Tune-Yards (stylized as tUnE-yArDs) is the American,

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

–based music project of Merrill Garbus and Nate Brenner. Garbus's music draws from an eclectic variety of sources and utilizes elements such as

loop pedal Loop or LOOP may refer to: Brands and enterprises * Loop (mobile), a Bulgarian virtual network operator and co-founder of Loop Live * Loop, clothing, a company founded by Carlos Vasquez in the 1990s and worn by Digable Planets * Loop Mobile, an ...

s, ukulele, vocals, and lo-fi percussion. Tune-Yards’ 2011 album ''

Whokill ''Whokill'' (stylized as ''w h o k i l l'') is the second full-length release by Merrill Garbus' project Tune-Yards. It was released on 4AD Records on April 19, 2011. It was the number one album of 2011 on '' The Village Voice's'' annual Pazz an ...

'' was ranked the number one album of that year in '' The Village Voice's'' annual

Pazz and Jop Pazz & Jop was an annual poll of top musical releases, compiled by American newspaper ''The Village Voice'' and created by music critic Robert Christgau. It published lists of the year's top releases for 1971 and, after Christgau's two-year abse ...

critic's poll. The album ''

Nikki Nack ''Nikki Nack'' is the third album by American band Tune-Yards, released by 4AD in May 2014. On March 3, 2014, singer Merril Garbus posted a two-and-a-half-minute megamix of tracks from the album on her website, thanking fans for "your support ...

'' was released in 2014, with its first single, "Water Fountain", being picked up by

Google Pixel Google Pixel is a brand of consumer electronic devices developed by Google that run either ChromeOS or the Android operating system. The Pixel brand was introduced in February 2013 with the first-generation Chromebook Pixel. The Pixel line inclu ...

in 2016 for an advertising campaign. The album '' I Can Feel You Creep Into My Private Life'' was released in January 2018. At the same time, Tune-Yards provided an atmospheric score for the sci fi film ''

Sorry to Bother You ''Sorry to Bother You'' is a 2018 American surrealist black comedy film written and directed by Boots Riley, in his directorial debut. It stars Lakeith Stanfield, Tessa Thompson, Jermaine Fowler, Omari Hardwick, Terry Crews, Patton Oswalt, Dav ...

''.

History and work

Born in 1979, Garbus was raised in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and in

New Canaan, Connecticut New Canaan () is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 20,622 according to the 2020 census. About an hour from Manhattan by train, the town is considered part of Connecticut's Gold Coast. The town is bounde ...

.Mark Richardson
"Interviews: tUnE-yArDs"
''

Pitchfork A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to th ...

'', April 25, 2011. She attended

Smith College Smith College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in Northampton, Massachusetts. It was chartered in 1871 by Sophia Smith (Smith College ...

. She was a

puppeteer A puppeteer is a person who manipulates an inanimate object, called a puppet, to create the illusion that the puppet is alive. The puppet is often shaped like a human, animal, or legendary creature. The puppeteer may be visible to or hidden from ...

for the Sandglass Theater in VermontByard Duncan
"Merrill Garbus' Road to Fame"
, ''

The Bay Citizen The Bay Citizen was a non-profit news organization covering the San Francisco Bay Area. It was founded as the Bay Area News Project in January 2010 with money provided by Warren Hellman's Hellman Family Foundation. On May 26, 2010 the organizatio ...

'', April 20, 2012. and lived in Montreal where she played ukulele in the band Sister Suvi with guitarist Patrick Gregoire and drummer Nico Dann. Merrill's sister Ruth Garbus is also a musician who has played solo and in the band Happy Birthday. After releasing her first Tune-Yards album in 2008, she moved to Oakland, California, where her partner in Tune-Yards, Nate Brenner, also lives. The first Tune-Yards album, ''

Bird-Brains ''Bird-Brains'' (stylized as ''BiRd-BrAiNs'') is the debut album by American lo-fi musician Merrill Garbus' project Tune-Yards. It was originally released as a Compact Cassette on Marriage Records on June 9, 2009, and was re-released on August ...

