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.

Day 0979 - Dear Science

TV on the Radio “Dear Science” (2008) – got it

I came to TV on the Radio via the project Nevermen featuring TVotR’s Tunde Adebimpe, rapper/producer Doseone and a favourite of mine Mike Patton.   When I heard about the project I decided to check out TVotR who I had been vaguely aware of (if only by name) for a while.

After a bit of youtubing I picked up their excellent full-length debut (if you don’t count the self-released “OK Calculator”, and it sounds like the band themselves don't count it much) “Desperate Youths, Bloodthirsty Babes”.  I’ve since collected all of their albums including this one.

While I found their second album “Return to Cookie Mountain” to be a bit of a muddy, messy affair audio-wise, “Dear Science” is crisp and catchy.   With the band being full of producers and multi-instrumentalists it would be easy enough for it to be a “too many cooks” situation, but they seem to find their way around it.

The album owes a debt to the 80s, without sounding derivative or ‘retro’.  It's more like the 80s is the starting point and then there are enough looped fuzzy beats, interesting production and other 00s touches to make this fully contemporary.

Opener “Halfway Home” is all glorious synths and soaring vocals, followed by “Crying” which has more than a hint of Bowie to it.   “Dancing Choose” is a favourite of mine with its pulsing beat, hand-claps and speedy vocals from Tunde.   "Golden Age" and “Red Dress” bring the funk.   “Lover’s Day” is Prince making sweet sweet love to Peter Gabriel while he does his thing.

The album nicely tows the line between melodic atmospheric pieces, and funky danceable grooves.