It's Blitz!

Greater than the sum of its parts, dull life seemed appropriate for covid and realised this might have been the last cool person called Karen

A hard album to assess. The album has a real sweep to it, a sense of ideas being mustered, and a evident passion. So why am I not responding to this as warmly as I should? Maybe it's the middle. Like your mum aged 22, there's palpable sag in the middle. It could be me: I was at uni when this came out, and the hype of the New York rock revival never persuaded me, despite the constant claims of Sonics/Gang of Four/New Order parentage. Possibly it's my aversion to record-collection rock, and I'm not impressed by a rehash of Bizarre Love Triangle. But ultimately the Yeah Yeah Yeahs just aren't enough. You want more. Listening to them, you want them to be a little more melodic, a little more emotional, a little more abrasive, a little more arctic, a little more erotic, a little more bombastic, a little more detached, a little more serene, a little more urban, a little more experimental and a little more fun. You have here a decent band, sure, and that's fine, but a decent band is not a great band, and even though I want to root for them now, I find I can't outright.

Jam packed with tasty synth-fueled indie jams. Feels like it’s cut from the same cloth as Florence + the Machine, but they used that cloth to make tight jumpsuits instead of flowy dresses. It may be a Friday morning, but this album makes me long for Saturday night.

Day 25 of Albums You Must Hear... Next up on my list of randomly generated music is an album titled Blitz! by Yeah Yeah Yeahs, released in 2009. Not gonna lie, I’m not super familiar with this band. The first track, Zero, had me optimistic. Okay, this is going to be a dance/punk record. Heads Will Roll, the second track, is so good that I was super stoked for the rest of the album! Then, this album took a nosedive into loneliness and despair. While the production is top tier, and the vocals of singer Karen O are satisfying to listen to, this albums premature crescendo left me with musical blue balls. In all fairness, music is closely tied to the mood of the listener, and if you’re in the state of mind for the last 8 of the ten tracks on Ok Blitz!, I’m completely understanding. Maybe I got this album at the wrong time, but I couldn’t give it more than a couple listens. I’m not shitting on this album from Yeah Yeah Yeahs, just after hearing the first two songs I felt honey dicked. You can’t name your album Blitz! with an exclamation point and then lose all momentum after two songs in. On that note, in conclusion, Heads Will Roll is REALLY good and I’d totally add that song to a playlist in a heartbeat. Please share your thoughts, memories and opinions!

Flat and uninspiring.

Electrifying. Karen O is a rock and roll goddess and the band has a blast on this record. Every song is just a ton of fun, very original, and a lot of good grooves too.

boring

Zero is a tune. It's a great energetic way to start the album. I knew that song well before listening, and also knew 'Heads Will Roll' which is also good. The energy and vibe changes a bit beyond this, but it's generally solid, with some standout tracks sprinkled in. 'Runaway' is great, it's got a real depth and atmosphere to it. 3.5 rounded up. And side note: It's a great album cover!

Maybe it's just Monday, but I hated this. Her voice is terrible, songs sound like reheated Madonna. Go away

Surprise! A scant two weeks after the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ debut album shows up here we get another one recorded six years later. I loved their debut but hadn’t expected a second album on this list from them. I also did not expect to love IT’S BLITZ! even more than the first album. This is a stunning evolution. Karen O’s incredible vocals shimmer over glittering synths and driving dance floor beats. Heavy doses of disco and new wave transform the band as Karen O achieves Blondie-levels of greatness. The opening track “Zero” erupts pure glitter as the dance floor lights up around me and a cascade of lights fill the room. How’d I wind up in the coolest club in town?! “Holy shit!” was my last thought as I lost myself in this incredible song. No chance of leaving the dance floor now as “Heads Will Roll” fires a one-two disco punch. This is the sort of song that gets you dancing by yourself without giving a fuck about who’s around. The drums keep time as Karen O rules the dance floor on a wave of synths and gritty guitars. This is no sterile electronic environment. These songs cozy up like best friends sharing moments of joy, sadness, pain, love and surrender. How the hell does an album get this cool?! Karen O would be right at home in a silver body suit on a series of disco-oriented tracks like “Dragon Queen.” They’re joined by lush ballads like the piano-driven “Runaway” or the guitar-and-organ-powered “Little Shadow,” perfect for coming down with that special someone at the end of a night. Songs like “Faces” and “Hysteric” add a zest of Tegan and Sara quirkiness… so much to discover! IT’S BLITZ! invites you to dance and chill with the coolest trio in town. Get your leather on… ‘cause you’d be crazy to pass up this much fun!

