It's Blitz!

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

With the Yeah Yeah Yeahs album seemingly dominating Poptimist listening (if the last FM stats are anything to go by) shouldn't we have a chat about it?

Comments

[martinv.livejournal.com]

I think it's great. Absolutely great. And the last time I got properly excited about the YYYs was in about 2002. I really don't have anything more constructive to add, though.

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

I have never been properly excited - or even improperly excited - by them. But I agree: it's great.

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

I absolutely love the album - my favourite YYYs tracks are still the early punky kick-ass RARRR ones, 'Date With The Night' and 'Bang' specifically, but I don't think that's what I want from them any more - I'm really impressed that they made such an effortless transition to making expansive, country-tinged, new wavey music - they're capable of real beauty and majesty, which I'd never have predicted from the debut, and they haven't lost that propulsive quality they've always had, just recast it in a different setting...plus, Karen O is such an incredible frontwoman.

Favourites on the new one are prob 'Heads Will Roll', 'Dull Life' and 'Dragon Queen' - one really impressive thing is how lots of the songs end up in completely different places to where they started, but the transitions are so smooth that the overall aesthetic is never disrupted. Still gathering my thoughts about it really, there's a lot to talk about wrt how the band are evolving, but it's easy to just bask in how gorgeous it sounds.

On ILM, I was interested that a lot of the people on the YYYs thread were all R&B thread regulars. Off out for a while now, will be interested to see what people say...have you heard the album Tom? (Indeed do you like them already?)

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Yeah, love the record, my favourite of 09 so far (not heard The-Dream yet though). And I didn't like them already - I didn't DISLIKE them, they just hadn't made any impression on me.

You're right about the transitions!

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

Yeah there was a brief period where this was my easy favourite of 09 - and then I heard The-Dream! Still, this is way up there.

(Thought Fever To Tell was excellent, 4 stars easily; thought Show Your Bones was patchy but its best songs - 'Turn Into', 'Way Out' - were AMAZING, so three stars, but will probably go back to it in the wake of It's Blitz.)

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Not being up on the young person's female fronted indie music this reminded me a lot of my favourite Siouxsie And The Banshees 'era' - the really luxurious but spooky early 80s stuff.

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

I've been meaning to get into Siouxsie for about a decade now - what do u recommend?

(btw you were right about twitter :( )

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Go for the first half dozen tracks on "Twice Upon A Time", see how you like those, then investigate the albums.

[koganbot]

Karen O. sometimes seems like a transvestite doing a comic impersonation of PJ Harvey. I think I mean that as a compliment. But yes, I like this album. My top three are "Heads Will Roll," "Dull Life," and "Runaway."

Had a truncated discussion about it here, though ended up talking more about Lovefoxxx, whom I realize I'm in love with (connection betw. Karen and Lovefoxxx is their sense of wonder; Lovefoxxx makes her wonder more articulate, however).

Clarification

[koganbot]

Btw, I don't mean to imply by the previous comment that I compare everyone to PJ Harvey and Lovefoxxx, as if they were the touchstone for everything else. On the contrary, I once said that PJ Harvey sounded like Chrissy Hynde having a cow. But if I'd written "Karen O. sometimes seems like a transvestite doing a comic impersonation of Chrissy Hynde having a cow," you would think that I compare everything to cows.

Re: Clarification

[piratemoggy.livejournal.com]

I'm always surprised that I can tolerate from Karen O what I absolutely CANNOT from Jack White.

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

I don't think I've listened to a YYY song since 2003 - is there ONE song off this album that is likely to convince me of its awesomeness?

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

"Zero" or "Heads Will Roll"

[plumsbitch.livejournal.com]

Having just listened to "Heads Will Roll" which *is* fab, am I the only person who thinks there's something very (ho ho)Pet Shop boys about the music? Something about the tempo, sweeping/relentless motion, something inspired very much by disco but doing it's own version of it... Or possibly, I'm just obsessed with the PSBs.

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

I think both! cuz I def see where you're coming from but at the same time I don't think it's a conscious or deliberate thing - it hits a similar spot and I react to it in much the same way, but at the same time if Karen O said she'd never heard a PSB song I'd believe her.

[plumsbitch.livejournal.com]

Yes, totally. It doesn't sound like a concious influence, and it's entirely possible that the YYYs know nothing of the PSBs but there's something that pushes similar buttons for me as well, and is interesting to hear people with I think, some very similar influences doing comparable-but-different things with them.

[petronia.livejournal.com]

I just gave this a listen and it is basically "This Is Not A Love Song" as performed by someone who can sing (this is a good thing)...

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

'Zero' is probably my least favourite song on the album b/c it seems to be a bit more "oh, lead single, best do something people expect of us" - I don't dislike it but I pretty much start the album at 'Heads Will Roll' now. DANCE DANCE DANCE TIL YR DEAD

[koganbot]

"Heads Will Roll." Not "Zero."

[jel-bugle.livejournal.com]

I was unaware that they were still going. I might give it a listen.

[jel-bugle.livejournal.com]

How come the whole album is on Last.Fm? Not really my cup of tea, don't like her voice, 'tis a bit shouty...

Zero

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

I like it! Initial lazy comparison thought: it's like if Blondie were being produced by Kleerup. Except without Debbie Harry. Karen's voice sounds a lot smoother than it did on the first album (for which I am V GLAD - I got sick of the banshee thing rather quickly).