Music so sexy you'll need a cigarette when your done (Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Yeah Yeah Yeahs)

Member Name: wicked_witch

Product:	Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Date:	28/04/03 (861 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Karen O could kick Avril's undersized ass, great, bouncy tunes, nice raw production

Disadvantages: Probably arent conventional enough to go far

Sorry, if your sick of ass-kissing reviews of Yeah Yeah Yeahs, you better turn away now!

Fact- Karen O beats the snot out of all these fake, so-called “rock chicks” (the likes of Pink, Avril and Kelly).

If you read NME or Face, or similar butt-kissing publications out there, your bound to have come across a ten-page special about Yeah Yeah Yeahs, that is, Karen O, and, um, two other blokes who no-one can remember the name of (Oh yeah, its Nick Zinner the cute, funky, indie-meets-punk guitarist and Brian Chase the geeky-cool drummer). Even the fairly individual magazine “Careless Talk Costs Lives” done an ass-kissing special.

Believe the hype. This isn’t the Strokes, some decent-but-nothing-special marketed band with some catchy tunes, cute faces and rich daddies, which resulted in them being named saviours of rock ‘n’ roll. Yeahs are something different. Yes, they do have the garagey punky sound of the “the” bands (though there’s no “the” in YYY’s name), but they are something different, something a little unique, albeit something which brings a little more confusion and weirdness into my already weird and confused life.

Its partly Karen O, the nutter of a front woman who squeals like a pig, purrs like a kitten, and dresses like Britney’s worst nightmare- bumble bee boots and tutus are prominent in her wardrobe. The lads all love her, not because she’s necessarily gorgeous in an obvious way, but because she oozes sex appeal from every manic pore, something which the girls respect her for (along with her wacky dress sense). You won’t catch her prancing around in pleather chaps, but you will catch her swilling beer and doing what she does with real, totally honest passion.

But mostly, its the important part, er, oh yeah, the songs. Yeah Yeah Yeahs eponymous first EP is five songs long, none of which have been put on their debu
t album, “Fever to Tell”. They are all fabulous and highly unpredictable. They ooze sweaty, sexy cool from every beat (probably because they’re mostly about, well, sex) and have more stoppy-starty bits than a barrelful of Pixies CDs.

They have the dirty sound of the nu-garage craze, but they are also heavier, yet they still carry a tremendous sense of fun about them. The songs, and the band, don’t take themselves quite so seriously as some of the other “the” bands running around.

The entire thing amounts to a staggeringly energetic and powerful debut. Yeah’s mix up Blondie and the insanity of Iggy and come out with something unique and crazy. If you are a bit of a nutter, you are bound to love this mad, five-song ode to sex. I’m sure nymphomaniacs will like it too.

Bang- Bang is the opener, and qualifies for my favourite Yeahs song, out of all of the, um, eight, Yeahs songs I’ve heard. It starts with a sudden, rough and stilted guitar rhythm, a clunky, jerky drum line and Karen whispering “The bigger the better over it”. Surprise surprise its all about sex. Its bumpy and awkward sounding (as sex can sometimes be LOL), but somehow it comes together absolutely beautifully, probably due to Karen O screaming delightfully sweet lyrics over the top (“as a f**k son, you suck” and “take a swallow as I spit, baby” are two of my particular faves). The drumming is a consistent series of rolls, and the whole effect is raw, due to the production and the fact that there is only one guitar, and no bass. This may also account for the odd feel of the song. Whatever it is, it sounds terribly rough but bloody fantastic, it might make your ears bleed but you’ll love it anyway. Its one song you have to hear, but will probably not ever be able to describe it accurately-you just have to hear it. Note, if you like your songs squeaky clean with lots of Pro-Tools and n
ice smooth vocals, you are going to hate this with a fiery passion.

