Not a George Michael cover.
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[6.14]
Katherine St Asaph: The Tune-Yards trick you know and have some (probably strong) opinion on, except with drum machines. Lots of drum machines. Lots of really great drum machines.
[7]
Alfred Soto: Whoa, check out that bass — John Deacon, watch out. Using her battle-tested trick of experimenting with single-line hooks that assume the weight of mantras, Merrill Garbus applies a mixing board lacquer as if she thought she could hit the top ten like Paramore. Well, Paramore didn’t this time. Less than meets the ear, after several plays.
[7]
Ian Mathers: Used to be more interesting in theory than in execution; now with the slightly more conventional sound it’s not even that.
[3]
Ryo Miyauchi: Machinery is nothing new to the music of Tune-Yards, but what a difference sequenced drum-machine claps make: as they flatten the project, they also shrink the song back to the bedroom confines of her Bird-Brains days. But bold humanness stays intact thanks to the titular hook and the associations she makes with it. Before she even says “locked and loaded,” her hands have taken on numerous destructive forms.
[6]
Nortey Dowuona: Nice, slick bass, solid but unmoving drums, 2D synths, gurgling pianos. Through the classy guitar cuts Tune-Yards’ echo-y, melodic voice.
[5]
Kat Stevens: The cat started miaowing extremely loudly during the last minute, just at the bit where Merrill sailed her dinghy over the waterfall.
[7]
Mo Kim: The familiar smoke swelling in Merrill Garbus’ voice, even amidst an unusually smooth disco-rock instrumental, makes “Look at Your Hands” an intriguing song to hold; there’s dirt under the nails even as the chipper guitar licks and spacey synth constellations blush with color. This feels as much poetry as it does pop.
[8]