'' (stylized as ''BiRd-BrAiNs'') was originally self-released by Garbus on recycled cassette tape. It was recorded using only a handheld voice recorder. A limited edition vinyl was released in June 2009, via the

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

-based imprint Marriage Records. In July 2009, it was announced that Tune-Yards had signed to 4AD, and a limited edition pressing of ''Bird-Brains'' was released on August 17, 2009. A full worldwide release followed on November 16, 2009 (and November 17 in North America). The autumn 2009 pressing was remastered at

Abbey Road Studios Abbey Road Studios (formerly EMI Recording Studios) is a recording studio at 3 Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London, England. It was established in November 1931 by the Gramophone Company, a predecessor of British music c ...

by Christian Wright, and includes two new bonus tracks: "Want Me To" and "Real Live Flesh." A second album, ''

'' (stylized as ''w h o k i l l''), was released on April 19, 2011. A single from it, "Bizness", came out in February 2011. It was produced by Garbus and engineered by Eli Crews at New, Improved Studios in Oakland, California. Applying the live approach to Garbus' studio work for the first time, Garbus works with bass player Nate Brenner, who co-wrote some of the album's songs. Comparing the act to

Sonic Youth Sonic Youth was an American rock band based in New York City, formed in 1981. Founding members Thurston Moore (guitar, vocals), Kim Gordon (bass, vocals, guitar) and Lee Ranaldo (guitar, vocals) remained together for the entire history of the b ...

, Frontier Psychiatrist said, "if Bird-Brains was Garbus' ''

Evol Evol may refer to: * ''Evol'' (Sonic Youth album), 1986 * ''Evol'' (Future album), 2016 * EvoL, South Korean girl group * "E.V.O.L.", a song by Marina and the Diamonds * ' Kamen Rider Evol', the main antagonist of a Japanese tokusatsu series, Ka ...

'', a record bursting with musical ideas that attempted to subvert the notion of song, ''who kill'' is Garbus' ''

Sister A sister is a woman or a girl who shares one or more parents with another individual; a female sibling. The male counterpart is a brother. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to refer to ...

'', a record that embraces the traditional pop song as a vehicle to convey those ideas." The album as well as singles "Bizness" and "Gangsta" received mention on many top 2011 album and song lists, including ''Time'', ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'', ''Spin'', and ''

the New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''. In early 2012, the Village Voice's annual "

" poll of critics named

the No. 1 album of 2011. The song "Fiya" is featured on a 2010 commercial for the Blackberry Torch, while the song "Gangsta" has been used in the television shows ''

Orange Is the New Black ''Orange Is the New Black'' (sometimes abbreviated to ''OITNB'') is an American comedy-drama streaming television series created by Jenji Kohan for Netflix. The series is based on Piper Kerman's memoir '' Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Wo ...

'', ''

Letterkenny Letterkenny ( ga, Leitir Ceanainn , meaning 'hillside of the O'Cannons'), nicknamed 'the Cathedral Town', is the largest and most populous town in County Donegal, a county in Ulster, the northern province in Ireland. Letterkenny lies on the R ...

'', '' Weeds'' and ''

The Good Wife ''The Good Wife'' is an American legal and political drama television series that aired on CBS from September 22, 2009, to May 8, 2016. It focuses on Alicia Florrick, the wife of the Cook County State's Attorney, who returns to her career in law ...

'' and the song "Bizness" was used in Season 3 of ''

Transparent Transparency, transparence or transparent most often refer to: * Transparency (optics), the physical property of allowing the transmission of light through a material They may also refer to: Literal uses * Transparency (photography), a still, ...

''. Garbus started recording material for her third LP during the latter half of 2013, with a working title of ''Sink-o''. A May 6, 2014 release date was later announced with the title ''

''. The album spawned three singles, including "Water Fountain", which was featured in the soundtrack for

EA Sports EA Sports is a division of Electronic Arts that develops and publishes sports video games. Formerly a marketing gimmick of Electronic Arts, in which they tried to imitate real-life sports networks by calling themselves the "EA Sports Network" ...

video game

FIFA 15 ''FIFA 15'' is a football simulation video game developed by EA Canada and published by Electronic Arts under the EA Sports label. It was released on 23 September 2014 in North America, 25 September in Europe and 26 September in the United Kingdom ...

as well as in a 2016 commercial for the

. A fourth album was released on January 19, 2018, called '' I Can Feel You Creep Into My Private Life''. The album showed more of an electronic influence. The single "Look at Your Hands" was released earlier, in October 2017, followed by "Heart Attack" in January. The Tune-Yards scored the satiric sci fi film ''

'' (2018). The film was shown at Sundance in January, then began a theatrical run in July. Its soundtrack songs are performed by

the Coup The Coup is an American hip hop band from Oakland, California. Their music is an amalgamation of influences, including funk, punk, hip hop, and soul. Frontman Boots Riley's revolutionarily-charged lyrics rank The Coup as a renowned political ...

, fronted by the film's director,

Boots Riley Raymond Lawrence "Boots" Riley (born April 1, 1971), is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, rapper, and communist activist. He is the lead vocalist of The Coup and Street Sweeper Social Club. He made his feature-film directorial ...

