Nikki Nack [Red Vinyl] (LP)


Tune-Yards

Vinyl
Currently Unavailable
$24.98
SHIPS FREE in U.S.
Also available in: CD, Vinyl LP

Amoeba Review

05/05/2014

tUnE-yArDs’ Merrill Garbus has always seemed outright phobic of sounding like anyone else, mangling her elastic voice, drums loops and kitchen-sink instrumentation into a cartoonish assembling of sounds that only slightly resembles other indie pop of its ilk. “On the one hand, there is what sounds good, on the other there is what’s true,” she sings on the relatively low-key “Look Around,” as if addressing any criticisms of her music head-on. However, Nikki Nack is Garbus’ best album because she’s able here to wrangle her wild ideas into instantly memorable pop songs that are still nonetheless really effing strange. Whether she’s inventing new hopscotch cheers with Busta Rhymes references on “Water Fountain,” skipping along cabaret-jazz vibes on “Real Thing” or creating alien freestyle jams like “Sink-O” and “Wait for a Minute,” Garbus remains definitely tuned to her own frequency. However, these songs are as rife with hooks as they are loaded with tangents and unstoppable energy. The songs that aren’t as concerned with rule-breaking on Nikki Nack are almost more striking in that they reveal the power of Garbus’ incredible voice and her ability to make even a seemingly straightforward song hauntingly unusual, as on songs like “Time of Dark,” which reveal themselves to be highlights upon repeated listens. tUnE-yArDs still isn’t for everyone—there’s a childlike reading called “Why Do We Dine on the Tots?” that’s a bit of groan-worthy performance art—but listeners who may have shied away from tUnE-yArDs bizzaro pop in the past will find lots to feast on here, as Nikki Nack is always more intriguing than off-putting in its otherness. Listening requires plenty of trust, but Garbus makes falling down the rabbit hole with her well worth it on Nikki Nack.



Track Listing



Side A Titles
Artist
Length
1.
Find A New Way
Tune-Yards 03:27
2.
Water Fountain
Tune-Yards 03:03
3.
Time of Dark
Tune-Yards 04:33
4.
Real Thing
Tune-Yards 03:21
5.
Look Around
Tune-Yards 04:25
6.
Hey Life
Tune-Yards 03:37


Side B Titles
Artist
Length
1.
Sink-O
Tune-Yards 03:16
2.
Interlude: Why Do We Dine On The Tots?
Tune-Yards 01:27
3.
Stop That Man
Tune-Yards 03:32
4.
Wait for a Minute
Tune-Yards 03:53
5.
Left Behind
Tune-Yards 04:31
6.
Rocking Chair
Tune-Yards 02:03
7.
Manchild
Tune-Yards 03:09

Vinyl
Currently Unavailable
$24.98
SHIPS FREE in U.S.
Also available in: CD , LP
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