Mystery Girl- Another cracking track, about a Mystery Girl, funnily enough. It starts with a very cool sounding, tom-based lengthened drum rhythm and then descends into a doom-laden, minimalist guitar track. The guitar has a real retro feel to it, it’s just a few chords, and is pretty much rhythm guitar all the way through. The entire backing music is pretty quiet, including during the chorus, but it serves to make it more noticeable and unique. Again, Karen O sings and squeals in a jealous, slightly mocking manner over the top, about this sexy girl. It’s a real funky song to dance to, should you ever visit somewhere like the Barfly in Glasgow, which is unlikely. Contains some incredibly cool lines (“They found her under the seat, she said she came from cell block three”, “Not a day goes by I wanna disappear, into her eyes, mother of pearl”, “The girl who had tamed the tigers, yeah yeah”). It’s definitely among the coolest sounding songs in my extensive collection.

Art Star- a schizophrenic screaming fest, to put it gently. When it starts off the music sounds sane enough, with a reduced cymbal-based drum rhythm, and a nice deep, clean guitar line. This is Karen O taking the total piss out of a snobbish art world, however, and the first spoken lyrics cut right to the point- “I’ve been working on a piece that speaks of sex and desperation, about screwing on the tracks, of abandoned train stations”- her criticisms certainly don’t beat around the bush. Then comes the shock. After Nick counting us in with a quiet “1,2,3,4” and a brief moment of complete quiet, the entire track descends into chaos. The snare drum thundering, Nick batters a scary and urgent tune out of the guitar, and Karen screams “ART STAR!!!!!!” at the top of her considerable voice. The track then returns to its form
er status, albeit a tad louder and funkier, with a bunch of playful “doo, doo, doos” sung over the top. The track continues in this fashion, with screaming fits interspersed with this mocking song. Again, contains some great lines “S**t, I got a gallery in New York”, and “It’s a madhouse, this modern life, it’s a madhouse, my feckless pride”. Weird, twisted and bloody amazing.

Miles Away- An ominous guitar line introduces Karen’s purring voice, “as the stars go by, under the sun, like an enemy, you wander, you wander, you wander”, followed by some suspiciously orgasmic breathing. It’s a real odd, punky feeling song that would leave the faux Sum-41 punkers quaking in their odd-coloured Converse. Edgy, eerie and a bit on the weird side, it feels like a giant melting pot that keeps rebuilding itself and then breaking down again. The drums are chaotic, disordered, almost anarchic, heavy with the crash-cymbals and snare, and following no set pattern, mirroring the rest of the song. The guitar riff is really the incredibly strong driving force of the song, its low, droning and chugging, and lends a sense of dominant urgency in the song, which builds up to several screaming choruses, and then breaks down on itself to a whispered “Miles, miles away”, which dims to nothing, as it disappears into the far distance.

Our Time- A fairly weird, chugging type song with spacey, stoned “seize the day” lyrics (someone’s being tucking in to her coke and champagne). This one is different from the others, a slow burning, powerful song that sticks in your mind and speaks to you in many different ways. It sounds like a bit of a love song, with Karen’s usual rabid roar toned down to a kittenish whispering vocal. Its also one of those big-eyed, awed-at-the-world songs, which preaches individuality and the need to seize the day. OK, granted its not an original message
, but its done in such a trademark Yeah’s fashion that it sounds like it’s the first song of its sort you’ve ever heard, spiced up with some slightly odd lyrics (“it’s the year to be hated”, “I may be dead honey, but I was left with my eyes”). I guess the bottom line is that it’s a song that you can read your own meaning into, which is personally my favourite kind of song, the ones that make you think.

All in all, the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s, from the strength of this recording, are definitely a niche band. Unlike the Strokes, the Coral, and the White Stripes, their tracks are probably too punky and weird to stumble their way into the top twenty, as the other three have, although in today’s musical climate, where the White Stripes trounce Robbie Williams on the US billboard chart, who knows. Its definitely love it or shove it music with an extra twist- you will either develop a Yeah’s obsession and start dressing like Karen O in ripped fishnets and vintage threads (this is more disturbing if your male), jonesing after one of the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s handmade shoulder bags and a vinyl copy of “Machine”, or you will not understand why in the HELL anyone could possibly listen to this and ENJOY IT! I’m glad I fall into the first camp. I’m off to rip some fishnets now.

Disclaimer- I am in no way affiliated with the NME. Thank the Goddess.

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