It's Blitz!

''It's Blitz!'' is the third studio album by American indie rock band Yeah Yeah Yeahs, released on March 6, 2009, by Interscope Records. It was originally set for release on April 13, 2009. However, after being leaked to the Internet on February 22, the release date was pushed forward to March 9 for the digital version and March 31 for the physical version.

The album was produced by Nick Launay, along with TV on the Radio's David Andrew Sitek. It spawned three singles: "Zero", " Heads Will Roll", and "Skeletons". ''It's Blitz!'' was nominated for Best Alternative Music Album at the 2010 Grammy Awards.

Recording

According to Nick Launay, one of the two producers, the recording of the album was unusual for being largely written and created in the studio at a time when record labels have cut back considerably on production budgets. The few songs the band did take along to the first sessions were later altered significantly. Launay described a typical session as follows:

Brian hasewould play lots of different drumbeats and we'd record it, chop it up and then make a groove loop out of it. Nick innerwould then just jam to it, and we'd come up with an interesting rhythm part. Karen would listen to that and come up with a vocal melody and then suddenly everything would fall into place.

The album sessions took place over several months in 2008, during which time there were numerous breaks "to get inspired".

Critical reception

''It's Blitz!'' received universal acclaim from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 82, based on 36 reviews. ''The Guardian''s Caroline Sullivan commended the band's more dance-oriented sound, writing their "glittery new disco sound suits them very well. It's all cool, brittle catchiness, with a debt owed to ''Eat to the Beat''-era Blondie". Emily Mackay of ''NME'' wrote that "''It's Blitz!''s heartfelt love letter to the transcendent possibilities of the dancefloor is an unexpectedly emphatic reassertion of why Yeah Yeah Yeahs are one of the most exciting bands of this decade", while ''Spin''s Charles Aaron said that it is "the alternative pop album of the decade—one that imbues The Killers' ''Hot Fuss'' and MGMT's ''Oracular Spectacular'' with a remarkable emotional depth and finesse". Theon Weber of ''The Village Voice'' said that Karen O "isn't revealed to us through the record's lyrics, which are as gnomic as ever, but through attitudes, tones, put-on sneers, and audible grins." ''Mojo'' gave it a score of four stars out of five and wrote that the band has "managed to mix the human and the electronic, the emotional and the artsy, the fashion-forward and the oddly retro."

''Blender'' also gave the album four stars out of five and hailed it as "the sound of a band reborn with new momentum, and on an album that requires dancing, the message is clear: It doesn't matter where you came from. Just keep moving." '' Clash'' commented that the trio had achieved growth without distancing themselves from what made their name: "The album proves that they can provide epic music with personal themes, that YYYs can expand without losing what made us fall for them in the first place". Jon Pareles'' wrote that the band "grapple with separation and need, using dance beats to suggest the compulsive pleasure seeking that tries to drown out loneliness", and he commended their musical direction, stating, "The band is echoing the evolution of postpunk, from dogmatic austerity to technologically assisted". ''Uncut''s April Long gave it a score of four stars out of five and praised its "spirit of experimentation", stating "What unifies them is a warm romanticism that runs throughout, edging out Karen's blatant eroticism of yore – even though there are more come-downs than come-ons, every song seems to glow from within".

Accolades

Commercial performance

''It's Blitz!'' debuted at number 32 on the ''Billboard'' 200, selling 13,000 digital copies in its first week. Following its physical release, the album climbed to a new peak position of number 22 in its fourth week on the chart, selling 22,000 copies. As of October 2009, it had sold 184,000 copies in United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The album entered the UK Albums Chart at number nine with first-week sales of 18,054 copies.

Track listing

Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of ''It's Blitz!''

Yeah Yeah Yeahs

* Brian Chase – drums, cymbals, percussion
* Karen O – vocals
* Nick Zinner – guitars, keyboards, drum machine, bass

Additional musicians

* Stuart Bogie – tenor saxophone ; baritone saxophone
* Eric Biondo – trumpet
* Greg Kurstin – piano
* Jane Scarpantoni – cello
* Tunde Adebimpe – vocals
* Imaad Wasif – guitar

Technical

* Nick Launay – production, recording
* David Andrew Sitek – production ; additional production ; recording
* Dan Huron – recording
* Aaron Dembe – engineering assistance
* Alyssa Pittaluga – engineering assistance
* Atom – engineering assistance
* Charles Godfrey – engineering assistance
* Chris Coady – engineering assistance
* Chris Moore – engineering assistance
* Justin Leeah – engineering assistance
* Mike Laza – engineering assistance
* Spike Stent – mixing at Chalice Recording Studios (Los Angeles, California)
* Matty Green – mixing assistance
* Chris Kasych – mixing assistance
* Ted Jensen – mastering at Sterling Sound (New York City)

Artwork

* Karen O – art direction
* Seb Marling – art direction
* Urs Fischer – art direction, cover photography, inside photography
* Autumn de Wilde – live photography (band)
* David Belisle – live photography (Karen and Brian)
* Eric Uhlir – live photography (Nick)

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

{{Authority control

2009 albums
Albums produced by Dave Sitek
Albums produced by Nick Launay
Albums recorded at Long View Farm
Albums recorded at Sonic Ranch
DGC Records albums
Interscope Records albums
Polydor Records albums
Yeah Yeah Yeahs albums