The Gist: The Yeah Yeah Yeahs – It’s Blitz

Yeah Yeah Yeahs- Soft Shock

*Limited downloads* REMOVED. Link takes you to the Hype Machine

So the Yeah Yeahs are back, and in style – they have quietly been evolving into a band of impressive range, and despite its crappy cover art (aren’t Art School bands supposed to turn out decent sleeves even when their music is rubbish?) this album is a cohesive belter abetted by David Sitek’s production magique.

Much of the blog carping has suggested that YYY have neutered their sound using – shock horror! – synths on their record. I don’t think that you can ever flatten Nick Zinner and Brian Chase (indie’s equivalent of Clark Kent), but this is certainly a record that has fewer of the sharp edges and punky blasts which made Fever to Tell such a beautiful mess. The drums are outstanding throughout this record, with Chase doing his best Little Drummer Boy impersonation one minute on Skeleton, and skittering out a lover’s heartbeat the next on Hysteric.

The band work the synths brilliantly on the highly danceable opening one-two punch of “Zero” and “Heads will Roll”, although there is an alarming moment mid-way through the latter where Karen O sounds like Kylie Minogue. YYY haven’t completely abandoned the rave-ups that they earned their stripes with, and when they kick out the jams it’s ace – “Dull Life”, with a buzz-saw riff from Nick Zinner, parties like it’s 2002 all over again, and the knockout is completed with “Shame and Fortune”. Once Karen O slips back into her Williamsburg Warrior-Queen woop, you know that the trio can still cut it live with a big, dirty noise, and will sound amazing in a sweaty pit somewhere (assuming you can get tickets).

As good as it is when they turn back the clock, some of the standout moments from this are the slowies where the band show their bones: like TV on the Radio’s Lover’s Day, “Skeleton” sounds like an art-rock cover of a War of Independence marching song; “Hysteric” is a beautifully simple love song a la Maps and Cheated Hearts, with Karen O telling some lucky fella that “you suddenly complete me” – quite an admission from a woman who once declared modern romance dead, and kissed off a bad shag with “As a fuck/son, you suck” on “Bang”. The finale of “Little Shadow” is a big one, and as soon as the record finishes you’ll want to take it for another spin. A grower, in other words.

So, three great records in a row, and YYY are laying claim to the title of best band in New York: the ball’s back in your Upper-East side tennis court, The Strokes, better make the return a good one.