"Bizness" tUnE-yArDs

Ask any indie enthusiast and they'll tell you that tUnE-yArDs—the avant-garde music project of vocalist/songwriter/instrumentalist Merrill Garbus—is one of the hippest new acts to hit the scene in years. For the rest of us, it was probably a seriously head-scratching (and tongue-twisting) moment when her second album, w h o k i l l s, topped the Village Voice's prestigious Pazz & Jop critics' poll last week as the best of 2011. Not to fret. Though a one-woman band and spelling choices that would give your high school English teacher a migraine might throw up warning signs to the casual pop fan, the set's first single, "Bizness" (which premiered last February), is the perfect gateway drug to Garbus' unique brand of melodic experimentation. Built on a sparse electro-vocal soundscape, the track is full of the unexpected and delightful—especially when the chorus explodes into soulful worldbeat, featuring the year's grooviest use of saxophone (sorry, Gaga!). Garbus' deep, full howls of pain make the song's mournful love story bleed true. A