Albums of the Year 2011 - #10 tUnE-yArDs - Whokill

Whokill by tUnE-yArDs is one of the most eccentric, inventive and bold albums of the year. Formed out of some sort of crazy cartwheeling self-confidence Merrill Garbus yelps, hollers and howls her way through an album that features moments of stomping jungle percussion, stop-start jitters, afro-punk, warped jazz and brutal strikes.

When Garbus performs live she often paints tribal streaks on her face and that tribalism can be heard within Whokill. It’s raw, edgy and full of freaky experimentation, yet it never veers too far away from pop. Whilst not sonically similar, the vision of tUnE-yArDs is similar to Bjork’s in that she is very much creating something completely of her own. Quite simply there are few musical comparisons. In a world where music has reached middle age, where nothing is truly original anymore, Whokill gets about as close as you can get to uniqueness without ever being unlistenable rubbish.