. Riley said he started working with Tune-Yards in "early 2015" to create the film's score, with demo tracks already available before the script was complete, and before the start of principal photography. Riley said he was attracted to Garbus's voice, and to the band's "unorthodox use of percussion and vocal layering." In 2021, Tune-Yards appeared as the opening performance for

Google I/O Google I/O (or simply I/O) is an annual developer conference held by Google in Mountain View, California. "I/O" stands for Input/Output, as well as the slogan "Innovation in the Open". The event's format is similar to Google Developer Day. His ...

with Artificial Intelligence powered vocal accompaniment.

Members

*Merrill Garbus –

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

ukulele The ukulele ( ; from haw, ukulele , approximately ), also called Uke, is a member of the lute family of instruments of Portuguese origin and popularized in Hawaii. It generally employs four nylon strings. The tone and volume of the instrumen ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

(2006–present) *Nate Brenner –

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

(2009–present) ;Touring members *Hamir Atwal – percussion (I can feel you creep into my private life tour, Sketchy tour) *Noah Bernstein –

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to pr ...

(whokill tour) *Haley Dekle - percussion, vocals (Nikki Nack tour) *Kasey Knudsen – saxophone (whokill tour) *Jo Lampert – vocals (Nikki Nack tour) *Dani Markham – percussion, vocals (Nikki Nack tour) *Matt Nelson – saxophone (whokill tour) *Abigail Nessen-Bengson – vocals (Nikki Nack tour) *Moira Smiley – vocals (Nikki Nack tour)

Discography

Studio albums

Soundtracks

EPs

*''Bird-Droppings'' (November 3, 2009, 4AD, EAD2938) US-only download EP *''...creep... Remixes'' (October 31, 2018, 4AD, 4AD0127DS) Download-only EP

Singles

Guest appearances

Citay Citay is an American, San Francisco-based band currently released on Dead Oceans. The band was formed in 2004 by Ezra Feinberg as a studio project with Tim Green from The Fucking Champs, and some help from others. There is now a live band includin ...

– "Mirror Kisses" from ''Dream Get Together'' (January 26, 2010,

Dead Oceans Dead Oceans is an American independent record label formed in 2007 and based in Bloomington, Indiana, with offices in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Austin, London, Paris, Amsterdam, and Berlin. Dead Oceans is part of Secretly Group, which also ...

) *

Afuche The cabasa, similar to the shekere, is a percussion instrument that is constructed with loops of steel ball chain wrapped around a wooden cylinder. The cylinder is fixed to a long, wooden or plastic handle. The metal cabasa was created by Mart ...

– "Danice Marino" from ''

Highly Publicized Digital Boxing Match ''Highly Publicized Digital Boxing Match'' is the second album by Afuche, a band founded in Brooklyn in 2008. The album was released on May 31, 2011. It has been called the most innovative album of 2011, specifically by WVAU.org. Reception Track ...

'' (May 21, 2011,

Cuneiform Records Cuneiform Records is a record label in Silver Spring, Maryland. Founded in 1984, the label releases an mixture of musical styles, all with a Rock in Opposition aesthetic, including progressive jazz, jazz fusion, the Canterbury scene, and electr ...

) *Elephant & Castle – "En Memoria" from ''Transitions'' (March 27, 2012,

Plug Research Plug Research is an independent record label, based in Los Angeles, California, US. Created by Allen Avanessian in 1994, the label specialized in IDM, folktronica and experimental music. The label began with young artists that have made its rep ...

) *

Preservation Hall Jazz Band The Preservation Hall Jazz Band is a New Orleans jazz band founded in New Orleans by tuba player Allan Jaffe in the early 1960s. The band derives its name from Preservation Hall in the French Quarter. In 2005, the Hall's doors were closed for a p ...

– "Careless Love" from ''St. Peter & 57th St.'' (September 25, 2012,

Rounder Records Rounder Records is an independent record label founded in 1970 in Somerville, Massachusetts by Marian Leighton Levy, Ken Irwin, and Bill Nowlin. Focused on American roots music, Rounder's catalogue of more than 3000 titles includes records by Al ...

) *

The Blind Boys of Alabama The Blind Boys of Alabama, also billed as The Five Blind Boys of Alabama, and Clarence Fountain and the Blind Boys of Alabama, is an American gospel group. The group was founded in 1939 in Talladega, Alabama, and has featured a changing roster ...

– "I've Been Searching" from ''I'll Find a Way'' (October 1, 2013,

Sony Masterworks Sony Music Masterworks (Sony Masterworks) is a record label, the result of a restructuring of Sony Music's classical music division. Before the acquisition of Bertelsmann's shares in the former Sony BMG, the label was known as Sony BMG Masterwor ...

