Tune-Yards

FUTURE PILOT

“I heard plenty of recorder ensembles.” TUNE-YARDS

What music are you currently grooving to?

I’m pretty obsessed with the stuff coming out on Soundway Records, particularly the Batida records. Meridian Brothers’ latest LP gets constant play.

What, if push comes to shove, is your all-time favourite album?

I always go back to Johnny Clegg, Cruel, Crazy Beautiful World. I’m unashamed of my love of the ’80s drum reverb, though I often reflect on what it means to have been 12 and so heavily influenced by South African music, including lyrics in a language I still don’t understand.

What was the first record you ever bought? And where did you buy it? The cassingle of Björk’s Human Behaviour, at the long-gone Gramophone Records in my hometown in Connecticut. Both sides revolutionised my musical world… I long for B-sides like Atlantic, which is essentially a recorder ensemble with Björk on top. Every summer I went with my mother to an Early Music camp where I heard plenty of recorder ensembles, though, so it felt very familiar.

Which musician, other than yourself, have you ever wanted to be? As a kid, Debbie Gibson. And difficult to admit now, but I used to put band-aids on my fingertips like Michael Jackson. Since I’ve been a musician I think I’ve tried hard to be in my own body, although all of my musical work is made from those who came before, on the labour of many black musicians in particular.

What do you sing in the shower? The shower is the ideal place for vocal warm-ups.

What is your favourite Saturday night record?

Technically it’s Friday night, but Questlove is blowing our minds with his weekly DJ set. Also DJ Fitz, on Kanal 103 in Macedonia!

And your Sunday morning record? I was generously gifted some Luaka Bop vinyl lately, and Afro-Peruvian Classics: The Soul Of Black Peru has become our Sunday soundtrack.

Tune-Yards’ Sketchy is out on March 26.