It's Blitz!

Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 31, 2009)
• Original Release Date: March 10, 2009
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Interscope Records
• ASIN: B001UJIMF0
• Also Available in: Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (65 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #357 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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Editorial Reviews

Product Description

At the turn of the twenty-first century, the New York City music scene floated in a surfaceless orbit of samplers, shoegazers, and delay pedals. The city's guitars lay choked by a digital fog, or else they lay dustily forgotten. Then, in 2002, an unbridled five-song EP by an unknown band brought noise, sex, passion, and mayhem back to the stage and to the stereo. The band's name evoked the kid who knows that whoever's in charge is full of s**t -- "yeah, yeah, yeah" -- but it also rang with the affirmation of pure rock and roll: F**k yeah! The Yeah Yeah Yeahs' first full-length album, Fever to Tell, was simultaneously filthy, infectious, sloppy, and brilliant. You could dance to it, and you could probably die to it. "Maps" was nominated for a Grammy, and the record went gold in the UK.

The Yeah Yeah Yeahs spawned a new breed of power trio. They work together as a single organism, but each member maintains their own personality and contributes their own strengths. Think of them as a three-piece Earth, Wind, and Fire. On second thought, it's probably better if you didn't do that. Brian Chase's drumming couldn't be tighter or more precise, even as the band descends into the pitch-dark caves of noise he frequents in his free-jazz spare time--and one can hear rigor and experiment behind even his simplest, no-frills (or -fills) rhythms. Nick Zinner's guitar pushes back--hard--against Chase's formalism, grounding the group in rock and roll at its ballsiest, dirtiest, and most shredly. His soaring, sometimes grinding lines are wires connecting Chase's drums to the psychologically kaleidoscopic vocals of Karen O, who, as the New Yorker has noted, would have been a success "had she appeared with nothing more than a microphone and a pair of maracas."

The band developed an itchy and unshakeable aversion to repeating itself. It would have been easy enough to record another spastic, live-sounding garage album after the success of Fever, but their next full-length, 2007's Show Your Bones, added acoustic guitar and more serious compositions that picked up on the direction suggested by a song like "Maps." Rolling Stone called the record a "textural triumph," and the group honed their legendary stage performance -- one cannot understand the Yeah Yeah Yeahs without seeing Karen O writhing and thriving onstage. A handful of great songs that didn't make it onto Bones became tour staples (and fan favorites), and the band sat down with the celebrated PiL/Slits/Gang of Four producer Nick Launay to record 2007's EP Is Is.

Last year, the Yeahs shook their Etch A Sketch® clean to start work on a new record with producers Dave Sitek and Nick Launay. "We usually go into these things totally blind," Karen O said. "We have no idea what's going to happen when we sit down." This empty page feeling was helped by geography: they began writing the record in the middle of a snowstorm, in a hundred-year-old barn in rural Massachusetts. "You looked out the window and it was just pastures and pastures of snow-covered fields," she said. Zinner had brought along a synthesizer to work with during the writing session, not expecting it to end up on the album. "That was an old keyboard I bought on eBay," he said. "Literally, it was the first day we were setting up, plugging things in. Ten minutes later, we'd written that song 'Skeletons.'" The song--and the whole record--have a new feeling of space and atmosphere that's unusual for the band. "Obviously, synths have been in rock music forever," Zinner says. "But to us it feels new, which is all we really care about--that excitement."

It's Blitz! signals both a glance backward and a step forward for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Zinner's vintage Arp--the same model used on records by The Cars, Joy Division, and Kraftwerk--contributes atmospheric washes ("Skeletons"), disco wiggles ("Dance till you're dead!" Karen sings on "Heads Will Roll"), and New Wave melodrama ("Soft Shock"). The first single, "Zero," combines all these elements to create a dance-floor anthem that sings directly to the listener. "We've got a death grip on the adolescent way of feeling things," O said. That's something I'll never be able to shake in the music I write. It's almost feels like a John Hughes 80s movie." But acknowledging the past in this way doesn't sound make for a nostalgic-sounding album. "I think there's a cool stability reflected in this record," Brian Chase says. "It reflects our transformation, and how we've developed as people."

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz! 9/10, March 31, 2009

By	Rudolph Klapper "www.klap4music.com" (Los Angeles / Orlando) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The Yeah Yeah Yeahs have been more than adept at keeping themselves a fresh commodity since they hit the NYC dance-punk scene in the early part of the millennial decade, their three albums over six years each showing a steady progression and evolution in the trio's distinctive sound. It's Blitz! is, predictably, like nothing the band has done before, trading in the raucous guitar assault of their debut and the more acoustic sounds of sophomore effort Show Your Bones for . . . disco?

Well, not quite. While the Yeah Yeah Yeahs have discovered a newfound appreciation for synthesizers and tasty backbeats on It's Blitz!, the band remains focused on well-crafted melodies, Karen O's distinctive vocals, and an appreciation for an undeniably organic sound that belies the electronica they put to excellent use here. Opener "Zero" starts off with a buzzing synth line and pulsating keyboards framing Karen O's effortless exhortations to "put your leather on." The song's graceful climax and smorgasbord of perfectly out-of-place blips and glitches perhaps make the song a challenging proposition to long-term fans, but its icy beauty and irresistibly catchy chorus, where Nick Zinner's guitar blares out in all its distorted glory, bode well for what follows.

And what follows is easily the best opening sequence Yeah Yeah Yeahs have put together. "Heads Will Roll" balances a menacing disco beat and O's frantic message to "dance `til you're dead" with a chorus and stinging hook that drag you in and don't let go, while "Soft Shock" dials back the energy without letting up on the band's flowing pop sensibility and O's uncomplicated vocals. For a singer who has built her reputation on the foundations of riot-grrl imagery and gritty New York punk, Karen O is unusually at ease here, her voice able to sound naturally in command or vulnerable at points without coming off as too affected.

