Toronto – After a three year break, New York’s flagship band of cool – Yeah Yeah Yeahs return with their third full length album – It’s Blitz!, which was probably what Kurt Warner was thinking every single play during the Superbowl. Suckers! The album is due for a release on April 13 from Interscope records. I was lucky enough to get a preview of it, and here are some thoughts.

First of all, the band’s album cover is cool. Just what you’d expect from the reigning goddess of hipster rock – Karen O. However, I don’t think you should cook that egg afterwards, too much shell bits in it. This album is definitely different from the other two. No longer is the band relying primarily on the guitar of Nick Zinner and the beats from drummer Brian Chase – this album has a plethora guitarish sounds along with beeps, boops and synths. I guess you can only do with two instruments so long before you get bored. Right opening electro pulses of the first track – ‘Zero’ you can detect a difference in the music. This album seems more polished, less raw and definitely a much tighter sound then the previous two. Standout tracks include ‘Dragon Queen’, with a kickass disco-esque tune that will surely be a dance floor filler with its kickass beats, nonsensical lyrics and guitar riffs that Franz Ferdinand wish they still had. Other single material includes Heads Will Roll, Soft Shock and Dull Life, the latter being the song that old YYY fans would identify with. The last track on the album – Little Shadow is a nice ‘morning after a party’ lullaby that has Karen O channeling Alison GoldFrapp in her most subdued form, using her gentle voice to quietly end off an very good album.

YYY fans of the old aren’t going to get an album frenzy of ‘Date With the Night’ or the raw power of ‘Machine’, but they will get a solid album that shows a band maturing and expanding on their sound.

4/5

 

 Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Heads Will Roll: Play Now