As live music goes, Tuesday night's tUnE-yArDs show at the Bishop proved to be my biggest surprise of the year so far. I never go to a show with the intention to slate it, but I must confess that I went into this one a little skeptical. In my experience, "avant garde" has rarely ever equated with "good" -- and, man, tUnE-yArDs is way out there.
However, I am very pleased to report that my fears were unfounded: this turned out to be a terrifically entertaining show.
Things kicked off with Bloomington's Redbird in a two-person incarnation with Michael Bushman doing vocals and lead guitar and Andrew Shaw on bass (except for a one-song swap between the two). To echo a previous reviewer's take, between vivid lyrics and Bushman's voice, the pair really did sound like Okkervil River in that band's quieter moments (such as most of Okkervil River's Golden Opportunities Mixtape, available here as a free download from Pitchfork).
This was followed by DM Stith, also from Bloomington but currently getting ready to tour the country with showings of Sufjan Stevens' film The BQE. Knowing that DM Stith was a singer-songwriter and one-man-band on record, I was expecting nothing more than a bloke on acoustic guitar -- or, God help us, a singer with prerecorded accompaniment. Instead, he turned up as part of a five-piece ensemble complete with brass and sax, and made a big, bittersweet noise that was reminiscent of Beirut (except, perhaps, a little more Spanish- than Gypsy-sounding).
Which brings us, then, to tUnE-yArDs. Like DM Stith, tUnE-yArDs is a singer-songwriter solo project, this time headed by Merrill Garbus. Unlike DM Stith, tUnE-yArDs is quite bonkers (but in a very good way). Rather than bring in several additional musicians (besides accompanists like bassist/beer bottle xylophone-player Nate Brenner), tUnE-yArDs makes extensive use of live looping -- that is, the recording, playing back, and layering of live samples using effects pedals. Thus, while singing, jumping, playing a ukulele, and drumming, Garbus is also taking these sounds and combining them on the fly into multi-layered compositions. As the looped samples of the vocals and drums have a bit of a West African feel, the result is sort of like Fela Kuti meets Andrew Bird by way of MIA and The Talking Heads (which, I know, is a totally useless description -- just click one of the tUnE-yArDs links above and listen for yourself). The gradual construction of one of these songs is almost as fascinating to watch as it is to hear, and Garbus' constant juggling between live playing and looping lends it all a sense of wild unpredictability.
I'm not sure that an album can quite capture the live tUnE-yArDs experience, but Garbus' debut BiRd-BrAiNs is currently available in limited release from 4AD and will see a full CD release November 17. Meanwhile, DM Stith's debut LP Heavy Ghost came out March 10 from Asthmatic Kitty; and Redbird self-released an album back in April, but I'm not exactly sure of how one goes about getting hold of a copy -- ask nicely, perhaps?
