It's Blitz

Sorry for all the music based posts this week. It's just been the kind of week where I just haven't been in the mood to discuss myself. Too much going on. Would rather stick to things that are outside me for the moment.

This week saw the release of the latest cd from New York scenesters Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Where their first cd Fever To Tell can be viewed as the raucous, booze and drug fueled beginning of a night out, and the second cd Show Your Bones as the apex of the evening, the new cd It's Blitz is squarely in the comedown phase, where you wake up in the aftermath surveying the wreckage.

Instead of the bluesy, effects laden guitar squall we have come to associate with Yeah Yeah Yeahs, this release shows different colors right off the bat with the one-two punch of "Zero" and "Heads Will Roll" with muted synths, and Moroder-esque basslines. Like Bloc Party and Asobi Seksu, the band has chosen to adopt a more electronic approach. It works like the latest Bloc Party cd, and shows off a softer side to the band without bringing any of the band's flaws to the forefront, unlike the new Asobi Seksu cd.

Thankfully, the band, contrary to all the internet rumors, have not abandoned the guitar completely. Every song contains a guitar part, however, instead of it being the integral focus, it more often appears as part of a texture or counterpoint to all the washes of synths and electronic percussion. For example, on standout song "Soft Shock" it starts as a little staccato riff and gets more and more insistent as the song progresses. Karen O's voice is so gentle and fragile, cooing the lines "Louder, lips speak louder, better back together/Still it's a sharp shock to your soft side."

In a song that will likely draw the most comparisons to their signature song "Maps," "Skeletons" has a light, airy, almost beatless cadence. Karen O appears to be singing about a relationship starting to end and she has no more energy left to make things work. She hauntingly sings "Wait, don't cry/Love, don't go/Love, don't cry/Skeleton me."

Although the cd is very lowkey in comparision with their previous output, it is not to say that they have done away with their wilder, more barnburning numbers. Karen lets loose her caterwaul on the tracks "Dull Life" and "Shame and Fortune." These tracks almost serve to represent a last gasp effort to keep the booze and drug-filled evening going. Each has snarling guitars and sneering vocals that build and build. Of course, the evening has run its course and the songs return to the themes of regret and resignation. In "Runaway," Karen sings about a relationship she regrets ending..."Run, run, run away/Lost, lost, lost my mind/Want you to stay/Want you to be my prize. The cd ends on a light, tremulous note with the song "Little Shadow," with Karen sweetly singing, "Little shadow, little shadow/To the night, will you follow me?" Calmly, the evening ends, and sleep begins. Until the next night appears, and new adventures arise.

I was struck at first how different, at least musically, this release was. And I was not particularly a fan of it at first. Over many listens, the music and lyrics become clearer and you see that Yeah Yeah Yeahs really have everything under control and you get a sense of story and of purpose. This is one of the best releases of the year so far. Give it many listens and get wrapped up in a band at the height of its power.