Yeah Yeah Yeahs: It's Blitz!

Another new YYY's track has leaked; Heads will Roll. kanye leaked it in his blog yesterday. You can stream or download here:
http://www.kanyeuniversecity.com/blog/index.php?em3106=224359_-1__0_~0_-1_2_2009_0_0&eM

There's links for it all over.
I think this is a lot better than Zero.

All signs point to It's Blitz! being a really good album, so far.

Someone tell me what that bassline is a steal from, it's doing my head in!

lol at kanye

this is dope

Whole lp is out and about on the interwebz now, btw. It's...perplexing.

like perplexing in a definitely a misstep way or perplexing in a this end up being awful way

Perplexing in a "this isn't ever what I expected from a YYYs album, but they make it work and we'll see if it gets better or worse with repeated listens" way.

I don't want to just throw it in a disco synth rock ghetto, because it's a little more expansive than that. There's some real atmosphere. It's more moody than "Zero" or "Heads Will Roll" would suggest.

One Moment Please.

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It's more moody than "Zero" or "Heads Will Roll" would suggest.

― Johnny Fever, Monday, February 23, 2009 2:26 AM (1 minute ago) Bookmark

ehhh.... kinda disappointing, both of those are really great and have an intense build-up

(can we get a mod to make this the "It's Blitz!" thread?)

A very tenuous link I'll admit but 'Hysteric' sounds a bit like Fleetwood Mac's 'Everywhere'.

Maybe it's just the "ooh's" and "ahh's".

"Heads Will Roll" = "This is Not a PIL Song" in the best possible way.

a lot of the album is amazing

"hysteric" is beautiful

loving this. gtr riff in 'dull life' sounds like blink 182

(can we get a mod to make this the "It's Blitz!" thread?)

Done. I have just nabbed this and listening now. So psyched!

Okay the first two tracks are euphoric and incredible, I really didn't expect this. Sound is huge!

Holy crap... Shame And Fortune.

This is astonishing so far. Fuck an Animal Collective, this is how you do trance-rock.

Someone tell me what that bassline is a steal from, it's doing my head in!

It's a re-interpretation of "Blue Monday".

Little Shadow is beyond gorgeous.

Album of the year. I'm embarassingly hyping calling it.

BEST FUCKING NIGHT EVER

Little Shadow is completely sublime.

Still on the fence about a lot of it, though.

It's all basically the same, but that one thing it sounds like is really fucking good. It's like they heard that Ada cover of Maps from 2004 and then tried to recreate that sound, except with washes of fuzzy guitar and bass and big drums. At first listen I thought it was full of electronics but now I'm not so sure.

It's really shoegazey but at the same time muscular and bassy and rhythmic enough to avoid sounding bland or flat or wishy-washy in the way so much shoegazing-influenced music does these days.

It's a uniform sound, yes, but some songs aren't really as good as others.

Little Shadow is beyond gorgeous.

Album of the year. I'm embarassingly hyping calling it.

― David Bentley: Rhythm Ace (Matt DC), Monday, 23 February 2009 23:26 (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

BEST FUCKING NIGHT EVER

― the pinefox, Monday, 23 February 2009 23:29 (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

lol, told

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/d2/Yeah-yeah-yeahs-its-blitz.jpg

i loved the first few EP's and really liked the debut, sold back Show Your Bones. d/l now and hope i can get back into this band.

man imo show your bones was so much better than their debut

nah it wasn't but it is a good album.

Fever to Tell edges Show Your Bones for me, but they're both really good.

they're the second best rock band this decade tho, i celebrate the entire discography

#1 deerhoof 4ever

YES that is the art work, here are the tracks:

1. Zero 4:25
2. Heads Will Roll 3:41
3. Soft Shock 3:53
4. Skeletons' 5:02
5. Dull Life 4:08
6. Shame and Fortune 3:31
7. Runaway 5:13
8. Dragon Queen 4:02
9. Hysteric 3:50
10. Little Shadow 3:57

that is a cool album cover

no way are the better than Spoon, IMO.

x-post

i like them as a sorta mellow half classic rock band and as this nu blondie or w/e much more than i like them as snotty rawr punks

#1 deerhoof Life Without Buildings 4ever

Wow. This album is pretty bad. Well, at least 50% of it is good. There is some really unimaginative and boring filler on this album, though. Fuck. I was hoping they'd claw people's faces off with this one. :(

o_0

'hysteric' is incredible. i really really like this, and i need to listen to it more

Heads Will Roll is fantastic but the rest is hmmmmm

1. Zero 4:25
2. Heads Will Roll 3:41
3. Skeletons 5:02
4. Hysteric 3:50
5. Little Shadow 3:57

^^^ would make a fantastic EP.

runaway and dragon queen are outstanding as well tho

i like them as a sorta mellow half classic rock band and as this nu blondie or w/e much more than i like them as snotty rawr punks

Yeah I'd go with that - didn't really rate the first album, really liked the second and love this one. But the bits I liked the most on Show Your Bones were the gentler and more expansive bits (Turn Into, Dudley, Honeybear) which explains why I like this one so much.

