Albums

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Fever To Tell

Bill Cummings 20/05/2003

Rating: 4/5

Great modern female vocalists of our time: PJ Harvey, Courtney Love and now Karen O on this the Yeah Yeah Yeah;s debut album her voice contorts, wails orgasms with pleasure, and shows a sensitive gentle side all above the best slices of dirtiest sexiest art punk you will hear this year. Since I saw the Yeah Yeah Yeah's last year in an intimate setting I have been convinced that this band the sexiest female led rock beast to writhe in the jungle for many a year. They posses the guitar skills of Nick Zinner who's bluesy punk riffs collide with the pounding drums of Brian Chase and is topped by the delectable miss O.

This album contains no songs from the excellent early Ep Master or the gothic rock-tastic single "Machine." But it doesn't lose much under these circumstances. The songs are split into two stunning types the first batch are the stuttering dirty art rock of tracks like the energetic single "Date with the Night" and the vicious "Black tongue."

But where this album really excels is in the unexpected moments like the sensitive soul of tracks like "Maps" with its repeatedly crooned romantic lines like "they don't love you like I love you." The keyboard bleeps of "Rich" and the gentle sway of beautiful closer "Modern Romance."

Overall an excellent album, that although not quite the classic debut album promised by Karen O,its certainly the sexiest and sassiest art punk ride around.