) *

Battles (band) Battles is an American experimental rock group, founded in 2002 in New York City by Ian Williams (formerly of Don Caballero and Storm & Stress). The current line-up is a duo, composed of guitarist/keyboardist Williams and drummer John Stanier ...

– "Last Supper On Shasta Pt 1 / Pt 2" from ''

Juice B Crypts ''Juice B Crypts'' is the fourth studio album by American experimental rock band Battles, produced by Chris Tabron, and released through Warp on October 16, 2019. It is the band's first album as a duo, following guitarist/bassist Dave Konopka's dep ...

'' (October 16, 2019,

Warp (record label) Warp Records (or simply Warp) is a British independent record label founded in Sheffield in 1989 by record store employees Steve Beckett and Rob Mitchell and record producer Robert Gordon.Southern, Richard (2003) "Label of Love: WARP", X-RAY, A ...

)

Productions

* Thao &

Mirah Mirah (born Mirah Yom Tov Zeitlyn) is an American musician and songwriter based in Brooklyn, New York. After getting her start in the music scene of Olympia, Washington in the late 1990s, she released a number of well-received solo albums on K ...

– ''

Thao + Mirah ''Thao & Mirah'' is a collaborative studio album by Thao Nguyen & Mirah, released in 2011 on Kill Rock Stars. In support of the album Thao and Mirah toured with indie music artists such as BOBBY. It was well received by music critics; according t ...

'' (April 26, 2011,

Kill Rock Stars Kill Rock Stars is an independent record label founded in 1991 by Slim Moon and Tinuviel Sampson, and based in both Olympia, Washington, and Portland, Oregon. The label has released a variety of work in different genres, but was originally known ...

) *

Latyrx Latyrx is an American alternative hip hop duo consisting of Lateef the Truthspeaker and Lyrics Born. The roots of their partnership lay in the formation of the Solesides collective at the University of California, Davis. History The crew's char ...

– "Deliberate Jibberish" and "Watershed Moment" from '' The Second Album'' (November 5, 2013, Latyramid) *

Thao & the Get Down Stay Down Thao & the Get Down Stay Down was an American alternative/folk rock group that originated in Falls Church, Virginia in 2003, before relocating to San Francisco, California. Its final lineup consisted of Thao Nguyen ( lead vocals, guitar) and A ...

– ''

A Man Alive ''A Man Alive'' is the fourth studio album by alternative folk band Thao & The Get Down Stay Down, released on the Ribbon Music label in March 2016.Primas, Tyler (2016), 7X7, February 18, 2016. Retrieved March 3, 2016 Background The subjec ...

'' (March 4, 2016,

Ribbon Music Ribbon Music is an American-based independent Music Publishing Company, representing a diverse roster of international writers working across a multitude of genres including rock, country, punk, metal, dabke, electronic, Latin and folk. For a com ...

) *Sonny & the Sunsets – Moods Baby Moods (May 27, 2016,

Polyvinyl In polymer chemistry, vinyl polymers are a group of polymers derived from substituted vinyl () monomers. Their backbone is an extended alkane chain . In popular usage, "vinyl" refers only to polyvinyl chloride (PVC). Examples Vinyl polymers are ...

)

Compilation appearances

*"Powa" from ''4AD Sessions 2008–2011'' (September 20, 2011, 4AD) *"Bizness" from ''Modern Songbirds: The Most Incredible Female Singers'' (April 20, 2012,

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 201 ...

) *"Bizness" from ''Studio Brussel Selected Live Sessions'' (April 21, 2012,

Studio Brussel A studio is an artist or worker's workroom. This can be for the purpose of acting, architecture, painting, pottery (ceramics), sculpture, origami, woodworking, scrapbooking, photography, graphic design, filmmaking, animation, industrial d ...

) *"Lady" from ''Red Hot + Fela'' (June 1, 2012,

Knitting Factory Records Knitting Factory Records is an independent American music label that is notable for promoting a variety of artists, including the music of deceased Nigerian political activist Fela Kuti. The label promotes a variety of music artists including ...

) *"Riotriot" from ''Rough Trade Shops: Green Man '12'' (July 30, 2012,

Rough Trade Records Rough Trade Records is an independent record label based in London, England. It was formed in 1976 by Geoff Travis who had opened a record store off Ladbroke Grove. Having successfully promoted and sold records by punk rock and early post-pun ...

)

Notes

References

External links

Tune-Yards' official website
*
Tune-Yards' profile on 4AD's website
{{Authority control 4AD artists Lo-fi music groups Afro-beat musical groups One-man bands Feminist musicians American experimental musical groups Musical groups established in 2006 American rhythm and blues musical groups Art pop musicians