Soft Shock is lovely as well.

yeah a lot of these songs have that effortless upward motion like "turn into" (maybe my favorite song by them after "maps") that just empties your stomach out

It's a re-interpretation of "Blue Monday".

Definitely something else in there too. I'm not quite sure what, though.

Reminds me a lot of Rihanna's Shut Up and Drive - obviously because of the Blue Monday bassline but also the overall sound.

"Heads Will Roll" - GAD!

i like them as a sorta mellow half classic rock band and as this nu blondie or w/e much more than i like them as snotty rawr punks

my favourite YYYs stuff will probably always be the really, really kick-ass RAWR ones - 'bang', 'date with the night' - but i don't think i'd want them to go back to that at this point - agree w/matt that it's their most expansive material which seems most natural now ('turn into' is just gorgeous..)

on one listen i'm pretty happy w/this album but i'll need to go back when not so distracted

i'll also have to go back to show your bones b/c my general impression was of a middling album bookended by an incredible two singles

I feel like people never give the YYYs guitar player enough credit. He's incredible. Seeing them live I'm always just kind of amazed that he can create that amount of sound with one guitar and control it so well.

i agree he's a huge part of the band's appeal to me. i was telling jordan last night that one of the things i love about them is how the guitars tend to drive the melody, giving karen o room to do whatever she wants to do, and she's got this great range of emotions she's capable of

I've listened to this two or three times now and I really can't tell what's a guitar and what isn't in a lot of places.

lol 2000s

It feels like so much more of a studio record than the others - I really like the bit in Zero when Karen O does a high-pitched yelp and it's treated to sound like a toy raygun.

I've listened to this two or three times now and I really can't tell what's a guitar and what isn't in a lot of places.

yeah i want a proper quality version asap. actually can't even deal with 192kbpbpbps any more.

Since when did everyone on this board started getting all bitrate-nazi? To me its like when people say they love whiskey and bluff about how well they can tell the difference between a good whiksey and a bad one and in reality they cant even tell the difference between black label and red label.

troo punk whisky bitrates 4eva!

lol

I don't want to just throw it in a disco synth rock ghetto, because it's a little more expansive than that. There's some real atmosphere. It's more moody than "Zero" or "Heads Will Roll" would suggest.

― Johnny Fever

more livebloggin: kinda disagree w/ mr. the dr. fever up there. both "zero" & "heads" have moody/atmospheric elements, and the rest of the record isn't a huge departure. "soft shock" and "dull life" keep that energy up on the 1st half. only track in the opening batch that doesn't quite work for me is "skeletons", which IS much more moody. celtic-y sounding cloud guitar loop bugs me, and it's clearly the musical focus.

even on the most upbeat tracks, everything seems softened, blurred, half rubbed out (heh). drums hit like marshmallows, guitar and bass churn around like soup underneath everything, even karen - vocals are much less shrill & edgy than on other records.

2nd act is less immediate than the first, but not a huge departure. "shame and fortune" kinda reminds me of "machine" for some reason, though much cleaned up (dumbed down). LOVE the talking heads/tom tom club guitars in "dragon queen". and the big, bassy synth/guitar swells. "hysteric" is GORGEOUS. 1st downtempo number to totally sweep me away (like madonna!). love the total shamelessness of "you suddenly complete me." so nice. plus "little shadow", too, which sounds just like it says.

great record. by far the best thing they've done yet. last two songs might be the best things here, and definitely the most moody, atmospheric, spare, downbeat. kinda nice the way the record builds down to them, initially setting you up for something very different (but implying the softness nonetheless).

favorites = little shadow, hysteric, heads will roll, soft shock, dragon queen (NNITO, but probably)

got a little choked up before "little shadow" was over, which basically never happens no more

yeah i want a proper quality version asap. actually can't even deal with 192kbpbpbps any more.

Haha I think it'll sound a bit like that even at a higher bitrate.

Seriously tho, has any of you bitrate-nazis considered it might not be the bitrate but Sitek's production? He seems to like turning everything he touches into walls of sound so I wouldnt be surprised if any of you couldnt tell the difference of a guitar and synth in the loudest moments even in lossless quality.

^ this. doesn't sound low-quality rip, sounds like an intentionally atmospheric production. eno damage

yeah it sounded like the right rip to me, the drums are really crisp

i'm excited!

hits are crisp when they want to be ("zero", "soft shock"), esp at the center, but often surrounded by big bruisy thuds that overwhelm the attack ("heads will roll"). i like the contrast between rough and soft, but do wish the textural guitars had a bit more tooth overall.

heavy "we float" vibe to a lot of this (i.e., pj harvey circa stories from the city...)

i love that song

me too

ppl whove heard this and are not fuckin with "dragon queen" are crazy

"hysteric" is like, the guitar waves during the chorus are so soft and subtle. it took me a little bit to catch them tho

one of their best songs ever no doubt

good live blog btw contenderizer

The last 45 seconds of "Hysteric" are the most beautiful I've heard in a song this year. OTM on the "We Float" vibe -- only better.

build up & wind down at the end of "dragon lady" is amost as good, though a bit rushed. on the third pass thru now, and "hysteric" is just KILLING me. if this isn't a serious top 10 contender come december, it will have been a very good year. bad times = good music

More like bad times = any port in a storm (I like what I've heard so far, I'm just saying!)

