Tuesday night, Sonos and Pandora welcomed costumed beatniks and sullied hippies, alongside a handful of some truly creative individuals to Sonos Studio for an intimate evening with the eclectic brainchild of 4AD’sMerrill Garbus, known as tUnE-yArDs.

This was one of those nights where I was extremely thankful for the fact that the 1,000-piece bag of rhinestones I ordered for Halloween unintentionally arrived a week into November. This was also one of those nights where I ended up hugging myself for having a “job” that gets me into events with an open moonshine bar; sometimes, particularly post-moonshine, I have to slap myself for being too handsy, but ah well.

Anyways, shiny and full of ‘shine, I stood front-and-center for a vivaciously vibrant, 12-song set, which included w h o k i l l staples “Bizness” and the riot-inducing “Gangsta,” alongside the instant classic “Water Fountain” and the playfully angry call for individuality that is “Real Thing” (above), which cries “just what is the real thing, don’t call me the real thing, the search for the real thing, the curse of the real thing” after announcing “I come from the land of slaves. Let’s go Redskins! Let’s go Braves!” and “girls, while you worry ‘bout dress size six, they’re winning the tricks, those tricks, those dicks.”

Honestly, this projectile truth and lack of fear is quite refreshing, especially for a bullshit loather like myself.



Garbis has a knack, or a nikky nack if you can excuse the pun, for convoking a wide array of sounds, whether they be traditionally appealing in music or inspired by daily occurrences like the noise of traffic or birds chirping, and concocting a phonetic soup of unexpectedly compatible flavors.

Balancing on the tight-rope between the aggressively idiosyncratic and communally palatable, Nikki Nackproves to be confident, poignant and irresistibly fun. Put it on blast, and throw back a few shots of absinthe if you really wanna groove to the vibe.

Garbus and her band of nonconformists also hit Conan on Tuesday and are currently finishing up a handful of U.S. dates before hitting Asia and Europe in February.

xx,
Samantha Hissong