It boggles the hell out of my mind that NPR has all the sudden pushed their weight behind Tune Yards. I first tried to catch her live at South By Southwest at The Parrish Underground. The line wrapped around the block, so I skipped out. I later found out that this was NPR’s SXSW showcase. NPR? Have they listened to Tune Yards before, much less her latest whokill? Don’t get me wrong, I’m totally stoked on her success. But listening to this record, I’m stunned. whokill comes replete with dissonant free jazz, broken song structures, tribal freak folk, no less than two songs touching on self mutiliation, and at least one about watching your boyfriend get gatted by the police whilst standing in the threshold of your front door under the guise of a Motown-style swing… all sung by a mercurial woman named Merill Grabus; an individual who probably gives less of a fuck than Tyler the Creator. And David Dye is going to spin this one on World Cafe next to Steve Earle and Tired Pony? Is it because of the slight worldbeat angle of Tune Yards’ rhythm section that makes the Starbucks crowd feel cultured? Or the occassional uke ballad? If that’s the case, I mean, shit, fucking Swans has ballads too. Can I call up my local NPR music affiliate, WFPK, and request Swans’ “Raping a Slave”? Doesn’t work that way? Okay, nevermind. Anyway, Bob Boilen, please advise, brother.

Onto the music… oh man, whokill. The progression between 2009′s Bird Brains and whokill makes itself evident on opener “My Country.”  The debut was obviously home-recorded and, while complex, maintained a minimal aesthetic. “My Country” is expansive and boisterous, adding slick production, thick electronic textures, and devastating rhythm. However, it’s “Es So,” only two tracks in, that establishes the album’s innate, palpable insanity. Built upon a woozy, wobbly guitar riff and low jazz grooves, Garbus opines on the idea of body image, submitting to the fact that we’re all subject to the American ideal while grappling a sort of “fuck you” confidence. Some of the album’s best lyrics can be found therein (“sometimes I’ve got the jungle under my skin / drop at the rhythm, stick a fucking fork in” ”it is true, daddy / I’ll run over my own body with my own car”).   The multi-movement avant-pop “Gangsta” is a songwriting grand slam. Grabus is callin’ out the poser white douchebags who culturally appropriate while cherishing a privileged background. We all know the type. And she does so with one of the most catchy call to arms this year (“never move to my ‘hood, ’cause danger is crawlin’ out the wood”), all while chopping up the vocal track a la Boredoms and layin’ sermon over top dissonant horns and booty bass. “Powa” acts as a primer for anyone unfamiliar with Grabus’ dynamic pipes. If the new, slicker Tune Yards has you down, the morose and delicate “Wholly Wholly Gong” provides the tape hiss-laden throwback of the debut. As mentioned in the introduction, whokill‘s arguably strongest moment is “Doorstep” – a polyphonic send-up to ’60s AM pop with a slightly demented edge that only Tune Yards could muster, with narrative lyrics to boot. It’s one of the most gorgeous songs you’re likely to hear this year, and one of the best examples of how a professional cops an old sound and makes it their own.

Without resorting to cliches, the “sophomore slump” is real, and it’s a motherfucker. Tune Yards hinted on her debut that she still had big ideas to flesh out, and the following record would either realize their full potential, or we’d see her re-release a version of the debut with nicer production (or worse case scenario, artistically implode). whokill is a total triumph. Tune Yards fully embraces what made Bird Brains interesting while expanding her sound, and in the process, provides a body of accessible songs that successfully maintain her intrinsic weirdness, replete with shamanistic howls. That’s a serious balancing act.  I’m not going to name any names Bon Iver and The Big Pink, but I’d love to see 4AD put all their muscle behind this artist, rather than other, more mediocre acts that I’ve seen reared from that label as of late. I still maintain the company’s position that Grabus’ closest contemporaries are Xiu Xiu and Tickley Feather rather than Dirty Projectors (listen to “Riotriot” immediately if you disagree), as I did in the Bird Brains review. The fact that an institution like NPR is embracing this is nothing short of phenomenal.

whokill is out everywhere today! You can grip it from 4AD or your favorite brick and mortar.

POSSIBLY RELEVANT :::
Tune Yards – Bird Brains

MP3 :::
Tune Yards – Doorstep