Seriously tho, has any of you bitrate-nazis considered it might not be the bitrate but Sitek's production? He seems to like turning everything he touches into walls of sound so I wouldnt be surprised if any of you couldnt tell the difference of a guitar and synth in the loudest moments even in lossless quality.

Yeah this was what I was getting at - if they're guitars then they're totally puréed, I'm not even sure what the opening notes of Zero are.

im glad yall are liking this because i think it's really good too. i'm really glad to see them abandoning their most questionable deerhoof impulses (which is why "dull life" is easily the worst track here, though it's not bad at all), which is what keeps me from really loving fever to tell apart from a couple of obvious incredible songs.

Has to be said, anyone who thinks there's a song on here as good as CHEATED HEARTS or MAPS is out of their 'ead.

Has to be said, anyone who thinks there's a song on here as good as CHEATED HEARTS or MAPS is out of their 'ead.

swooooooooooooooooooooooooosh

even if you were right it still wouldn't be much of an insult

It's a re-interpretation of "Blue Monday".

The bassline from that Vitamin C version of "Last Nite" is in there too.

listened to "hysteric" back to back w "maps" & "cheated hearts" a couple time. more than holds its own. not saying everyone has agree, but IMO, there's no obvious quality drop here, relative to their previous high points

a while back, i mentioned "we float" as a possible precedent. dropping down the indie coolness scale a few hundred points, i'm also reminded of U2's prom jam stylings (on "hysteric" and "little shadow" only). suppose that's bound to bum folks into the raw sounds they've been know for. FWIW, in comparative listening, i do find myself missing the physical intimacy/immdediacy of fever & bones, but the benefits of the e-pop tradeoff seem to justify the sacrifice

i might end up liking this once i get used to it but right now i'm really missing dude's awesome guitar-playing, my fave thing about this band

I missed Brian Chase's really loose, expressive drumming most of all. I'm loving this album now though, too a bit of getting used to.

so this is coming out next week now because of the leak

really into "soft shock" right now

Has to be said, anyone who thinks there's a song on here as good as CHEATED HEARTS or MAPS is out of their 'ead.

― piscesx, Wednesday, February 25, 2009 6:36 AM (1 week ago

RUN
RUN
RUN
AWAY

LOST
LOST
LOST
MY MIND

This is such a well-sequenced album, it's all about the peaks and troughs.

i think 'dull life' might be my favourite right now, it feels like the album's centrepiece

This really just gets better and better with every listen. Really digging the last 4 tracks right now, starting with Runaway. Such a good album.

<3 <3 <3

erol alkan did a remix for yyy : )

that's possibly the least surprising post in the history of ilx.

I've only heard a couple of songs so far but I've really loved them. Am excited to hear the rest. YYY at the Kentish Town Forum sometime in 2004 still one of the best shows I've ever been to. Can't wait to see them again.

After some distance for a couple weeks, I've come back and decided (for myself, at least) that this album is purely wonderful. I regret it took so long.

i heard a song in the apt the other day, ryan was playing it. it was the kind of song that made me stop and listen, and ask who it was.

It was M83, right?

nooo! it was this album. i know M83 when i hear it.

Nice video. Shame about that first sentence in AOL's writeup, though:

Leave it to Yeah Yeah Yeahs frontwoman Karen O to tell a story through visuals.

Leave it to Yeah Yeah Yeahs frontwoman Karen O to convey emotional states through a sequence of notes

Leave it to Yeah Yeah Yeahs frontwoman Karen O to string together words to form "sentences"

okay maybe I'm being a dick but that sentence, urgh :(

"hysteric" stans should by the acoustic version from itunes

buy

it has violins

I keep finding new things to love about this record. Today its the frankly preposterous amount of echo put on the drums in Little Shadow, so it sounds like fireworks going off.

i love the concept of the video but could they not have found someone who could actually draw figures which resemble the band even slightly

lost interest in these guys around the 2nd album which i thought was a bit meh like lex but am interested to hear this, what with everyone raving about it (also to see what sitek has done with it, seeing as i preferred his productions around the time when yyys first came out to now). and xpost, i think the guitarist is totally underrated too.

this record is so good. Really digging "Dragon Queen" mucho.

"hysteric" stans should by the acoustic version from itunes

― wow heaven is cool (J0rdan S.), Wednesday, March 11, 2009 3:06 AM (2 days ago)

damn when i get back home i am getting this

im listening to it backwards
i cant figure out down them all
i bought it from the russians
it was 1.83
i like it
its dry in the wet spots

Great album. A few slightly dull tracks in the middle, otherwise sheer brilliance. 'Zero' has been the single of the year so far.

YYYs will play SNL next week, apparently!

this album is still great, btw

dude the physical CD was released this past tuesday

bka lol the internet

I can't stop listening to "Zero". Single of the year so far for me too (maybe tied with Lily Allen's
"The Fear"). It sounds so sexy. You almost feel like Karen O is ripping off your clothes with her voice.

i think 'zero' is pretty much the worst song on the album. it's ok but feels a bit compromised.

