Album Reviews

Yeah Yeah Yeahs :: "It’s Blitz!"

by Sara

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 Chase’s 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 It’s Blitz!

The peace surely brought the band back together because It’s Blitz! is a hit.  In an interview with Rolling Stone Magazine,  Zinner said of the recording process in their new surroundings, “When Karen and I were working on something, and one said, ‘I don’t like that,’ the other would say, ‘Oh well, let me try something else.’ With Show Your Bones, it was more like, ‘FUCK YOU!’”

The band obviously went through some drastic changes to produce this upbeat, high-energy, dance record.  That’s right, I said “dance record” in reference to the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s.  The band ditched much of their guitar and drum work for synths and drum machines.  Though there are still machines, the Yeah’s haven’t forgotten their roots because guitars are still a part of the mix.

One of the highlights of the album is “Skeletons”, a slow, melancholy-sounding track that begins with soft synths and Karen O’s 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, “Runaway” is another great one and features simple piano and guitar.

Though a couple songs on the record don’t 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 I’m raving about are “Zero”, a jump into the deep end of this album, “Heads Will Roll” (one of the album’s singles) and “Dull Life”.

The first thing you hear when you pop this cd into your player (or should I say, “when you click Play on your media player”) 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 you’re bobbing your head to.

“Heads Will Roll” also begins with synths and O’s voice announcing, “Off with your head/Dance till you’re dead/Heads will roll”. Though this song is the second on the album, it’s 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 “Maps” and “Y Control” on Fever to Tell.

Finally, “Dull Life” 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.

There’s no shallow end of the pool for the Yeah’s.  It’s Blitz! totally engulfs the listener right away to this strong, electronic, dance-inducing album.

Buy the album at our record store on Amazon

Here are some other pages you might be into: