The Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz!

For the The Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ fans who were anxiously awaiting another raw art rock album, It’s Blitz! will not deliver. On their third studio album, released on March 31, 2009, Guitarist Nick Zinner has traded in the raw garage band riffs for electronica. It was to be expected that eventually The Yeah Yeah Yeahs would turn to the dancey indie pop genre, but I was not prepared for this quick split from their usual dirty and unprocessed sound. Nothing lasts forever, as you can see songs like “Bang” soon became Show Your Bones’ “Turn Into.”

The first track, “Zero” has a catchy hook, and is what radio singles are made of. “Heads will roll” is a great dance track, as well. Track 4, “Skeletons”, paints the image of little drummer boys in your head, but in a good way. It makes you feel the urge to do something epic whenever you hear it.

“Dull Life” is the gem on this album. Its sound is the closest to that of Show Your Bones. It still grasps the ear of the electronic fan, but thrusts some of that raw power of their previous albums in your face.

“Runaway” begins with a really delicate piano, and eventually crescendos with a string section, and then ends with a more powerful, and somewhat redeeming, percussion section.

The album ends on a downbeat, with the final two tracks being neither raw nor dancey. The tracks are pleasant, but not impressive.

I won’t say they're selling out yet, but “Runaway”, the seventh track on It’s Blitz!, is being featured on the episode of Gossip Girl premiering on April 20th. I believe this electronic change was the right idea for the fans of the band, but I find it a disappointing one. This is a good album for the genre it was reaching towards, but unfortunately, not the genre that the fans are used to.



The Damage:



3 out of 5 Mustaches