Heard
Here
Yeah Yeah
Yeahs
Yeah Yeah Yeahs EP
Im
not sure if I should write a review of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs
music, or of the hype that has been following them around since
Rolling Stone named them one of the 10 artists to watch.
Since then the Yeah Yeah Yeahs have figured prominently in numerous
free-weekly spot checks and on the lapels of the Strokes
Saturday Night Live appearance (in mini-pin form). This
kind of talk has indie wonks declaring them the next big thing,
and placing them in the same vast conspiracy that brought us the
Strokes and John Ashcroft singing self-composed tunes to close out
speeches.
Thankfully, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs are far less painful to listen to
than our Attorney General. A trio composed of singer Karen O, drummer
and recent Conservatory alum Brian Chase (also of the Seconds) and
guitarist Nick Zinner, YYY have been making headlines for their
spectacular live shows, which include Karen O gyrating across the
stage and ripping indie kids into a dervish-like frenzy. Karen O
wonderfully exploits her voice, which whips between growls and robotic
speech (with little breathy noises in between). Chase and Zinner
do a wonderful job backing O, more than making up for the lack of
a bass with their tangled and lashing riffs.
Even with only five songs, the EP covers a wide range between the
primal and sex-soaked opener Bang and the closing theme
song Our Time, in which O declares, Its
our time to break on through/ Its the year to be hated
Its
our time/ to be hated. They plant their collective tongue
firmly in their cheek for Art Star, which begins with
a spoken ditty about inspiration backed by bouncy guitar and drum,
then transmutes into driving drums and bottomed out guitar noise,
then back, and then back again. Surprisingly, it works. For Miles
Away O turns to strident PJ Harvey mode, as the music builds
to a classic post-punk climax.
YYY fall into that fascinating and ever growing group of rock bands
putting out really fun and ultimately unoriginal music. Theyre
in excellent company with the White Stripes, the French Kicks, the
Strokes and other bands with the names. That may sound
like a dig, but I dont demand that the music I enjoy be exhaustively
free of stolen guitar riffs and vocal techniques. Im happy
to endorse the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and I look forward to savoring the
spectacle of their meteoric rise in the musical world. I applaud
them for their scope and recommend them to fans of Le Tigre, John
Spencer or any of the above named bands.
Neil
Freeman
Tomlab and Audio Dregs Various Artists
For Friends
For
Friends, a compilation of various artists and electronic songs,
is, to be blunt, nice. It was compiled a year or two ago by the
German Tomlab label as a sort of internal audio Xmas present, and
now, with the American label Audio Dregs, theyve released
an expanded version for a wider audience. All of these artists are
on either the German or the American labels and most have forthcoming
albums. Carpet Musics, Adlib and Casiotone for the Painfully Alone
all contributed tracks.
Musically, there are lots of toy noises and messy or abstract things
which invariably, with a few exceptions, coalesce into melodic and
rhythmic things before they revert back again. This is playful and
light music. Stuff slides around and bumps into itself and explodes
without too much damage. There isnt any wind-blown esoterica
or evil and brooding beats here. This music evokes the image of
a smiley and colorfully dressed European who doesnt smoke
running by trees and pounding German soil with painted metal. Gabriel
Pumple (OC 03) said he saw a stoned pink kidney shape
having adolescent sex with a stylized Flemish dolphin, in a fucking
Jetta commercial, I dont know, when he listened to this
album. It is an apt description.
Andrew
Leland
Nerissa and Katryna Nields
Love and China
And
then there were two. Having spent the last decade or so expanding
what began as a folk trio into a five-piece rock band, the Nields
sisters have now scaled back their act. For years, The Nields have
been a heavyweight in the highly competitive, New England-based
folk circuit. Their band was made up of the two sisters, their husbands
and a drummer. But on March 5, Katryna and Nerissa Nields released
Love and China, their first recorded and marketed endeavor as a
duo.
From the first moments of the first track, it is clear that some
things never change. The distinct and unmistakable sounds of the
Nields are still present on this record. The vocals are just as
unusually striking, the influences of classic bands such as the
Beatles are still heavy and the sense of investment and dedication
are just as strong as they were on any of The Nields nine
previously released records.
However reminisent of the earlier incarnations of The Nields it
may be, Love and China definitely has a new and different feel to
it. To start with, although the album is produced by Dave Chalfant
(the bassist for the Nields), the presence of the rest of the band
that made up The Nields (David Nields on Guitar, Dave Hower on Drums)
is noticeably absent. The hard edge which often drove many songs
on previous records is now missing. Instead, Love and China is a
softer and more intimate look at the two people who have been the
core of a larger band for many years and who are now venturing out
on their own.
Alternating between songs heavily influenced by a sort of cowboy-country
style and a more classic folk singer-songwriter sound, the tracks
on this album seem to access more personal and raw places than earlier
Nields records have. From the disillusion evoked in the memory-fueled
title track, to the uneasiness dealt with in the upbeat All
These Years, the songs on this record deal with the issues
of loss, transition and hope in a very prominent way. A simple re-recording
of the song This Happens Again and Again from their
first record serves as yet another comment of the transient and
yet permanence of a long career and life in and out of the music
business.
Even though much of this record sounds as though you may have heard
it somewhere before, there are some very keenly felt moments which
leave you feeling as though you are listening to a project which
is very near and dear to the artists hearts. Love and China
is a very interesting new addition to a long line of unique efforts
on the part of The Nields.
The Nields sisters will be performing at All Ground Up in Elyria
on March 20.
Lucy
Wainwright Roche
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