Leave it to a new buzz band to beat the turnout for the legendary Swans at the same venue less than a week later and practically quadruple audience feedback. Last night at Beachland Ballroom, Tune-Yards turned in a 65-minute set heavy on highlights.
Tune-Yards’ Merrill Garbus graced the stage to lay the groundwork drum loops of an unreleased live staple “Party Can (Do You Want to Live?)” before Nate Brenner stepped in to provide the bassline. From the start, the crowd was more than eager to chime-in on the emphatic “yeah!” callbacks the song encourages.
From there, the band ripped through much of the new whokill, which is leaps and bounds better than the debut album, and one of this year’s finest.
Garbus alternated between fashioning drum and vocal loops to her ukulele, while Brenner split between bass and drums. This tour adds a saxophone section — specifically alto and tenor sax — to round out the exuberant sound, and proved most dexterous on the game-changing single “Bizness.”
This article appears in Sep 21-27, 2011.