merrill Garbus was a woman. Her reggae/belt style and range is very masculine and yet it works so well. The most notable tracks on the record are "Bizness" (Whokill's single) in which you can hear Garbus racing through her entire range, and "Powa" for Garbus' ability to take such a low key track and evolve it into epic ambience in five minutes. Picking favorites is moot in this album though considering every track is truly a delight to listen to. It's catchy, creative, educated music for those that don't want to stop dancing.

I truly can't stress enough how accessible this album is to such a wide audience. Tune-yards sells out shows all over California and they've only recently had a public release in Whokill. Those skeptical few can find all they need online for free to make a good judgment of the band for themselves. Almost all of the tracks on this record can be seen played live which is amazing to watch on it's own. Buy the album and found out what everyone is buzzing about!

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