The Yeah Yeah Yeah’s have had a pretty turbulent career in the spotlight the past few years. 2003’s Fever to Tell catapulted the band into popularity with their hit single “Maps” and made for a pretty good release. It was a little all-over-the-place musically (especially the songs “Man” and “Cold Light”), but it made for a successful release.
The band’s second release came three years later in Show Your Bones. This typical sophomore record seemed to show the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s trying to find themselves and cleaning up their sound a bit with bigger guitars. Though I personally wasn’t a fan of the release, the album made it to second place on NME’s list of best albums of the year.
Despite all the success that seemed to be coming Karen O (full last name: Orzolek), Nick Zinner and Brian Chaseâs way, the band nearly imploded when O decided to start a side project that threatened the other members. After facing an alcohol problem (she had never played a show sober until 2006), O cleaned up and suggested more quiet and serene places than New York in order for the band to find peace and record the album that became Itâs Blitz!
The peace surely brought the band back together because Itâs Blitz! is a hit. In an interview with Rolling Stone Magazine, Zinner said of the recording process in their new surroundings, âWhen Karen and I were working on something, and one said, âI donât like that,â the other would say, âOh well, let me try something else.â With Show Your Bones, it was more like, âFUCK YOU!ââ
The band obviously went through some drastic changes to produce this upbeat, high-energy, dance record. Thatâs right, I said âdance recordâ in reference to the Yeah Yeah Yeahâs. The band ditched much of their guitar and drum work for synths and drum machines. Though there are still machines, the Yeahâs havenât forgotten their roots because guitars are still a part of the mix.
One of the highlights of the album is âSkeletonsâ, a slow, melancholy-sounding track that begins with soft synths and Karen Oâs normal shrill voice that has a touch of softness to it. Later, the song features huge, tribal sounding drums which make for an awesome-sounding ballad. And speaking of ballads, âRunawayâ is another great one and features simple piano and guitar.
Though a couple songs on the record donât exactly make you want to shake your ass, you can still tell the different direction the band took with their instruments. Better examples of upbeat, dance-tracks Iâm raving about are âZero”, a jump into the deep end of this album, âHeads Will Rollâ (one of the albumâs singles) and âDull Lifeâ.
The first thing you hear when you pop this cd into your player (or should I say, âwhen you click Play on your media playerâ) are synthesized notes pumping with static in the background and a very strong voice from Karen O. The drums kick in and this song immediately becomes something youâre bobbing your head to.
âHeads Will Rollâ also begins with synths and Oâs voice announcing, âOff with your head/Dance till youâre dead/Heads will rollâ. Though this song is the second on the album, itâs the perfect introduction because this song is even dancier than the first. The drum machine kicks in but Zinner still implements his standard single-note melody we recognize from âMapsâ and âY Controlâ on Fever to Tell.
Finally, âDull Lifeâ starts off slow with eerie guitars and static in the background, ventures into a simple, repetitive guitar melody then somehow makes its way into an infections guitar melody that goes from light and simple to distorted and rich.
Thereâs no shallow end of the pool for the Yeahâs. Itâs Blitz! totally engulfs the listener right away to this strong, electronic, dance-inducing album.
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