'It's Blitz!' by Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Trotter’s Top Ten position : 3 in 2009
UK Chart high : 9 in 2009
I was biting my tongue when folk were saying they would have 'Fever To Tell' (the Yeah Yeah Yeah's debut) higher up the list than 29, wanting to say 'they'll be back' but also knowing this will probably be a nice little surprise. Sure, most rank the debut much higher than this, their latest release, and to be honest there's not really _that_ much difference on this here Top Fifty between 29 and 9 - I mean I love all these fellas (just not exactly equally - a bit like how your parents view you and your siblings). So why do I favour the youngest of three over it's eldest sibling? Despite the fact I'm the youngest of three too, it's because to me this is where they've been heading ever since their first EP. Thrashing about in a frenetic punky stylee is all well and good but folk can't keep on doing that and keep everyone's attention, so as much as I love that side to them I want a little light with my shade - or maybe I just need time to stop for a breath after pogoing for ten songs straight at my age...yeah probably that. The other point about this album is the damnable lie that this saw a move away from guitars. I mean, before this was released I was having palpitations thinking that Nick Zimmerman was going to have to crouch onstage by a stylophone like Jonny from Radiohead rather than blast through another set of songs like the fabulous axeman that he is. Thankfully the shift to keyboards only really saw them rise up in prominence rather than take over completely. I mean, you have to be deaf not to hear the electric guitar in the demonic 'Heads Will Roll' or 'Dull Life' (which is anything but). Though lead single 'Zero' with its Donna Summer vibe certainly added to those rumours. Once again, Karen O either completely tears through the songs here or softly pours over them in turn, switching from ferocity to tenderness as fast as you can say 'bonkers frontwoman wearing a Native American headress' or even combining them strangely like in the sublime and not in the least hysteric 'Hysteric'. I'm also very glad to say they finally got the attention they deserved on the festival circuit (even if the Beeb kept playing only the one track each time they graciously 'featured' them on screen) and that must in part be due to the grander scale and ambition of the tracks here - that and a pair of huge inflatable eyeballs being thrown into the crowd obviously. So we get the same high level of performance, arresting videos, theatrics, intensity and tenderness just ramped up to...no I'm not going to say eleven. We also get tracks like 'Dragon Queen' that are so far removed from where YYY's were when they debuted that you've got to tip your headress to them. One final point, there's few albums that I own where I feel I know some of the tunes already even though I've never heard them before - and that's not the same as them being ripoffs of other ones. I'm not sure whether other people experience this or if it's just another of my weirdisms - but this happened a few times here and made listening to 'It's Blitz!' all the better for it. Oh, and live they have a herd of bagpipes to play out 'Skeletons' - you can't argue with that, people!
Look at Zero ; Heads Will Roll ; Skeletons ; Skeletons (live at T in the Park with added bagpipes)
Listen to a sampling of the Top Fifty on Spotify as we go or the 'one from each album' version
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