I have found this LP on spotify so now I will be able to discover the truth about it.

That first track was actually OK, probably as good as most of their first LP.

alas, I have to switch it off now to do some work.

Great album ... definitely one of my faves of the year so far.

Haven't been able to enjoy a single nanosecond of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs since seeing Scott Crary's dubious No Wave documentary, "Kill Your Idols." Karen O seems entirely unable to express herself without bookending each slackjawed utterance with a stream of "like" and "y'know." Hugely disappointing.

Somewhere around the time Liars and Yeahs show up in that documentary, I had to turn it off. I love No Wave, but listening to those people blather about their innovations breaks the spell of the music, and then bringing in the Brooklyn contingent scaled it down even more.

Indeed. It was fun to see Branca and Gira and Lunch and Arto interviewed, but once those ridiculous dinks in A.R.E Weapons started talking, I wanted to throw a brick at the screen.

Dragon Queen is the only thing on this album I would change, it's a good song but it feels a bit flimsy compared to everything else here.

wow all kinds of reactions on this thread; glad most of them are positive in one way or another. i'm trying to decide if it's crazy to say that zero is the best rock single i've heard in years. also liking dragon queen a lot and seeing how much the rest of this sinks in.

Loving this album (despite disliking all of their previous stuff)

i'm trying to decide if it's crazy to say that zero is the best rock single i've heard in years.

I don't know - I mean, I really really love it. In fact, I can't stop listening to it.

I can't wait until they tour for this. SO EXCITED.

CHRIST! To make up for how good Phoenix was last week, SNL apparently let thier sound guy have this week off completely. YYYs sound like they're playing in soundproofed cave.

nah, they sounded like that on jools holland too - they just don't know how to make the song sound not thin live yet

come on hysteric plzzzzzz

wait did i miss the second song

OMGOMGOGMOMGOMGOMGOMOGMOGMGOMGMGOMG

MAPS?!!!!!

:))))))))

i want to watch that again

Well that sucked. Maps? No Hysteric? And does the sound guy hate guitars?

fu dude

they've played maps on so many tv shows, shoudl've played "hysteric" or "heads will roll" or at least "cheated hearts"

Fucking great record.

I've only heard the single. This is some talentlessly spineless shit. They should break up and vanish.

fu dude
Um, I love "Maps," dude. I just didn't feel a need for them to play it for the 257th time on TV, especially when they have a great new album out.

I've only heard the single. This is some talentlessly spineless shit. They should break up and vanish.

This might be the most boring thing I'll say all month, but you should hear the whole record.

Or not. I mean, if there's already venom...

not a big fan of "zero" at all but "hysteric" and "heads will roll", thumbs up.

i heard zero right after maps on a music vid show yesterday and it didn't stand up to maps very well at all. didn't exactly get me in the frame of mind to investigate the album

It's not fair to use "Maps" as the yardstick for this album (or for most albums). "Zero" isn't the best place to start either, because I can see how someone could easily dismiss the album as a dance-rock version of what YYY's have always done. I'd start with "Little Shadow" or "Hysteric" to see how well they've adapted to shlocky power balladry (but the BEST kind of shlocky balladry -- trust me, this is a compliment).

This is a pretty solid record. But I'm ready for Zinner to move on to his These Immortal Souls/Crime & The City Solution phase.

this album is tremendous!

I listened to the first album today and the jump in quality between the first and third albums is enormous, but the blueprint to this record is pretty much all there in the pairing of Maps and Y Control.

All of a sudden they're my favorite band.

me too i think!

the animal collective remix of zero lives up to its title

four and a half minutes of nothingness

why the fuck did they let animal collective anywhere near their music

haha i was thinking of you when i was listening to it, actually. i obviously like AC quite a bit more than you do but this just doesn't work at all. a 7" with the remix as the b-side was included in the preorder I ordered

on 50th or so listen of "hysteric". this album is great!

They didn't play Hysteric when I saw them on Sunday :(

Really? How harsh. They did it on Saturday, but no Little Shadow or Runaway, both of which I would happily have swapped an older song for. Great show though. Karen O came on wearing a neon headwrap which made her look like an Egyptian rave mummy and seemed genuinely, unaffectedly joyous from start to finish. I envy anyone who will see them at a festival this summer.

I love this album more and more. "Shame and Fortune" doesn't get mentioned that often but I notice that it's the song I'm mostly likely to stop on and just revel in.

I've been ridiculously slack on getting the album. Too many things out there to listen to right now!

Off off off with his head.

Complaints complaints.

Also, I have to admit that "Hysteric" and "Little Shadow" have made the least amount of impact on me.

i didn't get the rapture over 'hysteric' for ages - it's still not one of my absolute favourites but it does sneak up on you

Also, I have to admit that "Hysteric" and "Little Shadow" have made the least amount of impact on me.

You may want to check out the acoustic versions, if you haven't heard them yet. The string quartet version of "Little Shadow" completely floored me.