Such an opening trifecta would be hard for any band to live up to, so it comes as little surprise that It's Blitz! dies down a bit in the middle. "Skeletons" takes the whole electronica shtick to an unnecessary level, washing the song in ambient noise and out-of-place string bits that make a threadbare song a needless slow burner, one that lacks the heart of the epic the band obviously wants it to be. Follow-up "Dull Life" is marginally better, but its up-tempo rhythm and needling guitar sound more out-of-place than anything else on the record, and the song's unusually strict adherence to standard verse-chorus-verse structure cause it to be fairly unremarkable.

But when you're nitpicking songs because they seem "too standard" or "out-of-place," it's because everything else is so damned good. The spooky synths and funky guitar of "Dragon Queen" impeccably mesh O's airy, sexy vocals with the tune's seductive disco strut, and the impressive rock showcase that is "Shame and Fortune" prove that Karen O is hardly the reason for the band's success - just take a listen to Zinner's wicked fuzz-guitar riffing in the outro.

And that's saying nothing about the two gorgeous ballads that close It's Blitz!, "Hysteric" and "Little Shadows." The former has been declared the best song on the record by numerous critics, and for good reason: it's dreamy, hazy electro-rock vibe combined with O's most personal, earnest lyrics of Yeah Yeah Yeah's career make the song a love letter to match 2003's "Maps" and possibly overtake it. O's gentle serenade of the chorus, "flow sweetly, hang heavy / you suddenly complete me, you suddenly complete me" complete the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' transformation from frosty punk rockers to empathetic pop auteurs.

"Little Shadows" is an atmospheric lullaby that closes the record as you'd expect it to be closed, with a placid sigh rather than a bang, a sublime, reflective summation of the album. "Gentle;" "reflective;" "lullaby;" these are hardly words I would have associated with Yeah Yeah Yeahs a few years ago, but given the band's penchant for change, it's not as surprising as it might be for some of their class-of-'03 peers like, say, the Strokes.

"Change or die" has often been a wise maxim to live by, and none have done it as well as the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Zinner's characteristic guitar methods, drummer Brian Chase's rock-steady beats, and, most of all, Karen O's simple, relatable lyrics and practiced vocals have given the band repeated leases on life, and with It's Blitz!, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs look poised to enter a new decade as strongly as they roared into this one. We still have eight months to go in 2009, but already this year is shaping up to end the decade in brilliant musical style.

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Blitz...or bliss?, April 3, 2009

By	AMP "Al" (Somewhere on Earth) - See all my reviews

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My rating: 3.5 out of 5

*"Zero." One of the better (if not the best) tracks on this album. It's a groovy electronic dance song with some good singing/lyrics and good synthesized sounds. Like most of the other songs, however, it doesn't have a very strong guitar or percussion; it's a lot less rock and much more dance music.
*"Heads Will Roll." A heavier dance song with stronger percussion and more intense lyrics. There's also some heavier guitar at the end of the song.
*"Soft Shock." A little lighter dance song, with more upbeat melody and lyrics.
*"Skeletons." A soft track with very little instrumentation. Some wood percussion is used, sounding like bones or something. The melody is uplifting.
*"Dull Life." A great rock song, more in line with other music usually sung by this band. It has a distinctive melody (for some reason, it sounds oriental to me), good lyrics, and strong percussion and guitar. It's cool.
*"Shame and Fortune." Another decent rock song, but with more electronic sounds. Melody and lyrics are great.
*"Runaway." Another slow uplifting track, much like "Skeletons." Has some good percussion at the end.
*"Dragon Queen." A moderate-tempo pop/rock song with soft vocals, good percussion, and some groovy sounds.
*"Hysteric." A slower rock song. Has good vocals and percussion, but is still quite slow and soft.
*"Little Shadow." A much slower song with some guitar and soft vocals. Not bad for the album's end.

First off, this album lacks the crazy energetic rock songs that dominated "Fever to Tell," or even "Show Me Your Bones." Instead, this album resembles something Moby made, not only because these songs are electric dance/chill-out, but also because they are using similar sounds. That being said, the album is not bad on its own merits. I found "Zero," "Heads Will Roll," "Dull Life," and "Dragon Queen" worthwile. YYY fans, or anybody looking for good dance tunes, may find this interesting. But if you're looking for more intense rock, you may be dissapointed.

The cover art on this CD is interesting. If you can't tell (because I didn't figure it out right away), the front cover is a picture of Karen O. squeezing an egg. The booklet includes a few good photos of the band performing. The inside covers are made to resemble a pizza box, and the disc art has the image of a pizza on it with the band members' heads on it. It's quite novel.

24 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Karen O Suddenly Likes Auto-Tune, June 7, 2009

By	Rogue H "I Love You But I've Chosen Indie" (Austin, TX) - See all my reviews

I have noticed a trend on Amazon.com reviews. Unless you are overwhelmingly positive of a band's album, flocks of diehard fans will freak out and repeatedly label the review 'unhelpful.'

Even knowing this, I have to say: this album is disappointing.

The YYYs raw, guitar-inspired, and entirely original rock has been replaced by smooth synth pop that sounds as if it were meticulously produced. The result is pleasing to the ears but not too original.

As with previous albums, the star of show is obviously Karen's vocals. The thing I was most shocked to hear was the death of her screechy, raw voice. It's been replaced a by smooth sounding croon that has clearly been filtered by a computer. The song 'Hysteric' is appropriately named because her vocals are so Auto-Tuned it makes me hysterical. Seriously, I can't tell: Am I listening to the YYYs or Dido?