Yeah Yeah Yeahs Albums (3)
What The Critics Say
Never content to stay in one musical place for very long, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs take their restlessness to the limit on It's Blitz! -- and wind up making some of their most contented-sounding songs along the way. As if to prove one more time that they're not just the architects of New York's early-2000s rock renaissance, Karen O, Nick Zinner, and Brian Chase strip away the guitars and explosive dynamics of their early work even more thoroughly on these songs than they did on Show Your Bones. In their place are shiny keyboards, synthetic sounds galore, and a very different kind of energy powering this music than any of their previous work. It's Blitz!'s images of a woman's hand bursting an egg and fleshy tomatoes and mushrooms spread across an otherwise empty pizza box are surprising, immediate, and strangely sensual, and that goes double for the actual music. The album's first three songs are a blitz of bliss, especially "Zero," which kicks things off with blatantly fake beats, revved-up synth arpeggios, and O's command to "get your leather on." Radiating joy and confidence, she and the rest of the band couldn't be further from Show Your Bones' introspection as the song climbs to more ecstatic heights. "Heads Will Roll" shows just how ably the Yeah Yeah Yeahs blend their rock firepower with dance surroundings, as Zinner's prickly guitars get equal time with spooky synth strings and O makes "you are chrome" sound like the coolest compliment ever. Meanwhile, "Soft Shock"'s dreamy, almost naïve-sounding electronics make O's vocals -- which are much less affected throughout It's Blitz! than ever before -- feel that much more natural and vulnerable. Elsewhere, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and producers David Sitek and Nick Launay find other ways to shake up the album's sound, from the disco kiss chase of "Dragon Queen," which features Sitek's fellow TV on the Radio member Tunde Adebimpe on backing vocals, to "Shame and Fortune," which pares down the band's tough, sexy rock to its most vital essence and provides Chase and Zinner with a showcase not found anywhere else on the album. However, It's Blitz!'s bold moments are a bit misleading: the album's heart is often soft and searching, offering some of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' quietest work yet. This approach doesn't always work, as on the too-long "Runaway," but when it connects, the results are gorgeous. "Skeletons" is luminous with an oddly Celtic-tinged synth part, and "Little Shadow" is so gentle and reflective that it could have appeared on that Karen O solo album that never materialized. Best of all is "Hysteric," a love song about being happy with someone rather than trying to make him or her stay, which feels like the mirror twin of "Maps." The serenity in It's Blitz!'s ballads feels worlds apart from Show Your Bones in a much less obvious way than the album's outbursts. But between its violently happy songs and its softer ones, It's Blitz! ends up being some of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' most balanced and cohesive music. ~ Heather Phares, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
As explosive as they seem on the surface, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs are also an ambitious, thoughtful band that keep pushing the boundaries of their music. They moved from the rawness of their early EPs to the polished art-punk of their first full-length in just over two years, and this drive to keep topping themselves is what led to breakthroughs like Fever to Tell's gorgeous ballad and hit single "Maps." After taking three years to follow up Fever to Tell, and scrapping many of the songs that they came up with while on tour supporting that album, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs returned with Show Your Bones, the yin to their debut album's yang. While Fever to Tell and "Maps" dealt with falling in love (and being more than a little freaked out about it), Show Your Bones is a breakup album. It's funny -- if the Yeah Yeah Yeahs had made this album earlier in their career, Karen O's cutting lyrics and Nicolas Zinner's choppy guitars would've sliced the poor ex to pieces; after all, on "Bang," from their self-titled debut EP, they (hilariously) wrote off a lame one-night stand with "as a f*ck, son, you sucked." Show Your Bones, however, tries to go much deeper than that. It's only natural that using heartbreak as inspiration would lead to brooding, reflective songs, but the fiery, independent spirit that made the Yeah Yeah Yeahs so great initially