Tune-Yards, Kassa Overall

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Shervin Lainez

The two members of Tune-Yards.

Tune-Yards

media release: Tune-Yards, the dynamic duo of Merrill Garbus and Nate Brenner, have released their new album, Better Dreaming, out everywhere now. Prior to the full album release in May, the band gave fans three preview tracks including “How Big Is The Rainbow”, “Limelight” and “Heartbreak.”’ The duo recently performed on CBS Saturday Morning and today the show has released an additional live performance of “How Big Is The Rainbow.”

Tune-Yards announced a full U.S. headline tour this fall, with newly added September dates kicking off in Washington D.C. on September 22 at the Howard Theatre.

For all U.S. dates, Tune-Yards has partnered with PLUS1 so that $1 per ticket goes to supporting Street Spirit and their work as an independent newspaper dedicated to covering homelessness and poverty from the perspective of those most impacted. The paper is sold on the streets of Berkeley and Oakland by unhoused people, who keep 100% of the donations they receive. A full list of tour dates are below, and tickets go on sale today, Friday, May 16 at 10am local. Visit tuneyards.com for more details.

Based in Oakland, California, Tune-Yards shot to fame with their 2011 4AD label debut W H O K I L L, which topped numerous critics year end lists. The album was preceded by their self-released cassette BiRd-BrAiNs and followed by three phenomenal records for the label - Nikki Nack, I can feel you creep into my private life and 2021’s sketchy. Garbus and Brenner are also known for their film score and composition work including the Boots Riley film Sorry To Bother You and TV series I’m A Virgo. They continue that collaboration with Riley on the upcoming NEON feature, I Love Boosters starring Keke Palmer, LaKeith Standfield and Demi Moore.

More on Better Dreaming:

Distraction, depression, and heartbreak reign supreme in 2025. “Making art in this day and age for me is a battle for focus; we’re in an age of interruption,” says Garbus of Tune-Yards’ sixth album Better Dreaming. Proudly waving an anti-fascist, liberation, freak flag, Better Dreaming contains some of Tune-Yards smoothest, funkiest, and most direct pop music to date, and yes, you can dance to it. And when you do dance to it, be prepared to sweat out something that’s been long stuck inside, and pretty deep down.

The songs of Better Dreaming came to Garbus and Brenner with unusual ease. They asked themselves what would happen if they simply let the songs come out, following any trail they wished - first thought, best thought style. There was a strong desire to move, to make music that would enter the ear and immediately loosen up the joints, get the whole body wiggling. After covid-isolation, and time away from touring and live shows, the desire to be moved by music was undeniable. The insane experience of growing an actual human being influenced this as well.

The rhythms throughout the record carry a certain freshness, with deep pockets full of subtle idiosyncrasies that stem from Tune-Yards’ return to making an album primarily as a duo. All but one of these songs are built around Garbus’ drum looping and rhythm building, as they were on some of the early albums like BiRd-BrAiNs and W H O K I L L – no full kit drummer here, and the songs love it.

Better Dreaming is ferocious in its invocation of self-love, of collective action, of dance floor liberation, ego-death deliverance, and a future we could all thrive in. When diving into the present darkness of the world, Tune-Yards asks themselves how much literal energy and joy can be conjured and pumped through the music. In its life-affirming art- pop of the apocalypse, Better Dreaming comes true.

GRAMMY-nominated jazz visionary and Doris Duke Artist Award winner Kassa Overall unveils “C.R.E.A.M. (CASH RULES EVERYTHING AROUND ME),” a Coltrane-esque exploration of Wu-Tang Clan’s rap anthem that dissolves the boundary between spiritual jazz and golden age hip-hop. The track is the second single off of his eponymously titled forthcoming album CREAM, out digitally and on CD and vinyl September 12 via Warp Records.   

The single follows Overall’s first release from the project, “REBIRTH OF SLICK (COOL LIKE DAT)” (Digable Planets), which has already received praise from outlets including NPR’s All Songs Considered, The New York Times, TIDAL (‘Playlisters’ A-Listers’), KEXP, BBC6, Stereogum, The Needle Drop, Nate Chinen’s ‘The Gig,’ and many more. Overall also recently appeared in DownBeat Magazine’s ‘Rising Star’ critic polls, ranking high in both ‘Drummer of the Year’ and ‘Producer of the Year’ categories.    

In his version of “C.R.E.A.M.,” Overall treats the seminal 1990s Wu-Tang production as a minor blues, inspired by classic Coltrane songs in ¾ like “My Favorite Things.” Hypnotic and cinematic, the drummer and producer’s take on the song leaves you spinning in its powerful afterglow.    

Of his affinity for Wu-Tang Clan, Overall explains: “Their whole energy was an alternative to the get-the-money-shiny-suit mentality. For me, the original ‘C.R.E.A.M.’ was a commentary on ‘Get Money.’ It was realism. It pointed out everyone's scrambling and striving to get ahead, but it also nodded at something beyond that. You could transcend and even control the material world through a higher divine nature.”  

Overall sees the transcendent message of Wu-Tang Clan, John Coltrane’s spiritual pursuit of music, and his own praxis as fundamentally connected. “I heard stories of Trane’s band playing in clubs with eight people and they would be playing like their life depended on it, driven by the spirit and purpose of the music,” said the Seattle-based drummer. “People see us as entertainers, trying to be seen, trying to get money, but we are also trying to get to some deeper work.”   

Performed by Overall and his band with no overdubs or edits, the song features Emilio Modeste on soprano sax, Matt Wong on keys, Bendji Allonce on percussion, and Jeremiah Kal’ab on bass.   

Overall also announces new additions to their huge, 30+ date world tour this fall, playing clubs and festivals all across the United States, Europe, and Asia with additional dates supporting Tune-Yards. For the full list of dates and tickets, visit his website here.