?uestlove, tUnE-yArDs, Angelique Kidjo Akua Naru - Lady (Fela Kuti cover)

Turns out one of the greatest ways to get a great musical collaboration involves an act of charity. The Red Hot Organization has pretty much been uniting acts this way for years now in order to raise money for the fight against AIDS/HIV and this year is certainly no different.

While past collaborations have included the likes of Feist, Beirut, Justin Vernon, Of Montreal, and Sade (to name but a few), a most recent endeavor has brought together ?uestlove of The Roots fame with Angelique Kidjo and Akua Naru, and just to make sure it's an extra good time they throw tUnE-yArDs' Merrill Garbus into the mix to cover Fela Kuti's "Lady".

The result is a bustling, brassy update on Fela Kuti's criticisms of westernized African women into something a little less harsh but at no point less enjoyable. From the swaggering saxophones, to the three women's bold delivery, even to the added rap, the song is a flawless musical contribution. Hear it below and support a great cause:



If you like what you hear, buy the single. Do it.

(via Okay Africa)

tUnE-yArDs release new video

tUnE-yArDs kind of set the bar pretty high after the thoroughly enjoyable video for "Real Live Flesh" and with her latest video for "Bizness", Garbus certainly outdoes herself. For starters, the video has some semblance of a story but not enough to bog down the video with meaningless details. The video starts in a classroom with a young Garbus-look-a-like rallying her other students into a kind of pseudo dance rebellion. Then there's this awesome light in the mouth scene, followed by Garbus herself leading a bunch of dancers in a forest made of cardboard trees. There's lifts, choreographed writhing on the floor, funny faces, all held together by bright colors and Garbus proving herself to possess another talent (like she needed one). Enjoy the video for "Bizness":

tUnE-yArDs premieres new song live in Paris

Before her SXSW stop and subsequent North American tour, tUnE-yArDs decided a trip to Paris was necessary. While there she set up at Paris' Place des Vosges and proves she's so talented she doesn't even need instruments, relying only on drumsticks played on a concrete wall and a delay pedal hooked up to her ukelele. Enjoy the video of tUnE-yArDs' acoustic version of new song "Doorstep" live from Paris:

HibOO d'Live : Tune-Yards "Doorstep" from Le-HibOO.com on Vimeo.

tUnE-yArDs releases new single off new album

Not too long ago tUnE-yArDs announce the upcoming release of their sophomore album, and now you can hear the album's first single "Bizness". For those who saw her in concert last year, the song will certainly be familiar to you. It's your first foray into Garbus' more polished studio album.
tUnE-yArDs - Bizzness by ListenBeforeYouBuy

"Bizness" or at least the album version of it seems to lack something. Despite Garbus' big, brassy voice, there's always been a sort of natural intimacy achieved with her and her looping pedal and a sort of amazement that all the sounds produced came from her whereas this version of "Bizness", featuring tenor saxophone and computery blips filling during her normal appeggiated vocal riffs. I'll hold off judgment until w h o k i l l's actual release but the new studio sound doesn't adequately capture Garbus' skills or charm.

tUnE-yArDs announces new album and tour dates

Last August at Summerstage, Merrill Garbus aka tUnE-yArDs played tons of new songs and at her secret show at The Rock Shop announced the next time she returned to New York, she would have a new record out. Garbus makes good on her promise with the announcement of her new album W H O K I L L out this April 19th on 4AD. Unlike her 2009 debut BiRd-BrAiNs, Garbus trades in her lo-fi DIY aesthetic for a cleaner studio sound funded from featuring "Fiya" in a Blackberry commercial.

You can read Garbus' short interview with Pitchfork here for more info about the album.

In addition to the wonderful news about the record, Garbus also revealed some tour dates starting this Spring:

4/26 Great American Music Hall - San Francisco, California
4/28 Doug Fir Lounge - Portland, Oregon
4/29 The Crocodile - Seattle, Washington
4/30 The Biltmore Cabaret - Vancover, British Columbia, Canada
5/2 Visual Arts Collective - Garden City, Idaho
5/3 Urban Lounge - Salt Lake City, Utah
5/4 Hi Dive - Denver, Colorado
5/6 Jackpot Saloon - Lawrence, Kansas
5/7 Slowdown - Omaha, Nebraska
5/8 Cedar Cultural Center - Minneapolis, Minnesota
5/10 Lincoln Hall - Chicago, Illinois
5/11 The Pike Room @ Crofoot Ballroom - Pontiac, Michigan
5/12 Horseshoe Tavern - Toronto, Ontario, Canada
5/13 La Sala Rossa - Montreal, Quebec, Canada
5/15 Flywheel Arts Collective - Easthampton, Massachusetts
5/16 Brighton Music Hall - Boston, Massachusetts
5/17 Daniel Street - Milton, Connecticut
5/19 The Red Palace - Washington, D.C.
5/20 Johnny Brenda's - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
5/21 Music Hall of Williamsburg - Brooklyn, New York
6/25 The Troubadour - West Hollywood, California

tUnE-yArDs remixes Jamie Lidell

Your first introduction to an artist probably shouldn't be in the form of a remix, but mine was. A fan of tUnE-yArDs, my ears perked up at the news that she had done a remix of Jamie Lidell's "Compass". I had heard of Jamie Lidell as sort of a blender of art-pop and soul and R&B elements but never really mustered up the energy to give any of his music the listen it probably deserves. Having not heard the original "Compass", listening to the remix I could only assume where Garbus had left her unique mark in the form of crash-bang percussion and her own interjected vocals. The remix is part of an EP that features other remixes of the song and is given to those who purchase tickets for Jamie Lidell's upcoming fall tour, but if you have no intentions of seeing him just yet, you can listen to the track here.

