Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz
So a few days ago the new Yeah Yeah Yeah's album leaked onto the net. The press for the album has had the band saying something along the lines of its different but will "still sound like the Yeah Yeah Yeahs." and have talked about recording it in an abandoned barn in the snow or something stupid, while predominately using old analogue syths. Now, already it sounds like I hate the YYY's, which is not true at all, Show Your Bones is one of my favourite records, and Cheated Hearts is one of my favourite songs, but I am very unimpressed by this album as a whole.
I decided to do a real time write up for each track as I listened to it. The following was from the second time I had listened to the album. Maybe it'll grow on me further, but I doubt it. However, if it does, I will write a retraction.
1. Annoying chorus vocal melody. Synths are far to overused. Uncreative, boring drumming, boring programming, shit obvious lyrics Bad 80s track.
2. Intro sucks, sounds like a crappy 90s rave synth line. Chorus guitar line is fantastic, then ruined by crappy synth line again. Lyrics suck, really suck. Unnecessarily repetitive, could've been half the length. Drums sound nothing like YYY, just dull synth resurgence drum machines.
3. Drums are written better, melodies are interested and layered. Sounds like a YYY remix. Lyrics are more esoteric / interesting. Base line is annoyingly omnipresent. Builds to a wonderfully power full crescendo, where all parts of the song meet, to fantastic effect.
4. They're letting Karen sing in the beginning of this one. Elating but haunting synth intro, with great introduction of drums and guitars. Again builds to a power full crescendo through the use of guitar pedals and layers, with complimenting synth use. This albums Maps. Probably the best song on the album.
5. Sounds closer to more familiar YYY's; Vocals and Guitars following each other, with heavy rythm section from the drums. Sounds similar to a not shit KT Tunstall. Pretty stock structure wise, but the most exciting song so far. Lyrics suck.
6. Funky oldskool roland-like intro, sounds out of place with familiar Karen O style vocals. Live drums sound awesome though. Once layers have fallen into place song becomes more interesting and better written. Strong use of heavy deep synth lines compliment rest of the song, especially near the end.
7. Wonderfully piano lead intro, with for once great lyrics from Karen. The song builds with low rumble-like guitar tones, breaking into a great drum line and nice echoey guitar textures. The synth use is minimal, but compliments the rest of the composition. Then pulls out with song very Beatles like string sections. A fantastic piece of song writing.
8. Fucking horrible 80s throwback, it sucks when Chromeo does it and sucks now. The synth line is almost identical to that of Eminence Front by The Who, which is a much better song. Guitar lines are good, but far to similar to Eminence Front. Fuzz bridge is cool, but then reverts back to shitty 80s nostalgia. Vocals suck on this song too.
9. Fuz sounds awesome, as does the drum machines rhythms. Vocal melodies are more akin to Karen O's usual work. Atmosphere is effectively constructed with echoey guitar lines, sparse complimenting synths and glockenspiels. Sounds like a YYY's lullaby. Brass section sounds cool too. This feels like the description of the album given by Nick Zimmer: "Its different, but definetly YYY's".
Ill be honest, at that point I got too bored to carry on.
As I sad before, I am sorely disappointed in this album. After how good Show Your Bones was, I expected them to keep progressing in that direction, with what I hoped to be their geatest work. This is not it. There are some really great tracks on here, without a doubt, but overall the album feels like a horrible exercise in nostalgia and synth wankery. It's not that I don't like synths either, I am a fan of lots of synth lead music, but this type of music and song writing just does not lend itself to heavy synth use. Even beyond my distaste for the use of heavy synths, the songs are mostly very dull on this album, and lyrically the record is very plain.
I am sure a lot of people will thoroughly disagree with me on this review, so prove me wrong. Plus, it's a fucking terrible album name.
From now on, Joe will posting on Mondays and I will be posting on Thursdays, so keep checking back. The next post will be Joe's half of the top 10.
