Yeah Yeah Yeahs:
It's Blitz!

I have a lot of respect for Karen O's musical (and, especially, vocal) growth as of late, but I still can't bring myself to put an image of her performing on a chrome-colored anything. She has the kind of voice most female vocalists would kill for, a cross between 10,000 Maniacs, Alanis Morisette, and Blondie, and I wouldn't have it any other way. However, it just doesn't fit the into the dance-indie spectrum presented by today's industry.

I would prefer to take in the Yeahs' music for all that it has to offer constructively & listen to something like The Ting Tings' "We Started Nothing" to satisfy my dance-floor needs. Their pop sensibilities, innovative style, flippant musical attitudes and easy-to-take-in presentation make them a pop tour-de-force in an uber-marketable package. If you're broke like me, you can check them out at myspace.com/thetingtings to see what I mean.

I just think the Yeahs should do the Yeahs, and leave the dancefloor to 2009's discotheque sweethearts.

At first It's Blitz is jarring in that its sound on the surface is a lot different: more electronic/beat heavy, more restrained and cleaner. However, after a few listens I have fully warmed up to it and feel it's one of their most mature and well-written albums. "Hysteric" is a chill and beautiful gem. There's still a lot of the grit and edge that made the YYYs so appealing before, but it's been tweaked so that they're still interesting yet moving forward.
91 out of 100

Why do people insist on calling everything “disco” these days? Apparently the Yeah Yeah Yeahs have got a more “disco sound”. No they haven’t. Karen O, Nick Zinner and Brian Chase may have invested in some vintage synths and a drum machine, but the YYY sound is clearer than ever.

Just as extraordinary as Fever To Tell and Show Your Bones, plus their self-titled debut EP, It’s Blitz! harnesses the fuzz guitar, the inimitable vocals and effortless drumming that only comes with New York’s iconic trio. Sounding more grown up from the rawness of Bang and Art Star, the sexuality is still as proud and prominent – with signature dirty metaphors coming at you from the album’s starter for ten, Zero.

"Off, off, off with your head!/Dance, dance, dance ’til you're dead!" goes the lyric of second track Heads Will Roll, with KO’s commanding authority written all over it and the new synth riffery akin to PiL’s ‘(This Is Not A) Love Song’; Skeletons proves that no one does a soaring, building epic like the ’Yeahs do; Dull Life is anything but; Runaway is an alternative power ballad to counterbalance the rock; Hysteric is the gorgeous spine-tingler to rival 2003’s Maps; and Little Shadow is the emotional conclusion, a soul-shaking affair to ensure another masterpiece hangs in their collection. And with vocal/production input from TV on the Radio’s Tunde Adebimpe and David Andrew Sitek adding more substance to the latest YYY adventure, this is destined to be an album of the year.

Whether they are teasing, euphoric or downright filthy, the alt-rock/garage rock band par excellence always have a knack of coming up with the goods. These modern auteurs with their raw edginess and subdued power are the three coolest cats that side of the Atlantic (and musical seductress Karen O by far the greatest frontwoman to emerge this side of Debbie Harry and Siouxsie Sioux – plus a nod to Chrissie Hynde), making It’s Blitz! yet another exceptional slice of what the NYC three-piece do best. Oh, and make of the egg what you will.