I've got them. They still haven't really made an impact on me.

"Soft Shock" and "Skeletons" OTOH...

"Soft Shock" is such a bomb!

Love the late-period Siouxsie feel of "Runaway"

lol so I turned my iTunes up and now I see why ppl are so all over "Hysteric" and "Little Shadow"

I'll take "Hysteric" over "Maps."

Still having a problem with how this album starts, it's like a bad Republica.

LOL

okay that melted my brain

wau

also I need to do something about how my iTunes is organized because segueing from this album into the Kidz Bop cover of the Crazy Frog version of "Axel F" is kind of jarring

lol

Thanks for the heads up about turning up the volume. I didn't get the song either until just now doing just that.

the Kidz Bop cover of the Crazy Frog version of "Axel F"

okay that melted my brain

has anyone done the inevitable sawtooth synth bassline remix of "soft shock" yet, and if not why not

I'm eating lunch.

Pretty OK. Still not wild about the way they record her voice, but I agree re: ballads that they're getting more accomplished and interesting.

OK, this is pretty awesome:

Just picked this up and it floored me. Two spins so far, easy top 5 album of the year so far.

See, that, I don't get. I just don't understand how some yelping over MOR indie electro-dribble could floor anyone. I like it, it's OK, but I never got why they were huge in the first place. I dunno. It feels like when people were telling me that the Strokes were saving rock, and I just o_0

What is it that floored you? What evokes such a hyperbolic response? I know you're a regular here, so you can't be just hearing music like this for the first time… What specifically connects?

I just don't understand how some yelping over MOR indie electro-dribble could floor anyone.

dumb description of this album yo

What is it that floored you? What evokes such a hyperbolic response? I know you're a regular here, so you can't be just hearing music like this for the first time… What specifically connects?

I've been a mild YYYs fan over the years since their first EP/album, always thought they were fine enough but never loved them. This album to me feels like the culmination of what they've been working towards.

The songs are up to par, but they've toned down and become more subtle since the early stuff but "maturing" (in a good way) in the process. The "rockers" are catchy and interesting without having too straightforward of a structure all the time; the "ballads" hold my attention without sounding sappy or boring. Every track is different. Almost every track is memorable after two spins; it sticks with me.

There's more going on than a few chords and Karen's yelping; her vocals are complex, more subtleties; she is finally as captivating as she's always meant to be. She's not going over the top with her oft-touted "sexuality" which I found tiring on, say, the first album. Her intonation and expressiveness is top notch.

Nick's guitar pokes its head out now and then, but he's a fantastic instrumentalist aside from just guitar; look at the liner notes, dude does more than just guitar here. The drumming is fantastic all around.

The production is great all around. One of those albums that sounds way better on a good stereo than on earbuds, which is not the norm lately. It's very refreshing. Other posters have described the production better than I could, please refer upthread.

How's that?

I like it, it's OK, but I never got why they were huge in the first place. I dunno. It feels like when people were telling me that the Strokes were saving rock, and I just o_0

For the record, this is how I felt when Fever to Tell came out. I thought Show Your Bones was better, by no means a coherent album but showed potential. They were stretching themselves a bit and making errors in the process. This new one feels like a complete statement. It hold together well and it's their best album so far.

OTM. My feelings exactly.

definitely. good post ilxor.

For the record, this is how I felt when Fever to Tell came out. I thought Show Your Bones was better, by no means a coherent album but showed potential. They were stretching themselves a bit and making errors in the process. This new one feels like a complete statement. It hold together well and it's their best album so far.

Not to undermine my snarky pseudo-description above, but I agree with all this. I do think this one feels complete, I do think it holds together well, I do think it's their best album so far. I'm just not getting the "floored." I'd rate it a solid B, not an A+ must buy, y'know? So I was wondering if there was something that kinda catalyzed it into a ZOMG moment, but from your comment, I think it may just be that strange distance between like and love; subjective ears.

Is anyone saying it's an A+? I haven't heard an A+ album in years.

Thanks. Of course, a lot of my love could be due to lesser expectations... I saw the album came out a few weeks ago, shrugged; read the praise in this thread, was a bit intrigued; found a used copy last night, picked it up and WHAM! there it was, a fully realized album length work from a band with previous bits of greatness. I just didn't see it coming!

I'd give it an A on the Christgau scale:

An A is a record that rarely flags for more than two or three tracks. Not every listener will feel what it's trying to do, but anyone with ears will agree that it's doing it.