Random Musing: New tUnE-yArDs songs

This post was inspired by me trying to find out the new songs tUnE-yArDs played at the Central Park Summerstage show and stumbling upon a bunch of new songs. Enjoy these songs that you won't find on the album!

Live at The Rock Shop


"You Yes You"


Two songs the second of which is "Gangsta". No idea what the first one is but it's new and she played it at Summerstage as well.


Live at Soundscapes

Live!: tUnE-yArDs and St. Vincent at Central Park Summerstage

Yesterday I had the immense pleasure of catching tUnE-yArDs and St. Vincent at the Central Park Summerstage in Manhattan. The concert was part of a series of free concerts put on in Central Park and actually featured one other artist by the name of Basia Bulat but me and my friend missed it in our efforts to navigate through the city and to find the Summerstage which we had never been to before. tUnE-yArDs (aka Merill Garbus) and bassist Nate Brenner, took the stage and started with an audience partipation song which had the crowd screaming "Yeah" each time she asked "Do you want to love?" and then asking everyone to jump out and down. Following her first song was another song I hadn't heard before, followed by another new song about lullabies that sizzled with Marvin Gaye-like steaminess. She invited a slew of musicians from all over to join her onstage to perform the energetic "Gangsta" (another new song but a live favorite of hers) which had the audience cheering practically from start to finish. The musicians helped to replicate the layering effects off her album (one song required two guys to play the drums). She also played "Fiya", "Real Live Flesh" and "Hatari" before finishing up with another new song. Seeing tUnE-yArDs live you get to more or less see her music making process as you watch her sing and drum into her mics that capture all the sounds into the looping petals and get to see her experiment with what kinds of sounds she wants (hitting different parts of her mic stand before deciding on which one she liked best). In addition to being an amazing performer with a gigantic voice, she also had a remarkable stage presence regaling the audience with little anecdotes when time allowed and inspiring even the most steadfast of buzzkills to dance along with her.

I had gone into the concert without actually listening to that much St. Vincent. I had listened to Actor about once all the way through and never really listened to it again but had heard she was amazing live. What St. Vincent's music is like is hard to explain: Sort of quirky indie pop music with experimental electronic effects and distortion. She had a full array of instruments of stage and all of her band-mates proved to be skilled multi-instrumentalists. Her violinist was also a guitarist, her flautist also playing synthesizer when needed, her bassist occasionally whipping out a clarinet and also some strange instrument I couldn't see but still managed to vibrate your organs when he played it. On that note, I should mention there was so much bass power during her set that every time he played, the audience was shaken to their very core and despite audience requests to "Turn down the bass", this continued for the whole set. Not being familiar with St. Vincent's music and albums I can't provide a setlist but I do know she performed a track from Actor called "The Party" live for the first time at this concert. In order to execute it, she had another set of musicians come onstage to assist: another violinist, violist, cellist, french horn, even a bass clarinet made an appearance. Her set was for the most part pretty mellow and Annie Clark said practically nothing except to ask for her mic to be turned up, to introduce her band-mates and guest musicians, to thank everyone and wish them a fond farewell but there was something awe-inspiring about her performance. How each little thing fit together to form this grand tapestry of sound and how Annie could start and stop it all with just so much as a laser-focused glance in any one direction. While not as energetic and dance-inspiring as tUnE-yArDs, there was totally a sort of magical mystique to St. Vincent's set and in Annie Clark's overall demeanor and to say I didn't enjoy it would be a boldfaced lie. I know I plan on revisiting her albums and giving them another focused listen.

The concert as a whole was pretty interesting in only for the juxtaposition of the loud, energetic, skillful banging and crashing tUnE-yArDs and the calm, tranquil yet foreboding St. Vincent. It was obvious that those who hadn't heard of tUnE-yArDs before were certainly hooked but concert-goers might've been a bit disappointed by St. Vincent. One friend claimed to be underwhelmed by her performance but my theory is that St. Vincent meant to neither overwhelm nor underwhelm but merely create and capture a magical moment, to make you really listen and pay attention to what was occurring on stage and if that was in fact her goal, she succeeded in the most artful manner I've seen thus far.

tUnE-yArDs - BiRd-BrAiNs (2009)

Before beginning the review I should caution you not to listen to tUnE-yArDs' (the eyecatching moniker of singer/songwriter Merrill Garbus)debut album BiRd-BrAiNs if you want to listen to anything else. Infectiously catchy and astoundingly unique, it takes getting a song stuck in your head to a whole new level. After listening just once, don't be surprised if you find yourself humming one of the memorable melodies to yourself later. The result of Merrill Garbus' fascination and later study of African music, the album taps into something primal within it's listener. Garbus' goal is to move you whether that be from the dance-inspiring drumbeats in "Hatari" or heart-clenching and captivating "Fiya". Garbus' debut effort is a sumptuous blend of Afro-pop, folksy charm born from a ukelele, and technology in the form of a looping pedal into something that almost defies description. Even with the lo-fi DIY recording, the result of Garbus using a voice recorder in a basement and mixing with shareware mixing software, her voice still manages to explode from the speakers. You'll marvel at how Garbus manages to use layers to perfectly harmonize with herself and play the ukelele in ways you've never imagined. Listen at your own risk because once you do, you won't be able to stop.

As dazzling as the album is in all it's lo-fi splendor, the real magic of tUnE-yArDs can only be truly experienced live. Check out this live video of tUnE-yArDs' "Hatari":