''Nikki Nack'' is the third album by American band

Tune-Yards Tune-Yards (stylized as tUnE-yArDs) is the American, Oakland, California–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 pedals, ukulele, voca ...

, released by 4AD in May 2014. On March 3, 2014, singer Merril Garbus posted a two-and-a-half-minute

megamix A megamix is a remix containing multiple songs in rapid succession. It often features various artists. There may be only one verse or even just a brief chorus of each song used, sometimes in addition to samples of the same or other songs. It is ...

of tracks from the album on her website, thanking fans for "your support and patience while we cooked this chicken." A subsequent tour was announced, including a batch of international tour dates and a few festivals. The album features work with record producers

John Hill John Hill may refer to: Business * John Henry Hill (1791–1882), American businessman, educator and missionary * John Hill (planter) (1824–1910), Scottish-born American industrialist and planter * John Hill (businessman) (1847–1926), Austral ...

and

Malay Malay may refer to: Languages * Malay language or Bahasa Melayu, a major Austronesian language spoken in Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore ** History of the Malay language, the Malay language from the 4th to the 14th century ** Indonesi ...

. On March 18, 2014, Garbus released the first album single, "Water Fountain". On April 25, 2014,

NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

began streaming the album as part of its ''First Listen'' series.

Background and recording

In early 2013, Garbus took a trip to Haiti to work on the follow up to her 2011 release ''

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 ...

''. The album features contributions from the

a cappella ''A cappella'' (, also , ; ) music is a performance by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Ren ...

singing group

Roomful of Teeth Roomful of Teeth is a vocal ensemble founded in 2009 by Brad Wells. Its stated mission is to "mine the expressive potential of the human voice".

Touring

On April 23, Garbus embarked on a tour supporting

Arcade Fire Arcade Fire is a Canadian indie rock band, consisting of husband and wife Win Butler and Régine Chassagne, alongside Richard Reed Parry, Tim Kingsbury and Jeremy Gara. The band's current touring line-up also includes former core member S ...

in North America, before her own headline shows across Europe and North America, joined by a full touring band. Band members for the ''Nikki Nack'' tour were Merrill Garbus (drums, vocals, keys, ukulele), Nate Brenner (bass, synths, vocals), Haley Dekle (percussion, vocals), Jo Lampert (vocals), Dani Markham (percussion, vocals), and Abigail Nessen-Bengson (vocals).

Promotion

A music video directed by Joel Kefali was released on April 23, 2014 for "Water Fountain". Garbus also appeared on the podcast ''

Comedy Bang! Bang! ''Comedy Bang! Bang!'' (formerly ''Comedy Death-Ray Radio'') is a weekly comedy audio podcast, which originally began airing as a radio show on May 1, 2009.A Special Thing Forums:Comedy Death-Ray Radio starts today! Popularly known as ''Humani ...

'' alongside comedians

Jenny Slate Jenny Sarah Slate (born March 25, 1982) is an American actress, comedian, and author. Born and raised in Milton, Massachusetts, Slate was educated at Milton Academy and studied literature at Columbia University, where she became involved in the ...

and

Jon Daly Jon Daly, sometimes credited as Jonathan C. Daly, Jon C. Daly or Jonathan Barney Daly, is an American actor, comedian, writer, and producer best known for his sketch comedy work on the Comedy Central series ''Kroll Show''. In 2013 he starred as H ...

in June 2014 to promote the album. On August 6, 2015, a video created by Sarah Pupo for the song "Rocking Chair" was released. The single, "Water Fountain" featured as soundtrack in the

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" ...

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 ...

'', along with the eight season finale of '' Shameless''

Critical reception

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from music critics, ''Nikki Nack'' received an average score of 83, which indicates "universal acclaim", based on 34 reviews. Cian Taylor of ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'' described the album as pairing "non-western musical traditions with melodies fit for a playground" while combining "layers of fizzing electronics and rapid-fire wordplay" and stated that at its best, it is "easily Tune-Yards' finest work." Barry Walters of ''

Spin Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thread by twisting fibers together, traditionally by hand spinning * Spin, the rotation of an object around a central axis * Spin (propaganda), an intentionally b ...

'' stated that "''Nikki Nack'' betters ''

'' by beefing up its feral ferocity with more sophisticated chops" and, in particular, complimented the power of "Garbus's magnificent yelp." At ''

Alternative Press Alternative press may refer to: Individual publications * ''Alternative Press'' (magazine), an American music magazine Alternative journalism * Alternative media ** Alternative media (U.S. political left) ** Alternative media (U.S. political ri ...

'',

Jeff Rosenstock Jeffrey Ernest Rosenstock (born September 7, 1982) is an American musician, multi-instrumentalist, singer and songwriter from Long Island, New York. He is known for his former bands Bomb the Music Industry! and The Arrogant Sons of Bitches, as well ...

remarked on how "''Nikki Nack'' pinballs between tidy arrangements and full-blown maximalism to find catchy melodies and dance beats in the strangest places." ''

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 ...

''s

Will Hermes Will Hermes (born December 27, 1960 in Jamaica, Queens, New York City) is an American author, broadcaster, journalist and critic who has written extensively about popular music. He is a longtime contributor to ''Rolling Stone'' and to National Pu ...

stated that the album suggests that Garbus is "an innovator in it for the long haul."

Track listing

Charts

References

External links

* * * {{Authority control 2014 albums 4AD albums Tune-Yards albums Albums produced by Malay (record producer)