Day 0984 - It's Blitz

 Yeah Yeah Yeahs “It’s Blitz!” (2009)

Whereas the YYY’s debut “Fever to Tell” (day 950) leaned on a Riot Grrl-esque art punk approach; “It’s Blitz” takes things in more of a poppy, new-wave sound, which was presumably right in the wheel-house of their producer (and TV on the Radio member) Dave Sitek.   Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds’ producer Nick Launay was also in the mix (so to speak).

The new sound is obvious from the off, with first track “Zero”, opening with a pulsing synth-line.  More polished than ‘Fever to Tell’ but without becoming toothless in the process.

“Soft Shock” showcases a kind of propulsive, anthemic pop, while “Skeletons” has a dreamy pop sound.  There’s a nice alt-rock groove to “Dull Life” while “Runaway” is straight-up cinematic.

Impressive that they can shift gears from their original sound like this and come up with an album that is (to my tastes) even better than what they started with.