Playground magazine

In spite of her admission that she is not at all an expert on the matter, Merrill Garbus knows more about African music than most of us. The influence of African music has always been noticeable in her songs as tUnE-yArDs, so it isn’t surprising that the people at the portal Okayafrica (whose top brass are The Roots) have asked her for a new release for their series of mixtapes “Africa In Our Earbuds”. On it, everything from the lo-fi groove of the Somalis Dur Dur to the markedly R&B pop of 9nice can be heard. A real exotic musical feast for the most restless ears.