I still haven't even heard the album in full and I pretty much think what ilxor does, it's very much a 'oh finally everything is gelling as it should have done to start with' move. Which is great! I've long since stopped being beholden to the idea that a band's full career-as-such needs to be appreciated in favor of those moments where it finally comes together. (Classic example of this ten years back was Mechanical Animals where a band that I'd be pretty well indifferent towards got shockingly good, very immediate and commercial in the best possible way -- and then turned out dully again after that but for one brief shining moment etc.)

god i was getting so annoyed with this "yyys album for yyys haters" crap but then Ned had to go and compare the album to Mechanical Animals

i think one of the reasons (a minor reason in comparison to how it sounds) that this floored me is because i loved fever to tell, because the arc of their career has led them from excelling at one aesthetic to excelling at a totally different one. as much as i loved fever to tell, that could easily have been a one-off by one-trick ponies (not that there's anything wrong w/that); show your bones was impressive b/c it demonstrated their restlessness, and that they could pull a different sound off on occasion, but it didn't gel as a whole. here...it all gels. it's really beautiful.

for the record i prefer this album to show your bones, glad to see that one was "transitional," but enough of the tracks leave me cold that all the "oh good finally these upstarts are putting down the guitars and acknowledging the majesty of Version 2.0" suggests some people need to go back and listen to Fever To Tell and see if they've gotten over their Rock Is Back resentments.

i agree, but at the same time i wouldn't want another fever to tell from them at this point

It's also possible that they've written more songs I like and put them on an album than they ever have.

Stop being so resentful, Alfred.

well yeah, I'm glad they're prettying things up if Karen's determined to be so mushy a vocal presence. I miss the aggro humor.

xpost to lex

I seem to be the only person in the world who thinks Show Your Bones is great and that It's Blitz! is a transitional record as they learn to go beyond geetar-drums-voice indie rock unto their own thing. That is not to say I don't also love it, it just seems like they are still adjusting to a new sound added into their usual songwriting.

Yeah, "floored" for me is a "can't stop listening" album, one that dominates everything going on around. But there aren't many of them.

million xpost

yup this is def a can't-stop-listening album (there have been three, maybe four, this year alone for me)

What else, lex?

(I realize this is probably in other threads incl. the best of 2009 thread but I'm at work and being lazy so there you go.)

the-dream and taylor swift (and maybe ciara, though that's a special case given that most of the tracks leaked individually before the thing was released and i obsessed about them in turn, so the actual album feels oddly...not underwhelming but it doesn't even seem like a thing that exists)

i went through a few weeks when it first leaked where this was all i'd listen to, but i cant do that anymore. i'm still able to do that with the-dream, and this new james blackshaw i've played ten times in ten days or something.

God I can't wait to hear the Blackshaw record.

this is good! "skeletons" is my favorite so far (but i'm only about halfway in).

i'm glad they're finding their feet as a band; their previous records seemed like dry runs to me.

I don't know, I've pretty much loved them since the beginning. I was listening to the YYYs EP last night and still love it.

"Bang" is a great song.

I wish people would stop saying this isn't a guitar record. It totally is. There are guitars all over the place, fuckloads of them on every track. They certainly outweigh the synths.

I hear you're buying a synthesizer and an arpeggiator and are throwing your computer out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Yaz record. I hear that you and your band have sold your guitars and bought turntables. I hear that you and your band have sold your turntables and bought guitars.

:)

I'm officially psyched about 'Zero'

awful lyrics on this album, no better than a NOISETTES or a LITTLE BOOTS or any one of a million pappy alt-electro-ish bands doing the rounds.
to wit: "heads will roll... heads will roll...heads will roll... *on the floor*..."
yeah cheers.

lol

i don't think citing one repeated chorus phrase is really evidence of bad lyrics. not that anyone was particularly praising them in the first place! i like them though, they're vague and impressionistic but karen o sells them.

^ otm, this is sort of like complaining about the lyrics on physical graffitti

Karen O doesn't write lyrics, she improvises slogans, which is exactly what this punchy, declamatory music requires.

Secret YYYs influence: Nitzer Ebb?

heads will lol

wow at this thread. man, i hated this after the first halfhearted listen myself (It's Dogshit!, brayed i in mine infinite wisdom). then i played it in shuffle mode (alongside the new Dylan) one night and was floored by damn near every track. now i'm wondering if i may have seriously underestimated their previous effort--which, if memory serves, i only gave a cursory listen (or two) to before deciding to consign it to the black hole "rock" oblivion it so justly seemed to warrant back when--too.

I need to go back and listen to that one too. I seriously loved the Is Is EP, thought it was the best thing they'd done at the time. Maybe Show your Bones has gotten better with age?

Show Your Bones is patchy but its best moments are incredible (Turn Into, Way Out and that whole run from tracks 5 through 8).

this is great. I feel bad about not buying it. But I am poor.

Show Your Bones is patchy but its best moments are incredible (Turn Into, Way Out and that whole run from tracks 5 through 8).

― Enormous Epic (Matt DC), Sunday, May 17, 2009 5:10 PM (Yesterday)

yeah "turn into" is probably my favorite YYYs song

http://www.last.fm/music/Yeah+Yeah+Yeahs/+videos/28974809

holy shit, this is great

# sergei_RH wrote:
yesterday afternoon

I just can't make out what the vid's about

# AnUub1s wrote:
yesterday afternoon

what do you want to know? they have a fuckin piano that chages colours when you play on it, thats all you need to know....

awesome video and awesome song (much better than 'zero' imo)

is there a rolling "awesome videos of 09" thread?

There should be! This is probably my favorite so far (not that I've been following videos this year).

