#6
tUnE-yArDs: “Bizness”
[from W H O K I L L / 4AD] 

If you aren’t charmed by Merrill Garbus’ work as tUnE-yArDs, her backstory or just her in general, then there is a distinct possibility that you have no soul. W H O K I L L as a whole shows what can occur if you allow yourself total creative expression and don’t let any of your fears hold you under water. For a woman who comes across as such a sweetheart in the various interviews I’ve read and heard, Garbus is a brutal force to be reckoned when it comes to her music. The execution of W H O K I L L is unlike anything else that was released in 2011.

At the early part of the year, I was convinced that I would not hear a greater song for the remainder of the year than I had found in “Bizness”. At the same time, that’s not to say that the five songs that are ahead of it on this particular sense are better. In many ways, they aren’t. Actually, in most ways, they aren’t. “Bizness” transcends pop music and enters a realm unto itself. Part protest song, part avant garde masterpiece, part lesson in musical theory, part primal scream session, it’s a song that urges you to queue it up again the second it finishes playing just to have the opportunity to go back and make sure you really did hear what you thought you heard. I really don’t know what else to say. This is a stunning piece of music.

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