Awesome! I likee it even more than i thought I would!

-Nice blend between dance tunes and slow/acoustic tunes.

The Yeah Yeah Yeahs” take garage rock and post-punk, streamline it, install air conditioning, and leave it odourless. I found this fine, but it slid off my plate. The last song is an exception: that caught me out. “I wanna go and *SHIT* in your pants” was a lyric I spontaneously improvised in the car, immediately hoping my two-year old wouldn’t record and repeat.

Love the covert photo of the exploding egg! And that just about exhausts my praise. I would call It's Blitz a failure except that you have to actually attempt something to fail. It's Blitz is deeply mediocre in every imaginable way: songcraft, synth textures, arrangements, and production. This is kind of the late oughts version of bubblegum music like the Archies, but with shitty synths and inferior songwriting. Except for the vocals, this album could have been generated by a reasonably sophisticated AI. That's how generic and uncreative it is. I complain a lot about modern hip hop in this channel, but It's Blitz makes those albums look like the height of sophistication and ambition. If I could give this half a point, I would. Mind numbing.

5/5 Aggressive, fantastically layered synths begin the album with a bang on Zero, before the choppy dancefloor hit Heads Will Roll goes hard. The guitar parts compliment the lighter synth brilliantly. Soft Shock has a quite delicate, elegant quality and Karen O's vocals slip between the punchy synth so well. The simple slightly cryptical lyrics are so alluring. The atmospheric, slower Skeletons is a welcome change up, followed by the alternative rock banger Dull Life. The verses are exceptional to the ear, and the change ups are great, as the song progresses in such a satisfying manner. Shame And Fortune has a great attitude and way, like a prime Radiohead song. Night and day with the beginning of the following Runaway, but it builds that same dense synth-guitar sound in, which is just amazing, especially coupled with the orchestration. How can you follow it? Well it was an inspired choice with the funky, quirky Dragon Queen. Love it to death. Hysteric might be a more straightforward alternative rock song but it has such a simple beauty, and then to finish Little Shadow's melancholic, bold tone is a welcome reward for 40 minutes of your time. All in all, it's hard to tell on first listen, but this might settle in as one of my favourite albums of the 2000s. Just banger after banger after banger. Very hard to pick a best track. Zero 5/5 Heads Will Roll 5/5 Soft Shock 5/5 Skeletons 4.5/5 (LEAST FAV) Dull Life 5/5 Shame And Fortune 5/5 Runaway 5/5 (FAV) Dragon Queen 5/5 Hysteric 5/5 Little Shadow 5/5

Loved it. Went and found more

I loved this album! Skeletons was my fav. I love how every song is different but still work together so well. i had heard the singles off this album and enjoyed them. Loved the whole thing together

I love this album so much. I know the first two songs. They were regular hits at the dance parties I used to have with my kiddo when they were little. And I don't really think I can play those first two songs loud enough. Cool to finally hear the rest of the album. New favorites: Skeletons, Dull Life (fucking rocks), Runaway, Hysteric. and all the other songs are good. Karen O's voice is so great. Love the music. Awesome album!

This album rocks! Was already a fan of the first two hits, and I found the whole thing very engaging and interesting. It’s fun and dancy and soulful and something I just wanted to keep listening to. Great stuff!

I love this album! It’s rare that I love the studio recorded version of something as much as hearing it live (I used to have a bootleg that was from a concert), but it does it for me. Karen O’s vocals, the strings, the pulsing and the energy! I love it!!!!

'Heads will roll' is such a banger. It's a pretty solid album all round. they remind me a lot of the band Metric, in particular with the vocals. First three songs lead to a strong start, a punchy punky party album. Very suddenly becomes a bit more melancholic with 'Skeletons' which threw me, only to be whiplashed back to those fast beats with 'Dull Life' before winding down to more melodic songs once again. The final song 'Little Shadow' comes across almost like a lullaby and is a very sweet way to end what started as quite a raucous album.

Really surprised by this one! It's so different from Fever to Tell which we had just two weeks ago. The sound is cleaner and seems more intentional. Dance beats but still an alt-rock sound. I dig it!

