Yeah Yeah Yeahs

I haven’t thought much of most of the “alternative” New York (I think) bands that have been hyped in the last year or two. I find Interpol deadly dull; The Strokes are just a bunch of snotty rich kids informing the world how much cooler they are than anyone else; and the rhythm/dance bands like Out Hud and The Rapture just aren’t funky enough to play the sort of music they are trying to. But I’ve been won over by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Basic punk, I suppose, but the guitar is edgy and off-kilter enough to keep things interesting, and Karen O.’s voice is brilliant, finding just the right point between pretentious declamation and fevered hysteria. Their new CD, Fever To Tell, also reveals a variety that I wouldn’t have guessed at from their previous EPs. All in all, I’m pleased that Punk Lives, and even manages to sound fresh, so many years later. (I’m showing my middle age here, I know, but so be it).

I haven’t thought much of most of the “alternative” New York (I think) bands that have been hyped in the last year or two. I find Interpol deadly dull; The Strokes are just a bunch of snotty rich kids informing the world how much cooler they are than anyone else; and the rhythm/dance bands like Out Hud and The Rapture just aren’t funky enough to play the sort of music they are trying to. But I’ve been won over by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Basic punk, I suppose, but the guitar is edgy and off-kilter enough to keep things interesting, and Karen O.’s voice is brilliant, finding just the right point between pretentious declamation and fevered hysteria. Their new CD, Fever To Tell, also reveals a variety that I wouldn’t have guessed at from their previous EPs. All in all, I’m pleased that Punk Lives, and even manages to sound fresh, so many years later. (I’m showing my middle age here, I know, but so be it).