CD Review
This review was originally written by Jose Bernardo for www.theweeklyriff.com between 2008 and 2010.
These were Jose’s first impressions of the songs and were not written after multiple spins.
Artist: Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Album: It’s Blitz! (2009 Interscope)
Tracks: 10
Artist website: http://www.yeahyeahyeahs.com/
OVERVIEW
This is the third album of New York based indie rock band Yeah Yeah Yeahs. I had never heard of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs until I listened to this album. The music is what I would call modern electronic indie rock with some very strong elements of power pop.
The vocals are nice. The music is overly simple. (The first remark is a complement, the second is not.)
Overall, not the strongest artistic effort in my opinion. This music presupposes that a listener is a passive participant in the enjoyment of the music. Some of the material is more oriented towards dance-floor-partiers who are just having a good time and do not care what is being played in the background as the dancing takes place. (Or on the other extreme, someone listening to this would have to be baked to call themselves an “active listener”.)
HIGHLIGHTS:
Dull Life, Shame and Fortune, Runaway
PLAY BY PLAY
Track 1 – Zero
Cute song. Simple melody. Equally simple harmonic structure.
Track 2 – Heads Will Roll
This track would probably get a bunch of people moving on the dance floor with a bit or remixing applied to it.
Track 3 – Soft Shock
Weak. Songs like this were done better in the late 80’s by people who were pioneering this style.
Track 4 – Skeletons
Boring! (Only successful if it was meant as a lullaby.)
Track 5 – Dull Life
This has a bit more going for it than any other track on this album. More variation in harmonic motion is good.
Track 6 – Shame and Fortune
I found this interesting.
Track 7 – Runaway
Strong compositionally! Quite surprising amidst the rest of this album.
Track 8 – Dragon Queen
Again, this type of style was done better in the 80’s.
Track 9 – Hysteric
Cute song.
Track 10 – Little Shadow
Tranquil.