A fav

I miss this indie, a little bit ethereal, but also with a punch and cool voice

It’s Blitz I’ve not listened to this album before. The first four tracks are excellent, Zero and Heads Will Roll are fantastic disco-garage-indie-punk bangers, Soft Shock has a synthy Maps vibe and Skeletons is a superbly catchy bit of atmosphere and mood. I love the synthesiser addition to their sound and the general idea of adding some dancefloor to their garage style. It does dip a little after that stellar start, but it's always listenable and there are some great tracks - I like the back half of Shame and Fortune, the riff/hook is great and the synthy spacey funkiness of Dragon Queen is excellent, and Faces is great as well. It’s a very enjoyable dancey, indie-garage album, elevated by the synthiness, some great melodies and Karen O’s charismatic voice and presence, tipping it into a 4. 🥚🥚🥚🥚 Playlist submission: Skeletons

It's 2025 and we're still collectively indie-hungover, so it takes some willpower to fairly rate this album without defaulting to a go-away knee jerk reaction. Trying to factor that out, I actually like this one okay. Some Kills, some White Stripes, and good energy.

Lead singer's voice is airy and refreshing. The songs are light and fun. I'd put this on again and go for a drive in my nonexistent convertible. I especially liked the dreamy "Hysteric."

Nr. 106/1001 Zero 4/5 Heads Will Roll 4/5 Soft Shock 4/5 Skeletons 4/5 Dull Life 4/5 Shame And Fortune 3/5 Runaway 3/5 Dragon Queen 3/5 Hysteric 4/5 Little Shadow 4/5 Faces 3/5 Aberage: 3,64 Really liked her voice.

Rocking. Hard guitars and fucking attitude. Love it. 4.4 as it was just a little short of amazing.

The thing with YYYs is that the lyrics bounce back and forth between inspired and insipid with little to no warning. That said, this album is really quite good and just gets better as the album went out. The back half of the album is straight fire. This only misses a 5-star review because of a few, pretty goofy tracks at the beginning.

2.5/5 I just can’t get into this. She has a hypnotic voice, but I just don’t identify with the songs.

I'm really not that familiar with the Yeah Yeah Yeahs besides their singles. This album is fine. Heads Will Roll is obviously a standout. And Shame and Fortune had a pretty good riff. I like Karen O.s voice. But this probably isn't something I'd return to.

kinda vibe, liked skeletons 3.5

Nothing remarkable, certainly has a strong indie sound to it. A second listen opened it up more, but I think this needs a particular mood when listening....

This is pretty cool album. Everyone remembers Heads Will Roll, but there are some other bangers on there too. Dull Life is great.

Ok the only song I would listen to repeatedly is Heads will Roll if I had to rate 3/10

It’s ok. It sounds kind of new wave-y in parts, and sort of in that mid-2000s Strokes/She Wants Revenge/The Hives/Interpol genre. I don’t love the singers voice, but I think the fact that it’s a female singer is the only bit that sets them apart.

Rating: ** 3 ** Notes: Really liked the beginnig of the album, and was really suprised when i realized that i actually know one of the songs ("Heads Will Roll") but the further the album progressed, the boringer it got. Also I did not like that they put the same songs but acoustic version of it in the album... that should be done in a delux edition. Songs which stood out in no particular order (credits to Uncle Gue for the idea): "Zero" "Heads will roll" "Soft Shock" ------------------------------------------------------------- Rating Scale: 1- very bad 2- bad 3- neutral 4-good 5-very good additonaly -/+ sign if necessary

The most boring band of the 90s

Nah Nah Nahs. Ah, I'm being a little uncharitable. There are precisely two good songs here - 'Dull Life' and 'Dragon Queen'. Everything else is a bit stultifying. It's easy to be lulled by the pretty sounds, especially the singing, and to overlook that squatting at the heart of this album is a fairly mediocre, ambition-lite collection of music.

This is so of its time. Written in the studio, this is a triumph of digital editing and slick production. Nick Launay brings his excellent taste and great ears to create a slick and (vaguely) dance-able aesthetic, much more sophisticated than the 3-piece punk vibe that the band brings. The album is front-loaded with the singles, although I like some of the rockier tracks that follow, eg Dull Life (which is reminiscent of Siouxsie and the Banshees) or Shame and Fortune. After all is said and done, I don’t really remember any of the tracks once they finish playing. I prefer it when they don’t veer too far from their punk roots. I really like her voice, though. And the cover photo is awesome.

More no no nos, amirite?

Couldn't make it past the first song. Nuff said.

More like the Shit Shit Shits

Loved it

Deffo saving this - good recommendation

I can’t believe I’ve never listened to this album. I knew heads would roll but the whole album together is fantastic. Hysteric and the acoustic version blew my mind.

Heads will roll fire album yayyyy

The glitter's all wet :)

Love the YYY. Beautiful album no skips

2008. New York. Synth-punk, alternative pop, synth-pop, pop rock. !!!!!

The start of my fascination with eggs. Wait. That came out wrong.

