Yeah Yeah Yeahs - 'Fever To Tell' (Polydor)
4/5
By: Toby L
With talks of a subsiding public-interest in garage-rock after two years of widespread alt-prominence ('Hasn't that gone away yet,' now a common quote amidst the student/industry frequented North London dinge-hole gig-circuit - such sources always a reliable sign o' the times...), it's wise that New York's irrepressible Yeah Yeah Yeahs may be the last in on the deal before the boat sails away for another twenty-five years or so.
At least they've got the goods to hang around too by the sounds of it. Everything about the frightful trio's assured, pouting, posing, gesticulating, teasing, infuriating, noisy, frustrated, frustrating, f**ked-up, sexy, foul-mouthed, howling, growling, noisy, tuneful and sensationally fashionable debut-LP seems monumental. The patchy artwork, Karen*O's never-ceasing vocal-snap, Nick Zinner's potentially mass-influential guitar-massages and Brian Chase's frantic percussive panache - it's a killer-combo of ages.
Don't expect this to be a rested, easy experience, however. Like all things with the YYY's, this is hard, frank and fast - just take for instance the machine-like steeliness of 'Rich', a towering opening, all grisly sub-sections, no chorus to speak of, and - basically - a bloody, gritty mess. But, even still, it's quite possibly the whole work's easiest moment. Sticking with wondrous openings and top-20 hit 'Date With The Night' is already next, disco-cymbals smashed, guitars violently assaulted and *O's vocal-chords stretched, and so it follows.
The real colour throughout is Zinner. The way he makes those furores of sound - ranging from Rage Against The Machine righteousness ('Cold Light') to soaring floor-fillers ('Pin'), or avant-garde trippy-dom ('No No No'), and gentle understatement ('Maps'), once the pedals are pushed, that distortion kicking in, nestling alongside his infectious licks, God knows where you could head next. Ending in the equally epic likes of 'Y Control' with its late-evening eeriness, and a slumbering, sleigh-bell bandying 'Modern Romance', this isn't so much a class introduction as a simple classic.
Really too, the extent to its appeal and zesty allure is endless; to the hardcore, right-on record-collection dusting mullet-bearers of yesteryear, the trendy arseholes of London town, and kids that don't know any better, 'Fever To Tell' is a steal-worthy head-trip from beginning 'til end. At which point you'll likely repeat the ordeal again, or at least be inspired to attempt and conjure a similar racket yourself... Punk or what?
Artists in this article: Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Your Feedback
Login to post your comment