[ NEW ON CD ]
Band’s debut is
hard-charging romp
"Fever to Tell" Yeah Yeah Yeahs
InterscopeEven without the extreme visual spectacle of a caterwauling Karen O, you still can't help but be beaten into submission by the raw erotic charge of this band's punk-thrash rock during the first two-thirds of this, their major label debut.
Karen O (who reportedly is part Korean) comes on like a possessed sexual predator during songs like the opening "Rich," which marries a restless beat with her gold digger's throaty growl, as well as the stomping "Pin," the biting kiss-off of "Black Tongue" and the hungry desperation that infuses the sleazy "Cold Light." "Man," in the meantime, offers her a forbidden taste of sweet oblivion -- he's a guy "that makes the devil pale," leading her down that highway to hell 'cause he "makes me wanna kill (and) die."
The two best songs of that ilk are the rave-up "Tick" and "No No No." The latter, with its jerky stop-and-go rhythm, boasts the strongest group performance, meshing voice with the slash-and-burn provided by guitarist Nick Zinner and drummer Brian Chase.
It makes an unexpected but effective excursion into dub that leads into the album's change of pace, headed by the sparkling and melodic "Maps" (an actual love song!) and "Y Control," a bracing blast filled with '80s influences -- it's an overdriven Flock of Seagulls married to Karen O's Siouxsie Sioux vocal.
The two album-closing "brokenhearted laments" mentioned in the above article are "Modern Romance" and the hidden track "Poor Song." The former has a dirgelike Joy Division air to it, with sleigh bells adding a tinge of false hope, as a close-miked Karen O wearily sings that "there is no modern romance." "Poor Song" sounds like Lou Reed/Velvet Underground once removed, offering in contrast a quiet, more optimistic take on l'amour -- to be fearless in acknowledging its strong pull, even after being messed over by it more than once previously.
Click for online
calendars and events.
