Yeah Yeah Yeahs & # 39; It's Blitz! & # 39; Celebrating 10 years

In March 2009, New York garage-punk heroes Yeah yeah yeah shared their highly anticipated third studio album, That's Blitz !, with the world. Abandoned a month before its original release date (due to a leak of torrent site then all too common), the album presented the group's new sound, reinforced by electronic synthesis, evoking a new sound direction, but not that made them unrecognizable.

The record and his unforgettable second single, "Heads Will Roll", are well placed Karen O and members of the group Nick Zinner and Brian Chase as one of the groups to revitalize the punk scene of New York a decade earlier, but as an act capable of coming out of it.

The album also earned the YYY their third nomination – their first two records were also awarded – in the category Best Alternative Music Album at 52nd GRAMMY Awards. They were still, and will always remain, a rock band, but their most brilliant sound gave their music a new home under the disco balls in the distance.

Originally set up in New York in the early 2000s, the trio alongside contemporaries such as LCD Soundsystem, The Strokes and Interpol finally played an important role in the re-emergence of Manhattan as a rock incubator. ; roll. Their first album, Fever to say, arrived in 2003, and Show your bones followed in 2006. At the It's blitz! Three years later, the YYY's third album allowed them to maintain their pioneering role in the field of alternative music. The album has deeply anchored them in the consciousness of alt-rock and alt-electronic spaces, with, as Stereogum specifically called "dance music that has deep roots in a community of outsiders".

The year 2009 was a great year for the group, which has even gained recognition and praise, performing at the world 's biggest festivals, such as Coachella, Lollapalooza and Glastonbury.

Showcasing their beloved rock in what a lot of music critics rented as a more polished package, It's blitz! used the synths in a new way for the band, which brought out 70s discos and 80s glam-punk sounds on more powerful tracks, such as "Zero", "Dragon Queen" and "Heads Will Roll". This was further outweighed by the relatively quieter and slower tracks, like the album's third and last single, "Skeletons", a powerful slow title reminiscent of the 2003, "Maps".

With "Skeletons" and the final title "Little Shadow", Karen O's screaming voice shone without obscuring her anxious and thoughtful words, revealing a conversation with her dark side: "Patience, shadow / For all your eyesight, it's not the same. There is no view to see. / Small shadow, small shadow / For the night, will you follow me? "This simply proves that your success does not matter: no one is safe from it. 39, uncertainty about the future.

In the video of "Zero", Karen sings: "You've never been so far / so put on your leather", while she's donning her now iconic leather motorcycle jacket. This jacket, with the "KO" logo on the back, has become an indelible element of its instantly recognizable fashion sense and is one of many pieces designed by the stylist. Christian joy, whose career probably started off by exclusively designing costumes for Karen O. In the video, she dances on the streets – and on a car – in San Francisco, California, until she meets his group companions to play in a driveway and a convenience store. It's a simple concept, but one that feels big and fun, much like the album as a whole.

"This is one of the simplest videos we've ever done – a lot of me walking and joining guys here and there, but I'm trying to live a rock star fantasy of what I'd like to watch and play like with this album, things that I've always been secretly slapping on the lips, "said Karen O Fork at the time.

"What was really important in the process of creating this album was that we had created it in a very conventional and organic way at the beginning – we did not know it was going to be more of a disc. The least I love in electronic music is that there is often an emotional detachment, so it was very important for me to avoid that, "he said. she continued.

Guitarist Zinner and drummer Chase adapted to their new studio sound, Zinner himself learning the keyboard / piano and Chase creating different drum beats to cut out different sounds from the album. The group spent several months at Sonic Ranch in Texas with their long-time producer, Television on the radioof Dave Sitek, who also worked on their first two albums.

They also brought Nick Launay for production for the first time, who explained Sitek's complementary work styles in a Interview of 2009"We have very different approaches to creating discs, Dave is very good at electronic content, it's his thing, he's very fast in sequencing and electronics, whereas my strength is more in emotions. and the organic content I think the disc works really well because the two complement and rub in a way that makes it very interesting.There is a rebellious nature in this disc, and there is also a lot of beauty . "

Meanwhile, the ultimate dancefloor bop "Heads Will Roll" immediately placed Karen O among the pop stars of the '80s as Pat Benatar and BlondieThat's Debbie Harry.

"I have the impression that we are trying to write a dance song that we love since the first EP, but that we have never succeeded," said Karen O Clash Music in August 2009. "I think one of the great feelings that has not changed, is that we want to emit a loud, noisy, emotionally cathartic sound." We lived in New York at a time when people stood there arms crossed the audience and just felt really indifferent or ambivalent about the music ".

At the time, "Heads Will Roll" resonated with a group of varied listeners: long-time punk lovers, indie-rock hard-hards, house music leaders, and the like. 80s nostalgia pop team, disco lovers and a lot of people. enter.

The remixes of the song were endless, starting with the Canadian DJ / producer A-TrakThe official remix of, shortly after the release of the single song in June 2009. Other follow ups, accompanied by an EP remix and unauthorized, including a six years later in 2015, where a SoundCloud user JVH-C speed up the song and loop the lyrics of "dance till you're dead". Although this remix does not do justice to the song itself, it has become "famous on the Internet" in the whole world and, along with the placement of various versions of the song in television shows (including "Glee"), video games and movies, the song remained relevant long after its heyday of the late 2000s.

Comment how It's blitz! To reflect the garage-rock past and the YYY's experimental future, Karen O said, "Looks like it's going to be our most punk album, at least his mind is punk, and there's definitely more happiness for me here. Down with "Blitz", but with the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, there must always be this "ts" at the end, otherwise it does not look like us. "

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