Max
So a few days ago the new Yeah Yeah Yeah's album leaked onto the net. The press for the album has had the band saying something along the lines of its different but will "still sound like the Yeah Yeah Yeahs." and have talked about recording it in an abandoned barn in the snow or something stupid, while predominately using old analogue syths. Now, already it sounds like I hate the YYY's, which is not true at all, Show Your Bones is one of my favourite records, and Cheated Hearts is one of my favourite songs, but I am very unimpressed by this album as a whole.
I decided to do a real time write up for each track as I listened to it. The following was from the second time I had listened to the album. Maybe it'll grow on me further, but I doubt it. However, if it does, I will write a retraction.
1. Annoying chorus vocal melody. Synths are far to overused. Uncreative, boring drumming, boring programming, shit obvious lyrics Bad 80s track.
2. Intro sucks, sounds like a crappy 90s rave synth line. Chorus guitar line is fantastic, then ruined by crappy synth line again. Lyrics suck, really suck. Unnecessarily repetitive, could've been half the length. Drums sound nothing like YYY, just dull synth resurgence drum machines.
3. Drums are written better, melodies are interested and layered. Sounds like a YYY remix. Lyrics are more esoteric / interesting. Base line is annoyingly omnipresent. Builds to a wonderfully power full crescendo, where all parts of the song meet, to fantastic effect.
4. They're letting Karen sing in the beginning of this one. Elating but haunting synth intro, with great introduction of drums and guitars. Again builds to a power full crescendo through the use of guitar pedals and layers, with complimenting synth use. This albums Maps. Probably the best song on the album.
5. Sounds closer to more familiar YYY's; Vocals and Guitars following each other, with heavy rythm section from the drums. Sounds similar to a not shit KT Tunstall. Pretty stock structure wise, but the most exciting song so far. Lyrics suck.
6. Funky oldskool roland-like intro, sounds out of place with familiar Karen O style vocals. Live drums sound awesome though. Once layers have fallen into place song becomes more interesting and better written. Strong use of heavy deep synth lines compliment rest of the song, especially near the end.
7. Wonderfully piano lead intro, with for once great lyrics from Karen. The song builds with low rumble-like guitar tones, breaking into a great drum line and nice echoey guitar textures. The synth use is minimal, but compliments the rest of the composition. Then pulls out with song very Beatles like string sections. A fantastic piece of song writing.
8. Fucking horrible 80s throwback, it sucks when Chromeo does it and sucks now. The synth line is almost identical to that of Eminence Front by The Who, which is a much better song. Guitar lines are good, but far to similar to Eminence Front. Fuzz bridge is cool, but then reverts back to shitty 80s nostalgia. Vocals suck on this song too.
9. Fuz sounds awesome, as does the drum machines rhythms. Vocal melodies are more akin to Karen O's usual work. Atmosphere is effectively constructed with echoey guitar lines, sparse complimenting synths and glockenspiels. Sounds like a YYY's lullaby. Brass section sounds cool too. This feels like the description of the album given by Nick Zimmer: "Its different, but definetly YYY's".
Ill be honest, at that point I got too bored to carry on.
As I sad before, I am sorely disappointed in this album. After how good Show Your Bones was, I expected them to keep progressing in that direction, with what I hoped to be their geatest work. This is not it. There are some really great tracks on here, without a doubt, but overall the album feels like a horrible exercise in nostalgia and synth wankery. It's not that I don't like synths either, I am a fan of lots of synth lead music, but this type of music and song writing just does not lend itself to heavy synth use. Even beyond my distaste for the use of heavy synths, the songs are mostly very dull on this album, and lyrically the record is very plain.
I am sure a lot of people will thoroughly disagree with me on this review, so prove me wrong. Plus, it's a fucking terrible album name.
From now on, Joe will posting on Mondays and I will be posting on Thursdays, so keep checking back. The next post will be Joe's half of the top 10.
Max
2 comments:
I'm not sure I understand your reasoning. According to your track-by-track, you really like most of the songs, even going as far as to describe 3 of them as "fantastic," 2 of them as "awesome," and 1 of them as "the best song." Not too shabby I'd say. I think you like the album more than you want to.
i was expecting a worse opinion on the tracks, but you've described many of them as good. i personally love the album, but totally understand your review.
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