Concert/Album Review: Tune yards

tune-yards

I first saw tune-yards almost six years ago at Kilby Court opening for Thao & the Get Down Stay Down.  It was just Merrill Garbus by herself with her electric ukulele and a voice recorder to add layers to the music.  I was quite impressed with her voice and original sounding music.  After she completed her set, I went over and bought one of her tapes (her first album 'Bird Brains' was recorded on tape).  Each tape was hand made and unique.  Fast forward a few years from that and she puts out her second album 'who kill' that is considered one of the best of 2011 by many including myself and has a sizeable following nation-wide.  Fast forward another three years and she comes out her newest album 'Nikki Nack' and she has exploded even more.  Although I think I prefer her previous album over her latest offering, she still strikes gold with the playful "Water Fountain", the smooth "Wait for a Minute" and the more synth driven "Hey Life".  The main complaint about the new album is how she has thrown out the ukulele which I loved in place of more synth.  She does keep the drum fills, claps and percussion however which give each song a very lively fun sound.

I was able to see her last night at Urban Lounge and grab some shots.  This was the first time I'd seen her with a full band.  She sounded fantastic.  Every beat, every clap and every note spot on.  She yelled and pounded the drums as her backup singers/dancers bounced around to the rhythm.  Each member of the band dawned makeup of some sort with colorful outfits and background decorations of different sized eyes.

She played mostly new songs from her new album but splashed in some songs from "Who Kill" as well.  The one song I was hoping she would play was "My Country" which was my favorite song on their last album but I was definitely satisfied with the performance.

Here is their new single, "Water Fountain"