Humor me here.
For those of you who saw Tune-Yards’ whokill win the critics’ poll and went “ugggggghhhhh,” what is it that you don’t like about the album (or the artist)? I’m honestly not trolling here, I promise! I love the album (it was my #1), but I understand that her election as President Of Music doesn’t come with a mandate or anything. She’s still sold less than 50k, her victory was perhaps aided by vote-splitting because of the Internet’s Horn Of Plenty, and so on. But for those who hate whokill and/or Tune-Yards, what is it? Not a lot of bad stuff has been written about whokill this year. Is it:
- Her “feral and/or primal” aesthetic?
- Her unique singing voice?
- Her use of loop pedals and/or ukeleles?
- Her political edge and/or feminism?
- Her appropriation of au courant West African musical signifiers and/or the use of “gangsta”?
- Her pre-emptive recognition of such appropriation, which she embeds into the music itself?
- UGGGGGGH INDIE?
- The fact that she doesn’t represent “2011 music” as well as _____________?
- EDIT: Her UnCoNvEnTiOnAl UsE oF OrThOgRaPhY? (thanks to Tom)
I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that, although I don’t hate Tune-Yards, if I did it would be, by process of elimination, point #1 - simply because all the others basically describe the Dirty Projectors and/or Vampire Weekend, both artists I really liked over the past few years (apart from the last two points, which don’t really mean anything to me). I don’t really understand what the first point means, but as the glaringly obvious connection between those other two groups is that they are (all or mostly) male, the natural conclusion is that I find female musicianship “feral and/or primal” in its aesthetics. but does that mean EMA lacks such aesthetics? maybe, if aggression translates less into intimidation than an absence of cool. which is what ‘Bizness’ basically reads as to me - it’s frantic and anxious, and that’s a totally great thing in itself but it’s not what appeals to me; maybe what I find in the Dirty Projectors or Vampire Weekend is an extra layer of cynicism which I find more relatable, even if Tune-Yards is more direct for other people. I dunno, it’s an interesting thing to generalise about (which is what this is, to a ridiculous degree) because it poses questions about how we come to functionally similar things as more general kind of listeners.