is drained out of this album. Even on the rockers, Show Your Bones is too subdued, restrained, and overthought. The cryptic lead single "Gold Lion" (which sounds like a mash-up of Love and Rockets' "No New Tale to Tell" and Siouxsie and the Banshees' "Peek a Boo") is vague and a little plodding; though it eventually worms its way into listeners' heads, it's surprisingly unfocused, compared to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' previous singles. "Phenomena," with its stomping riffs and fazer-like synths, is a more natural progression from the Fever to Tell style, but it still ends up feeling more indulgent than inventive. Aptly enough for the kind of album it is, Show Your Bones' softer songs are some of its strongest: "Dudley" sounds a little bit like Sonic Youth covering the nursery rhyme "Hush, Little Baby," while "Cheated Hearts" is a big, rousing ballad in the vein of "Maps." And, as on Fever to Tell, the band loosens up as Show Your Bones unfolds, coming up with some interesting songs in the process. "Mysteries" is a jealous cowpunk number that sounds tossed-off, but has more bite and fun in it than the rest of the album. On "Turn Into," the band takes this twangy sound and turns it sweet, resulting in one of their best songs yet. ~ Heather Phares, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
From release to release, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs have grown considerably, moving from the arty yet anthemic garage punk of their self-titled EP to Machine's angular urgency. Fever to Tell, their first full-length and major-label debut, also shows growth, but for the first time the band doesn't sound completely in control of the proceedings. Their EPs were masterful studies in contrast and economy, balancing just the right amounts of noise, melody, chaos, and structure within 15 to 20 minutes. It's possible that the band needs the limits of an EP to give their music some boundaries; at 37 minutes, Fever to Tell manages to sound, at different times, scattered and monotonous. Most of this can be chalked up to poor sequencing -- the album opens with some of the raunchiest noise the Yeah Yeah Yeahs have ever recorded, then abruptly changes gears and delivers a kitchen sink's worth of pretty ballads and experimental pieces. Ironically enough, the sudden switch makes Fever to Tell feel more like two EPs' worth of songs slapped together than playing their actual EPs back to back does. Both the old and new sides of the band's sound offer brilliant and frustrating moments: "Rich," a sneering sugar-mommy story; "Black Tongue," which features the great lyric "let's do this like a prison break" and is almost Hasil Adkins-esque in its screwed-up sexuality and rockabilly licks; and "A Date With the Night," a rattling, screeching joy ride of a song, combine Karen O's unearthly vocals, Nick Zinner's ever-expanding guitar prowess, and Brian Chase's powerful drumming in familiar but fresh ways. Not so good are the insanely noisy but underdeveloped "Man" and "Tick," which have enough volume and attitude to make the Kills and Jon Spencer turn pale, but also sound like they're coasting on those qualities. Interestingly, the moody, romantic songs on Fever to Tell are the most genuine; before the its release, Karen O hinted that the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' new material would reflect the fact that she fell in love prior to making the album. "Pin" and "Y Control" have great guitar lines and a unique, bittersweet bounciness, while the unabashedly gorgeous, sentimental "Maps" is not only among the band's finest work but one of the best indie/punk love songs in a long, long time. Along with "Modern Romance," a pretty but vaguely sinister meditation on the lack thereof, these songs compensate for some of Fever to Tell's missteps (such as "No No No," a lengthy, halting mishmash of punk and dubby experimentalism), although it's unfortunate that they all arrive at the end of the album. Perhaps they should've included some of their tried-and-tested songs from their EPs, but for a group as mercurial as the Yeah Yeah Yeahs that would probably be stagnation. Indeed, they've cranked out so many songs in such a short time that, despite being their debut, the album almost feels like a transitional release; they're already rethinking their sound in radical ways. Ultimately, Fever to Tell might be slightly disappointing, but it delivers slightly more than an EP's worth of good-to-great songs, proving that even when they're uneven, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs are still an exciting band. ~ Heather Phares, All Music Guide
