Yeah Yeah Yeahs - 'Zero'
Pop music is hard to do well. You don't get points for effort, the closer you get to perfection, the more obvious the remaining imperfections become, and even if you attain total glossiness and brilliance - which is the global pop standard - if you've hidden the heart and soul of the song you had to start off with, you're still going to fail.
The Yeah Yeah Yeahs clearly know these things to be true, as they've not only added a sleek electronic undercarriage to their rickety indie scree, but they've taken great pains to tone down the wildest excesses of their unhinged racket. There's a time and a place to hit a guitar with an electric whisk until it sounds like a squawking buzzard, and the disco-crossover at pop o'clock is neither.
(. 'Scuse me love, just want to get a pint of milk...)
So, be thankful for Karen O's honeyed purr, for Nick Zinner's tasteful guitar buzzgrind, for whoever-in-the-band-does-the-sequencers and their nicely-done input, and for Brian the drummer's sleek, shiny disco beat frenzy. Pop's a team effort, you see, and just one missing cog-tooth could gum up the entire machine.
And after a run of pop songs which try and break new melodic ground using one circular chord progression and a barrell of sass - Lady GaGa, that was for you - it's refreshing to hear a song which was plainly composed before work was completeted on the backing track.
Karen's ecstatic build to the chorus only works because someone decided the song needed to go somewhere else at that point, and it's the best bit. Not least because her voice, which can be all rasp and yelp, carries her up into the emotional heights without undue drama, even though she's emoting all over the shop.
And if the Kings Of Leon can become the hit of the (last) year by adding a heaped teaspoon of pop discipline to their homegrown guitar stew, who's to say Karen and co can't do likewise?
NB: Indie purists, I wasn't asking you...
Download: Out now
CD Released: April 13th
Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Music page
(Fraser McAlpine)
Comment number 1.
At 7th Apr 2009, fluffyfinches wrote:I love everything they have done...
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Comment number 2.
At 8th Apr 2009, spirit wrote:GREAT SONG ...... the album ITS BLITZ is good too and heading for the TOP 20 !!!
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Comment number 3.
At 12th Apr 2009, spirit wrote:GREAT ITS BLITZ is in the top 10 !!!
WELL DONE KAREN !
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Comment number 4.
At 13th Apr 2009, spirit wrote:I don 't think the circular chord progression and the barrelful of sass has done LADY GAGA any harm............. she is either NUMBER ONE ..........or in the top 5 in most singles charts in the world !!!
She does what she does really well.. and appeals to a lot of people.....ignore the detractors........ you go girl.
You have worked hard.
Enjoy your success
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