Hills need not be high
Boiling water need not be hot
Old cars require no oil and
Old flames require no drunk texts
For the new tUnE-yArDs record is out
And it is fucking awesome
I have heard raccoons fall out
of trees
Heard an El Camino mangling a pole
Creaky drawbridges in Rome
Roaring sports crowds
Montana thunderstorms
A baby’s first breath
But nothing like this new
tUnE-yArDs record
Which is fucking awesome
She lives in Oakland, they say
Let’s guess: Temescal
Used to be porn theaters
Hot dog stands, robberies
Now Eritrean restaurants and
Purple corduroys and
Yoga studios
Truth is, guess could be off
Guesses about tUnE-yArDs
Are bound to miserably fail
Any descriptions, likewise
Ginsu knives, taken to tape
Nina Simone and King Sunny Ade
James Jamerson and Lee “Scratch” Perry
Blender turned on pulse
Singing—high
Singing—low
Floppy sloppy bass drum, broken
Intentional chops and cuts
Every instrument, non-instrument
They say she is Merrill Garbus
I tell them to stop there
Taint not the sweet syrup of discovery with
Facts, briny facts
I am not reading about her on the internet
I am turning the record over again and again and again
You do not want to play this record
w h o k i l l
For your friends playing Words With™
Or straggling from bars pining for Bon Scott
After out on the mack
You want to lay flat on the hardwood floor
Awash in its
Fierce, rotund creativity
You want to write poetry even though
You can’t because
You don’t know shit about poetry
Ukulele + Drums + Loops
S O U L
Human urgency for sound
Lyrics = Amazing
Lyrics = Ridiculous
It’s all the same in 2011
tUnE-yArDs plays Tuesday, April 26, at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco. ‘w h o k i l l’ is in stores this week.