Solid

Would like another serving for this please. Amazing vocals, first two tracks got my attention. Rest was quite some change in pace but still loved it.

A masterpiece of 2000’s indie pop. Gorgeous album.

A true bop. Reminds me of the days of labouriously adding the correct album covers to each pirated track on iTunes so that there were no blanks when flicking through them on my iPod nano. I am old.

5/9

Good stuff

this banged

Loved it! So solid from top to bottom.

AWESOMEEEE loved the vocals

Close to perfection. Just brilliant

Great album! It's more polished, but it still has a "raw" feel.

An extremely strong one-two punch to open the album with "Zero" and the iconic song "Heads Will Roll". However, it mellows out after that and doesn't maintain the electricity of the first two tracks. Still loved it though - especially the incredible album cover, which I think is one of the best ever. 4.5 rounded up

Yeah yeah yeahs bang hard. I am surprised to see this one here, even more excited because then Fever to Tell is somewhere as well. Sick.

Yeah!

Loved this album when it came out and it’s still fantastic. Even played Hysteric at my wedding.

Karen O and co. can do no wrong o7

Fantastic - the first 3 tracks are literally perfect 2000s Indie bangers

I really love this album. It was not my first listen to it, a lot of the songs blend electronic sounds with guitars and the vocals over it are just a joy to listen to.

Classic album from a great band. Great variety and nothing that felt like filler

There are a few albums that I've willfully consumed to death, this is one of them. I wore Blitz! out over the course of several years when it was released. Now, when I see this in my library I actively avoid it, fearing another listen would degrade the experience, the album and the band even further. This was a nice excuse to bring it into the light, blow off the dust and get into it again. That was nice. Now, let's wave goodbye. Put Blitz! back under the floor with the other albums and bands like BRMC, Built to Spill, Parquet Courts, Air, and so many others...

Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ third album starts with a blitz. “Zero” and “Heads Will Roll” will get the crowd going, but it's “Skeletons” and the other slower tracks on “Its Blitz!” that make this electronic revolution of YYYs sound work. Despite changes in their sound, YYYs still maintained the mix of frenetic energy and passionate restraint that make their albums so fantastic.

Took a dancier turn from Fever to Tell and it works great for them. Still very identifiably Yeah Yeah Yeahs but with a shiny new toy.

Good shit.

Very nice! Very energizing!

Nice Voice, great energy.

Of it's time

One of my favorite bands, just excellent rock.

Loved this so much, have never listened before but will be on heavy rotation now

Excellent. Nostalgia.

Excellent album love it!!

What this has done is remind me how much I love this album and I don't listen to it enough! After two very punky albums this is the perfect balance of punky and melodic. Some absolute bangers. - side note find the footage of Skeletons performed at T in the Park with the bag pipers. Brilliant.

Don’t have much to write, I really loved this all the way through. Not my first exposure to the YYYs but I’m not hugely familiar.. but this fit my vibe, certainly for today

This album is fantastic. About the third listen and I started to get it. Especially the acoustic songs at the end. Solid.

I liked it a lot. The Isley brothers are a classic but I’d never listened to an album all the way through. This type of music, while objectively fantastic, is not always what I want to listen to. But it’s great nonetheless the less

Even if this isn't as baller as their first few releases, this is still a (mostly) fantastic listen from front to back.

Indie sleaze... Heads Will Roll changed my life

Absolutely fantastic. I really loved this album. After I was finished I immediately checked more out from them.

I love the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, but this is definitely not their best album... Although, I'm conflicted with how to rate it.

Incredible album! So many hits and the acoustics at the end are so unique to their originals.

Not quite as great as the first two, but still ..

Hysteric, zero, heads will roll, soft shock

Definitely had all my favorite songs from this artist

Always liked the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and love heads will roll. The rest of the album is pretty good as well. I’m not sure it is a five star album, but I do like it significantly more than the last few albums I gave 4 stars to so here we are.

Includes the fantastic "Heads Will Roll". A very energetic and fun album.

I loved this album. I came into it only knowing one song, but left with multiple on my playlists. Would listen again, did listen again.

Nawet nie wiedziałam, ile znam piosenek z tego albumu. Czyste złoto. Karen O. ma wszystko - prezencję, głos, charyzmę. Do potańczenia i do podumania. Czasem rock, czasem pop, czasem dance (till you're dead). Nie jest to płyta, która zmieniła bieg historii, ale jest jedną z moich ulubionych. 9/10

Standout Tracks: - Zero - Heads Will Roll - Soft Shock - Dull Life

What a great album. This is my nostalgia