Ten Thousand Voices Lost And Found

tUnE-yArDs @ Bowery Ballroom 11/18/2009

Intro / Powa / “What’s That About?” / “Move To My Hood” / Fiya / Real Live Flesh / Hatari / “Do You Want To Live?”

tUnE-yArDs “Hatari”

As Mike Barthel wrote last night, tUnE-yArDs’ debut album is impressive not just for its unique style and the high quality of its songs, but for the way Merrill Garbus’ deliberate, distinct recording aesthetic makes us pay attention to the subtext in her music. I’ve heard so many albums in my life, but I’ve never encountered anything that blends studio-as-instrument technique with raw, live performance as seamlessly and as inventively as bIrD-bRaInS. All of this sets up an intriguing challenge for her live show — stripped of the framing and textures of her album, can her music be as engaging when she’s just there playing in a room?

The answer: Merrill Garbus is even better when she’s just there playing in a room, accompanied only by a skilled bass player. She’s definitely not hobbled by her reliance on loop pedals — if anything, she turns that potential weakness into a major strength, drawing drama and a “wow” factor out of her virtuoso live looping skills. Just as her recording techniques focus our attention on the construction of the music, watching her build her samples in person invites the audience to observe a portion of her creative process. Her voice, undoubtedly the most arresting aspect of her songs, is the center of her live performance, and she easily ranks among the best vocalists I have ever witnessed. Her technique is excellent, but that’s secondary to the raw emotive power of her voice, and the supreme confidence in how she wields it. She’s absolutely fierce at many points through the set, but also versatile, never leaning too hard on the same tricks.

Nearly all of the songs in her show last night were brand new, and she sold them with such authority the audience responded as if they were all beloved hits. There is no doubt in my mind that her second record is going to be incredible. Do yourself a favor: Go see her play live. Do whatever it takes. If you like this music even a little bit, you’re going to leave the show loving her a lot.

Buy it from Amazon.

Dirty Projectors @ Bowery Ballroom 11/18/2009

No Intention / Remade Horizon / Ascending Melody / Fluorescent Half-Dome / Fucked For Life / Gimme Gimme Gimme / Two Doves / Spray Paint / The Bride / Cannibal Resource / Temecula Sunrise / Stillness Is The Move / Useful Chamber // When The World Comes To An End

Dirty Projectors “No Intention”

tUnE-yArDs was a very tough act to follow, and though Dirty Projectors put on an extremely impressive show, my enjoyment of it was dampened somewhat by my astonishment at what Garbus had done less than an hour previous. There are a lot of ways in which Dirty Projectors and tUnE-yArDs are very similar — they’re both playful with rhythm and melody, they lift a lot from various strains of black music, both boast extraordinary vocalists — but contrasting the two in this way highlights some of the areas where Dirty Projectors are lacking. The most obvious thing is that while Garbus’ music is overflowing with passion, David Longstreth’s compositions are far more reserved in their feeling and even when the songs allow for bursts of ecstatic vocalization, it’s just as mannered as his subtly complicated guitar parts and the girls’ intricate hockets. This isn’t a comment on the quality of Longstreth’s music or its emotional quality, but rather how the extreme discipline of it all can lead to somewhat rote performances. It’s easy to just sit there totally in awe of their craft, but if you’re kinda over that aspect of what they do, the less engaging songs in the set can get a bit dull. That said, the best songs are basically unfuckwithable, and the sheer pleasure of hearing these people nail melodies as brilliant and life-affirming as those in “Cannibal Resource,” “No Intention,” “Remade Horizon,” and “Stillness Is The Move” feels something like a miracle.

Buy it from Amazon.