I love both "Zero" and "Heads Will Roll" and wouldn't really pick one over the other, largely because I'm obsessed with the middle stretch from "Dull Life" through "Runaway" and those three songs alternate between being my favorite off the album.

the middle stretch is my favourite too - whenever i listen i basically start at 'heads will roll' though

zillions of plays later this album still feels unstoppable. Glad to see the love on ILM. You are chrome

Yeah fave for me is a toss up btw 'Heads' and 'Soft Shock' (which doesn't seem to be getting much love so far).

I think my fave right now is "Runaway".

The crescendo of sculpted symphonic noise in Runaway is amazing.

baaderonixx i have a friend who doesn't like the album at all but loves "soft shock"

i love it a lot; i mixed it with a robert armani house classic recently and it goes REALLY well!

'dragon queen' is just so gorgeously LIGHT and untethered

The crescendo of sculpted symphonic noise

You sure this wasn't meant for the Sunn O))) thread?

there's a great thing karen o does on soft shock, those little shivering falsetto caws she punctuates it with

you guys are making me really annoyed that i left my walkman at home today :(

however when i get home i can put on the record :)

You sure this wasn't meant for the Sunn O))) thread?

Haha the first thing I thought of when I read that.

I love both "Zero" and "Heads Will Roll" and wouldn't really pick one over the other, largely because I'm obsessed with the middle stretch from "Dull Life" through "Runaway" and those three songs alternate between being my favorite off the album.

― Obama seems to have the views of a 21-year-old Hispanic girl (HI DERE), Friday, May 29, 2009 9:39 AM (1 hour ago)

dude i really envy you - this is like top three of the year for me but if i could feel the middle part like you and lex i would love it so much more. that stretch is the only thing tha brings it down for me

Indeed. I can get the song titles confused!

After watching way too much playoff basketball this past weekend I dreamed up the most epic NBA commercial ever set to "Runaway." The slow build drama of that song fit perfectly. Thought you all would like to know!

I listen to this album as if it were a series of EPs; "Zero" through "Skeletons" is one discrete chunk, then "Dull Life" through "Runaway", and finally the last three songs (the acoustic bonus tracks are like a bonus EP). It really echoes Lush's Gala, which was a compilation of EPs and therefore had definite "chapters" that you could listen to.

I feel like this entire album took everything I liked about "Maps" and refracted it through a funhouse prism, catching all of these different facets and shades in a whole bunch of different, unexpected ways that still allow you to piece together the original that also transcends the original; I love "Maps" to bits but it never made me want to investigate anything else by them, whereas this whole album makes me want to pick up their entire discography.

dan it's interesting that you like the way "dull life" goes into "shame and fortune" goes into "runaway" - on the album, "dull life" ends the first side - it's not a troika there

I actually figured as much, given the run times! Yet another reason why I like CDs, heh.

this just gets better and better. really feeling "dull life" and "dragon queen" today.

awesome video and awesome song (much better than 'zero' imo)

love the "zero" video, mainly because running through the rainy streets of SF in the middle of the night looks like the funnest thing ever.

I wish people would stop saying this isn't a guitar record. It totally is. There are guitars all over the place, fuckloads of them on every track. They certainly outweigh the synths.

― Enormous Epic (Matt DC), Saturday, 16 May 2009 17:33 (6 months ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

yes! did a double take when I read a blurb abt this on one of these year end lists abt how this was their synths record

still great tho

Who's Next: synth record?

this record was a letdown for me, my favorite thing about it was the cover

is Yeah Yeah Yeahs a REAL IMPORTANT BAND of this decade or a footnote in the book of rawk along with The Vines, Jet, etc ?

Rolling Stone types seem to think Karen O is one of the last of The Rock Stars
along with Jack White I guess

I don't know what important means exactly but every YYYs record pisses on the Vines from a great height, and this is their best yet imo. It draws on latter-day era dance music a LOT in terms of mood and dynamics, though, and if you're a straight-up rock fan I can understand not really having a good foothold to latch onto there.

YYYs have absolutely carved out a place of good standing within the context of this decade. They're no Vines or Jet, that's for sure. Whether or not they'll be able to have any impact in the '10s remains to be seen (I'm pulling for them).

given their stylistic restlessness and the adept way in which they've pulled off three very distinct albums to date, i'd say YYYs have a lot more to give. as long as karen o is prevented from making any more excursions into into twee, like on that dreadful karen on & the kids song.

love love love all three albums myself

this is sounding damn good right now

I was listening to it on my way to work this morning. <3

nice! i liked it a bunch when it came out but it didn't get a lot of spins for some reason. hearing it today with the tempts up outside and little patches of grey clouds rolling by, it's just perfect

this was my Favorite Band for a while and this album is fantastic.

TBH they're still one of my favorite more recent/current bands if not my absolute fav. They're just really great and, yeah, this album is wonderful. Gonna listen to it on the way home too, I think.

The rest of the album can't match "Heads Will Roll" and "Zero," but I still love it.

Those are definitely its stars.

Was actually listening to some older tunes the other day. <3 Y-Control so much.

