Karen O...Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs, Baby!
Led by pianist and vocalist, Karen O, drummer, Brian Chase and guitarist/keyboardist, Nick Zinner, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs are one of my favorite bands. By the time I'd learned of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs around 2006, they'd already done some pretty big things.
Their first two records, Fever to Tell (2003) and Show Your Bones (2006) produced a sound that stands alone. Unique? Yes. Eerily catchy and inspiring? Absolutely. In fact, last month, the album, Fever to Tell, was named as one of the top five albums of this decade by the UK's New Musical Express Magazine.
Not surprising, I was completely sold on the Yeah Yeah Yeahs when I first heard a few of their biggest tracks ("Gold Lion", "Cheated Hearts", "Warrior", and "Maps"). The release of the Yeah Yeah Yeah's third album, It's Blitz!, in March of this year, has impressed me more than ever.
The Yeah Yeah Yeahs are one of the few bands that I've heard that thoroughly riles my blood. I'm talking riled as in Rage Against the Machine and Nirvana riled. But Yeah Yeah Yeah's rile is a completely different kind of animal.
Their energy can move you and floor you all at the same time. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs invoke such a strong energy within me that when I first heard "Skeletons", I teared up. After that I ran five and a half miles and passed out.
The music is like a quiet storm that moves in slow and fierce. When the sound storm arrives, the listener is barraged with a style of synthesized rock that is like no other. The drums are crisp. The guitar riffs are subtle. Karen O's vocals twist and careen between pitch, volume, octave and cadence, thus thrilling and awing the listener.
I can say with honesty there is not a single track on It's Blitz! that I dislike. "Heads Will Roll" has gained the most attention in the mainstream. You certainly can't go wrong with "Runaway", the aforementioned "Skeletons", "Little Shadow", or the hard hitting "Dull Life".
The Yeah Yeah Yeahs have brought it time and time again. The group's music with Karen O (yeah, baby) at the helm invigorates strong emotion. I encourage you to get a copy of It's Blitz! if you haven't already. This is one of my favorite albums of the year and possibly of all time. I hope you enjoy.
Oh, and be sure to keep your ear out for Karen O's participation in the soundtrack for the motion picture, Where the Wild Things Are.
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