tUnE-yArDs

tUnE-yArDs

tUnE-yArDs is an American experimental music project from Oakland, California, led by Merrill Garbus, with long-time collaborator Nate Brenner on bass. The project is also styled as Tune-Yards. Garbus was born in 1979.

Sound and approach

The music uses a wide range of influences and often combines loop pedals, ukulele, vocals and lo-fi percussion. Garbus records and self-produces with a DIY approach, using a hand-held digital voice recorder, ukulele, noisy off-balance drums and shareware mixing software on early releases. The project is identified with art pop and lo-fi, and it also sits within experimental, indie and folk contexts.

Albums and releases

The debut album, BiRd-BrAiNs, first appears in June 2009 on the Portland imprint Marriage Records in limited vinyl and cassette editions. The project then signs to 4AD, which issues a limited pressing in August 2009, followed by a wider release later that year. That version is remastered at Abbey Road Studios by Christian Wright and adds the bonus tracks “Want Me To” and “Real Live Flesh”.

The second album, w h o k i l l, is released in 2011, with the single “Bizness” preceding it. It is produced by Garbus and engineered by Eli Crews at New, Improved Studios in Oakland.

Reception and notable tracks

Whokill ranks number one in The Village Voice’s annual Pazz and Jop critics’ poll for 2011. The track “Fiya” appears in a 2010 Blackberry Torch commercial.