I am going to play Rock Band tonight and I will sing Maps which is still amazing fuiud. The video is really heartbreaking too esp if you read about the shoot.

tbh I feel like the rest of the album can't match "Dull Life", "Blame & Fortune" and "Runaway"

Listened to this today, actually. I went through, I think, a year and a half where I just wasn't listening to new music anymore at all, then I heard Hysteric and thought "damn, I'm missing things."

Maps and Y Control still kick much ass. Maps makes me wanna bang.

Bang is another good YYY song!

Also, Our Time.

so many really

Blasting this record right now. Fantastic, really great album. Love it lots.

What are they up to? Recording again yet? Surely! C'mon! There's gonna be a "Parellel Lines" from this lot I reckon.

They're booked for the Big Day Outs in January, so I'm hoping we'll hear some new stuff.

Quite possible that It's Blitz is their Parallel Lines.

It's Blitz is wonderful but I want three top ten hit singles worthy of wedding parties. Karen O on the cover of every magazine. A truly exceptional cross-over guitar pop album.

But then. Whatever they do is fine by me. They've done pretty good so far following their own thing.

"Heads Will Roll" = one of the best singles of the last ten years.

It's strange how they are seem to be really popular with the public and the critics but they just don't seem to have hit singles or even sell that many albums. If they haven't had breakthrough hits with some of their singles so far, I don't know what it will take for them to get in the top 10.

Here are their UK chart positions. I didn't realise how badly the It's Blitz singles did. Cheated Hearts failure is the most shocking, it's easily my favourite single of theirs.

"Machine" 37
"Date with the Night"16
"Pin" 29
"Maps" 26
"Y Control" 54
"Gold Lion" 18
"Turn Into" 53
"Cheated Hearts" -
"Down Boy" -
"Zero" 49
"Heads Will Roll" 89
"Skeletons" -

I don't think I ever listened to this again after that initial couple of runthroughs.

"Heads Will Roll" = one of the best singles of the last ten years.

― a regina spektor is haunting europe (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, September 1, 2012 7:14 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this is how i felt about "zero"

I still love this album to bits. I think I like Zero and Heads will Roll equally tbh. They were awesome when I saw them on the tour for this album. <3

yeah "heads will roll" is amazing

truly fantastic album and I never cared for YYYs before that. I still get the "you are chrome" line stuck in my head all the time - sounds so badass

"in your room" may not have the born-to-be-wild declamation of zero or heads will roll but is better than them imo

of the nu-wave class these guys came the closest to making a Parallel Lines - sure beats Tonight, Our Love To Admire and First Impressions of Earth - but I wish I understood why they take at least three years between albums because it really cuts down their momentum.

I also don't get why "Soft Shock" wasn't a single.

christ, in the time it took YYYs to release three albums, Blondie was already up to The Hunter

wanna see something bizarrely effective?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KNfgkIVvyg

Soft Shock is probably my favourite song on the album, that or Little Shadow.

I'm happy to call It's Blitz their Parallel Lines. Really looking forward to their Eat To The Beat, which is my favourite Blondie album these days.

thank u kraudive for reminding me of how awesome this recors is, top to tail

that or Little Shadow

love "little shadow" so damn much

"Dull Life" owns

'Dragon Queen' is the only one I find I want to skip, less because it's outright bad but because it doesn't quite fit. Otherwise this is still an amazing album.

"dragon queen" is one of my favourites

it's so light and untethered

I think it sounds kinda flimsy and fish-out-of-water.

I think it sounds bright and buoyant

I'm much more likely to skip "Short Shock" & "Skeletons"

Quite possible that It's Blitz is their Parallel Lines.

― Elvis Telecom, Saturday, September 1, 2012 10:50 PM (2 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Soft Shock is probably my favorite on this! Geez I really need to give this a spin

i keep calling Soft Shock "In Your Room", which i think is a sign of how often i just let this album play through instead of picking individual titles out

My favorite song on this is probably "Runaway" but the song I sing the most is "Dragon Queen"; that chorus just embedded itself into my brain

love the endless needling guitars in it and the DUB bassline

I'm still hoping they release an album / DVD of "Stop the Virgens" because there were some great songs in that. songs I can still sing in my head from only hearing them once, live, last October.

there were a ton of cameras there shooting but so far it's only yielded a "making of" mini-doc on the Creators Project website.

"dragon queen" is fantastic, easily one of my favorite tracks on the album

album is kind of backloaded, imo. not taking anything away from "zero" and "heads will roll", but the album's strongest stretch is the run from "runaway" through "little shadow"

Not enough people repping for "hysteric" after the revive. So I'm doing that.

seeing people repping for so many different songs just remind me how rich this album is. Might be worth polling it

Make it happen. Could be exciting.

Backloaded, huh? I think it's too short an album to be loaded in either direction, and besides, it starts out so awesome. I even love the Clannad-isms of "Skeletons" and the ever-shifting "Dull Life." If anything, the strong ending to the record is a real treat. Anyway, it's hard to conceive of an album as backloaded when the first two songs are "Zero" and "Heads Will Roll." That's like saying, I dunno, that the first Boston record starts out OK, but really gets going with "Let Me Take You Home Tonight."