tUnE-yArDs at Pohoda 2018
tUnE-yArDs already played our festival in 2014. Full Moon Zine described their gig as “the best and funniest show at Pohoda.” Back then, Merrill Garbus and Nate Brenner reaped the rewards of success with their third album Nikki Nack. In January, they released their fourth studio album I Can Feel You Creep Into My Private Life. We’re glad that we will get to hear their combination of afrobeat, folk and free-jazz as Trenčín Airport is one of the stops on the summer leg of their tour.
28. February 2018
NYC native Merrill Garbus first played in several bands on the East Coast, but after she worked with Nate Brenner on her first album, she moved to California. The debut BiRd-BrAiNs was originally recorded DIY-style with handheld voice recorder and then released on recycled cassette tape. Its content caught the attention of 4AD label, which released tUnE-yArDs’ second album w h o k i l l. The album as well as singles “Bizness” and “Gangsta” were mentioned in many end of year top album and song lists, including Time, Rolling Stone, Spin, and the New York Times. The Village Voice’s annual “Pazz and Jop” poll of critics, which is tabulated from the submitted year-end top 10 lists of hundreds of music critics, named Whokill the No. 1 album of 2011. Album Nikki Nack with its catchy tunes and dance rhythms as represented in hit “Water Fountain” was no less successful.
Their latest album I Can Feel You Creep Into My Private Life contains distinctive rhythms and melodies as well. As Radio Wave says in the review: “With its sound, the album creates a soundtrack to running, exercising, self-motivation, workout, relaxation.” As for topics it covers, it deals with serious issues of today, mainly racism. Merrill once learned tribal singing directly in Africa and went to a six-month meditation workshop to learn about her experience as a white person in the realm of racial justice. She proved her artistic perfectionism when she decided to learn more about dance music and to learn how to DJ right in her neighborhood. Tune-Yards know how to process serious issues with ease, which Radio_FM confirms in their program “Album of the Week”: “When drawing attention to social issues, they don’t want to bother you. They managed to turn the album dealing with serious issues into their most dynamic record to date.”