Goff's Pick of the Week- w h o k i l l by tUnE-yArDs

As someone who doesn’t curse much, it is hard to exactly put into words just how good I think Merrill Garbus and her project tUnE-yArDs is. There is something so ridiculously crazy about the way she goes about making music that to even try to describe it would be equivalent to explaining rock and roll to Victorian England. It would go something like this, “How do you think a orchestra with just guitar drums and bass would sound if they played two note chords and had someone sing over top of that?. The genius of tUnE-yArDs is equally difficult to quantify and is as equally foreign to modern music as rock to the Victorians would be. How do you think a band with just a bassist and a singer would sound if they performed over two saxophonists and loops of yelps, yells, ukulele, and the sound of common woodblocks bottles and tin cans being hit with sticks? It turns out they sound pretty darn good. Garbus’ songs hover somewhere between surreal and sublime, taking often absurd lyrics and always absurd instrumentation and matching them with a voice that could best be described as being as bipolar as Charlie Sheen. There are two singers on tUnE-yArDs albums, and both of them are Merrill Garbus. In her arsenal she has two different sounds, both unique and with their own style. One style, which can be heard in its most pure form on one of my favorite tracks “Doorstep” from Garbus’ most recent release  w h o k i l l, is angelic and sweet but at the same time very punctuated and rhythmic. This voice comes from another age, its like a fifth lost member of The Shangri-Las got dug up from a time capsule and then thrust into a recording studio. And while this voice is nice, it rides back seat to what I’ve affectionately been calling the “Garbus Growl” a low down voice that is comparable what a talking dog might sing given the chance. What’s more, it’s powerful, that’s the only single word that best describes what a voice that has more attitude than most punk tracks , the most powerful voice I’ve heard in a long time. And did I mention she switches between the two on the fly?

Another aspect of Garbus’ work that is so impressive are the lyrics; not only in quality (and boy are they good) but in the aesthetic that they present, and how it blends and contrasts with her voice and appearance. They mostly focus on violence and how different people are uprooted and caught up in a world that isn’t always sunshine and rainbows. It goes hand in hand with her powerful voice, which are both set in contrast against how she presents herself.  Garbus comes across as someone who is soft spoken, a little shy maybe, but overall charming and adorable. For someone who has heard and not seen Garbus, to hear her be called soft spoken must be laughable, but there is a little truth in it. And how do the lyrics tie in? They only further confuse the listener, I found myself being confused on my first listen of w h o k I l l by violent anthems like Gangsta and Riotriot, which can catch a person off guard. There is definitely a dissonance between how the songs are presented and what they are actually about, which is by no means a bad thing. It makes for a very compelling listen that keeps drawing its audience back in for more, which is especially rewarding when there is something new for the listener to hang their hat on with each spin of the record.