The Yeah Yeah Yeahs' third album "It's Blitz!" shows a transformation from their previous gritty punk sound to a more synth-heavy dance sound. While the album is well-crafted for modern pop, some hardcore fans may be put off by the change. The album was influenced by producers from Talking Heads and Arcade Fire, and replaces the guitarist's choppy style with vintage synths, resulting in a club-friendly disco sound. Songs like "Zero" and "Heads Will Roll" are dance singles but it remains to be seen if this change will lose their diehard fans.

1. Alicia Abalo
Published in Backslash Magazine and backslashonline.com, Spring 2009
REVIEW It's Blitz! from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. After taking a
prolonged hiatus from the recording studio, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' highly
anticipated third, full-length album, It's Blitz!, shows an unquestionable
transformation in sound since their 2006 album, Show Your Bones. Long gone
are the days of gritty, post-punk blare that had helped the band create their
niche in the dark underbelly of New York's music scene. Replacing the sound
is a slightly sterilized, synth-heavy dance record, only slightly weighed down
with an uncharacteristic amount of ballads. While It’s Blitz! is an exceptional
example of what modern techno-pop albums should sound like, hardcore fans
of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs may be put off by the noticeable evolution in sound.
It’s Blitz! can be considered the more developed, club-kid sister to
2006’s anarchic and rebellious Show Your Bones. The conceptual elements of
grunge-fuzz speaker sound and heavy-metal bass that made Show Your Bones a true
punk-rock album are non-existent in It’s Blitz, and some fans will be raising their

2. eyebrows at this unfamiliar concoction of electro-nightlife that the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s
are introducing.
The Yeah Yeah Yeah's are clearly adapting to the current trends in music,
replacing guitarist Nick Zinner's choppy two chord crush-axe with a more
commercially acceptable arsenal of vintage synths. The result is a club-friendly,
disco-glam album. Co-producers Nick Luanay from Talking Heads and The Arcade
Fire and TV on the Radio guitarist, Dave Sitek, have smoothed over the band's brass-
knuckled appeal with a corporate shine and have greatly influenced the Yeah Yeah
Yeahs' development into the New Age disco era. The result is an album that is
equally manufactured as it is creative.
A sense of genuine romanticism blankets the album, from the throbbing
dance single, Soft Shock to the morose and bleeding ballad, Skeletons. The first
single off the album, Zero, is a cocaine-disco anthem for the modern youth, with a
magnetic pulse that threatens to overwhelm the senses. The song’s mania is
meticulously balanced by Karen O’s pained yet gentle vocals, a side audiences have
yet to see of the band’s crowd-spitting, guitar-smashing lead singer. The theme
stays strong through Heads Will Roll, which singer Karen O describes as “a speed-
induced trip to a glittery dance floor.” The hyper-reverberating electro-strings and
looping beat build the sinister base for an impressive vocal performance that can be
described as Lady Gaga meets Courtney Love. Karen’s passion is unrivaled, but
while songs like Heads Will Roll prove that this band can make a dance record, is it at
the expense of losing their diehard fans?

3. Despite the change in sound, the album’s got heart, and the layout of the
record has a natural flow to it, so that one song blends into the next without the
listener scarcely noticing. The vintage synths are a huge focus for the majority of
the songs, finding Nick Zinner utilizing an array of guitar effects and various
throwback synth instruments to re-draw the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s sound while
simultaneously trying to retain their original imprint.
It's Blitz! dives unabashedly into the modern disco scene and barely gives a
second glance to the band's roots. It's an exceptionally crafted album that will
definitely adhere to the fair weather audiences of the club scene, as well as the
general public of radio listeners. While the album might turn off the diehard fans
resistant to a new sound, it would be unfair to deny this album its overall success.