Yeah Yeah Yeahs - The Y Factor

Much has been written, perhaps too much, about the so-called "new" new wave, a label slapped at the turn of the millennium by the music press on a series of bands drawing on a certain 80s post-punk aesthetic. The new generations of indie-rock listeners, raised on a diet of MTV, thus found in The Strokes, The White Stripes, Interpol, and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, new idols all bound together by a common denominator. It was in this context that Yeah Yeah Yeahs stepped onto the international music stage, right at the turn of the century, bolstered by their roots in one of the cities driving the new musical ferment: New York. But the band's story had actually begun back in the late 90s, when Karen O and Brian Chase (at the time busy studying jazz) were attending college in Ohio. Karen (real name Karen Lee Orzolek, born November 22, 1978 in South Korea to a Korean mother and Polish father, but a New Yorker by adoption) then moved to New York University, where in the Big Apple she met Nick Zinner.

The pieces were in place: after a few short-lived stints in makeshift bands, Karen, Chase and Zinner formed Yeah Yeah Yeahs, nurturing the idea of blending a healthy punk attitude with classic dancefloor sounds. The presence of a strong, charismatic female frontwoman immediately sparked comparisons to Blondie and Siouxsie: Karen quickly drew attention for presenting herself as stylish and sexy, yet also multifaceted and mildly outrageous, perfect ingredients for the music press to build a "character" around. After writing a handful of songs, the buzzing New York scene made the time ripe for the trio to share the stage with The Strokes and The White Stripes, and soon people were talking about them, and not just in the city...

Karen O: stylish rockstar and sex icon

In July 2001 the first EP was released, Yeah Yeah Yeahs (followed in November 2002 by a second EP, Machine), enough to massively stoke interest around Karen (vocals and piano), Nick (guitars and keyboards) and Brian (drums). The mix of garage, alternative and indie rock it contained could hardly be called original, and the new band's personality wasn't exactly overflowing yet, but the energy was there, and it was considerable, in songs that felt reasonably well-focused. In truth, there were few ties, musical or conceptual, to the new wave sound: far more evident were the links to the American indie scene of the late Nineties.

But the die was cast: before long, opportunities multiplied to share the stage with major, established bands, and soon the chance arose for a first run of European dates. The specialist press pegged the group as one of the most likely candidates for the next big American thing. Portrayed as unruly kids, sufficiently alternative, the early Yeah Yeah Yeahs tried to come across as punkish, yet at the same time detached and carefree, churning out songs perfectly suited to an audience not overly demanding but hungry for something new. The sonic impact was undeniable, revealing a tendency to explore noisy, jagged territory, even if tinged with an obvious sense of "already heard before".

Then came, in April 2003, the first proper album, Fever To Tell, a catchy and joyfully chaotic indie-rock record containing the track destined to open the doors to massive success: the irresistible sentimental-psychedelic pastiche "Maps". The song was embellished by superb guitar and drum work, but the winning weapon, the real added value, turned out to be the voice (and stage presence) of Karen O, a talented performer equally at ease relaxing into warm, sensual tones or unleashing frenzied, cursing outbursts (as on "Pin"). Despite the excellent mixing work by Alan Moulder, and a few genuinely interesting flashes ("Man", "Tick"), the overall offering remained too similar to that of countless other contemporary indie bands.

The trio missed the mark especially whenever it ventured into "artistic" digressions (see the experimental ambitions of "No No No") or when it stretched out the running time (the seven minutes of the closing "Modern Romance" went nowhere). Fever To Tell, despite all its flaws (not least the banality of some of its ideas), showed fresh, fun moments and at least one genuinely successful episode ("Maps"). The album would have the merit of establishing the band on a large scale, selling over a million copies worldwide and earning the trio an important Grammy Award nomination in the "Best Alternative Album" category.

Meanwhile Karen O managed to carve out an important role as a sex icon: recognised as one of the most beautiful and sensual women in new rock, she won Spin magazine's "Sex Goddess Award" two years running (2003 and 2004), and turned down Playboy's offer to pose nude for the cover story of the world's glossiest magazine.

The hype was so great that it wasn't hard to convince Spike Jonze to direct the video for the single "Y Control", and by the end of 2004 the band already had its own DVD on the market, Tell Me What Rockers To Swallow, containing all the videos made up to that point, interview excerpts, a documentary on the Japanese tour and a concert (again filmed by Spike Jonze) at the Fillmore in San Francisco.

Smoothing the edges as the key to greater success

With Show Your Bones (March 2006) the Yeah Yeah Yeahs turned more decisively towards less jagged sounds, breaking away quite markedly from nu-wave revivalist leanings. The first hint came right from the single "Gold Lion", a light, classic guitar-driven pop-rock number laid over an acoustic bed roughed up by electric surges. "Way Out" confirmed this direction, unfolding over a pulsing, tense groove ready to welcome punchy guitars and an instant melody. Karen O seduces and shows off all her sensuality, proving once again how much her voice and her delivery remain the true extra weapon of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. She's the soul of the group, but at the same time its most dangerous limitation, in those moments when she stumbles into less convincing performances. Indeed, from the third track onward ("Fancy", an acidic, tribal, ambitious but ultimately unsuccessful rock-blues) the album starts to creak. From the tense funk of "Phenomena" to the bouncy disco-rock of "Honeybear", from the runaway-train drive of "Cheated Hearts" to the crowd-pleasing glam of "Deja Vu", the trio gets lost in a constant up-and-down in quality.

So it's worth playing the ballad card, but the truly good moments are few: "Dudley" drifts along dreamily without any real spark of interest; "The Sweets", sentimental and breezy, is sung with feeling but disappoints when it tries to bare its claws, "Turn Into" banks on the epic sweep of its arrangements, but here too yawns prevail. The melodic search comes up imperfect and the group settles into paths that are too standard and not very interesting. Show Your Bones fails to live up to the expectations built up around the band, burning off some of its legitimate ambitions in the process. Still, the record would earn a second consecutive Grammy Award nomination in the "Best Alternative Album" category.

In 2009 It's Blitz wins back credibility for the New York outfit, even though the sound has by now settled into blatantly dance-oriented territory. The band seems less angry and increasingly drawn towards an adrenaline-fuelled, falsely transgressive disco-pop, in which, with the guitar's electrifying role diminished, the synths take centre stage. "Zero" alone would be enough to make the shift in direction clear, with Karen O's voice less abrasive and more delighted by the strobe lights of an imaginary otherworldly dancefloor. A track so perfectly suited to shedding skin, so successful with its soaring, airy techno-rock, that it ends up becoming a problem in itself: because, starting from these premises, the rest of the album almost never manages to repeat that exploit (with the exception of the enchanted emotion of the ballad "Hysteric"). Between stern walls of guitar, icy choruses, unreal shadowy zones ("Heads Will Rock", "Dull Life"), winking glitter, exceptional special guests (Tunde and Kyp of TV On The Radio) and lightness elevated to an absolute virtue ("Soft Shock"), these Yeah Yeah Yeahs are only partially convincing: the consistency of the songs fails to win the audience over to the trio's new party.

"Skeletons" moves between intangible romanticism and Celtic escape routes, "Shame And Fortune" tries to recapture the moods of the early days, the none-too-balanced "Runaway" seeks equilibrium with the help of piano and trembling strings, "Little Shadow" (with Imaad Wasif on guitar) is the torch song reaching for celestial spheres. It's Blitz wants to dress the trio in a flashier new outfit, chasing the showstopper moment at all costs, but manages to find it only on a couple of occasions. The formula nonetheless proves winning: for the third consecutive time the band earns a Grammy Award nomination, again in the "Best Alternative Album" category, even though there's really very little "alternative" left in their music.

Karen O also rises to the role of sought-after guest singer, earning two truly prestigious invitations on two of the most acclaimed albums of recent years. On the excellent Embryonic (2009) by the Flaming Lips she duets with Wayne Coyne on the sing-song single "I Can Be A Frog" and on two other tracks, while on the equally essential The Seer (2012) by Swans she appears on "Song For A Warrior".

In 2011 she collaborated with Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross on a cover of "Immigrant Song" by Led Zeppelin, included on the soundtrack of the film "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo".

In 2013 Mosquito in some ways repeats the trajectory of Show Your Bones, without however managing to maintain its overall good level. Although there's no shortage of brilliant moments, this new effort rehashes the well-worn "synth-pop plus guitars" formula, with no particular innovation and more than a few filler tracks. The album would still reach Billboard's Top Five, climbing to number two on both the Alternative Chart and the Rock Chart. The first half of the album centres on the glossy aggression of lead single "Sacrilege", the best possible bridge to the previous record, and on the title track "Mosquito", sure to win over the band's core fanbase. Alongside them sit the gloomy "Subway", the lively "Under The Earth" and the more convincing "Slave". The middle section of the album is the least interesting, with the vocal flights of "These Paths" the only episode worth noting. Then come the driving "Area 52", which strains to inject a touch of abrasiveness, and the much-hyped "Buried Alive", produced by James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem with Kool Keith / Dr. Octagon guesting on one verse.

In this stretch of the album the band navigates somewhere between alt-rock and club-dance, in typical Manhattan style: tracks good for heavy rotation in every downtown venue, but unlikely to remain memorable within the group's discography. After the forgettable "Always", it's in the final one-two punch that the album's best moments are hidden: on "Despair" the epic build, the glorious finale built on off-beat guitar and drums, and Karen O's extraordinary vocal performance show just how well the Yeah Yeah Yeahs can still write at the highest level. It's the record's peak, followed by the romantic close of "Wedding Song", dedicated by Karen to her husband Barnaby Clay, whom she married in 2011 after a long engagement.

Awaiting their next move…

In 2013, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs are a band more inclined to reassure than to surprise: a deliberate choice, triggering an inevitable process of normalization, the offspring of a newfound maturity that dampens the adolescent fire. It's impossible not to notice how much Mosquito is littered with filler, remaining stuck halfway between consumer music and the pursuit of the (art) alt-rock that the lovely Karen had accustomed us to since the band's beginnings. We're far removed from when the lady presented herself as a semi-mysterious, elusive, pseudo-revolutionary object: today Karen O no longer hits hard, no longer unsettles, no longer sparks debate, and even musically, every sharp edge has turned into a comforting caress. It's up to you to decide whether that's a virtue or a flaw.

In the meantime, Karen O also devotes herself to Spike Jonze's cinema, recording under the name Karen O And The Kids the exuberant, radiant acoustic songbook for Where the Wild Things Are (2009) and the delicate "Moon Song" for Her (2013). Crush Songs (2014), her solo debut, is instead a collection of home-recorded demos.

In 2017 she lends her voice to four tracks on Milan, a work shared with Daniele Luppi and Parquet Courts.

Drummer Brian Chase, after his stint with Seconds, gives vent to his avant-garde ambitions with the solid Drums & Drones (2013), an album that opens the door to prestigious collaborations: with Alan Licht on We Thought We Could Do Anything, and with Thollem McDonas on Dub Narcotic Session.

From 2013 to 2017 the Yeah Yeah Yeahs are formally on hiatus, until the announcement of their participation as headliners at Austin's Sound On Sound Festival, scheduled for November. The chance to see them live again, however, falls through as the festival gets cancelled.

In late 2017, a deluxe version of Fever To Tell is also released, containing demos, b-sides and previously unreleased rarities, just to keep the market busy until the band's next move. On May 26, 2018, the band performs at London's All Points Festival.

On March 15, 2019, a collaborative work by Karen O and Danger Mouse is released, Lux Prima. Cool. A single word would suffice to define the first fruit of their collaboration. Cool, yes, but substantial too. Perhaps it couldn't have been otherwise given the caliber of the names involved, but given how many surprises the world of music can offer, it's better to clarify straight away the artistic validity of the work. According to those directly involved, the singer of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and the producer had dreamed of joining forces for a good eight years, and "Lux Prima" is a significant album more for Karen O than for Brian Burton. While the latter rarely stumbles (whether as a producer or as a musician), it's great to hear again all the verve of the singer of South Korean descent. Soundtracks aside, after "Mosquito", the minimal/low-fi solo debut "Crush Songs" hadn't particularly satisfied us: to appreciate her performances we had to dig through her prestigious featurings, among which her recent appearance on "Milan" by Daniele Luppi & Parquet Courts stands out.

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