Search - Yeah Yeah Yeah's :: Fever to Tell

A Lot of Fever -- Not Much Telling

K. Berry | 08/04/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I first heard the Yeah Yeah Yeahs when they performed "Y-Control" on Conan O' Brien. Initially, I was blown away by the guitarist, Nick Zinner. But what kept me hooked was Karen O's stage presence. I downloaded the song the next day and played it repeatedly. From there, I read a few reviews of the album and downloaded the song "Maps," which seems to be the critical favorite. I found myself equally impressed. Before actually purchasing the album, I tested out one more song and downloaded the current single, "Date with the Night." From there I knew I had to take the plunge and buy the album. And I must say, I'm very happy I did.

The first thing that impressed me with Fever to Tell was Karen's vocals. A combination of PJ Harvey's range and tonal quality with Bjork's vocal abandon. Her voice warbles, shrieks, and screams through tracks like "Rich," "Date with the Night," and especially "Tick" with an amazing elasticity.

Musically, the album also kept me quite entertained. The sheer energy and fun-loving spirit of the album is enough to perk up even the most depressive music lover. The instrumentation is largely just guitar and drums (provided by Brian Chase), but it sounds remarkably full even without the aid of a bassist. Most of the beats have a cheerful march quality to them and the guitar wails as it's pumped through 2 amps. "Pin" would be my choice for the most musically infectious track on the album.

But where the album falters is in the land of lyrics. There are some genuine gems: "Maps," "Y-Control," "Modern Romance," and the bonus track. Basically, the end of the album is where are the good lyrics are stored. It's also where Karen tones down the vocals and the sweet side of her voice gets a chance to shine. But the majority of the tracks have very sparse, one-track lyrics. If you approach the first portion of the album as a feel-good rocker, you won't be disappointed -- the opening tracks will have you bounding across the room. But if it's lyrical depth you're looking for, you're going to be using the Skip button a lot.

The album is also a little short. Most of the tracks don't get beyond the 2:40 mark. But given the fact that their lyrics are more than a little repetative (Karen seems to have a definite habit of choosing a word from each lyric and repeating it over and over again), this may not be such a bad thing.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs have a lot of potential in all the areas of music: vocals, music, performance, and (when they want to) lyrics. I'm really interested in seeing where they take things on their second album. Fever to Tell is most certainly worth a listen and, if you like what you hear, a purchase."

Best of 2003 so far.

Bernard | Upland CA United States | 04/29/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Fever To Tell successfully follows through and expands on the promise of the YYY's first 2 EPs. From the first notes of Rich you are already hooked. The best way I could describe it would be like this: think of the Stooges with impecible pop smarts, fronted by the illegimate daughter of Siouxsie Sioux, Lene Lovich, Nina Hagen, Joan Jett and Joyce De Witt. This is just guitar-drums-voice, but NOTHING like the White Stripes (who I like for different reasons). The depth of the sound on songs like Y Control is just incredible considering.Karen O's voice is in top form. She displays an impressive range on the stunning, majestic, beautiful
"Maps". This song, along with "No, No, No", and "Y Control" aptly show the future promise of this band. "No, No, No" is my favorite, with it's simmering vocal and slowly built up verses that explode in an impressive 1970-Black-Sabbath-via Siouxsie-and-the-Banshees kind of way. God, I hope that makes sense. The song concludes with a trippy 2 minute long dub that is just SO pretty."Rich" and "Y Control" both feature amazing treated guitar lines that sound like synths. Very Missing Persons sounding. Magical pop songs that get stuck in your head immediately. Music for a twisted Beach Party..."Date With The Night", "Man", "Tick", "Black Tongue", "Pin", and "Cold Light" rock seriously hard. Just try not to dance during any of these. I totally dig the almost surf rock and fantastic chorus of "Black Tongue". The choo-choo train that is "Tick"! The infectious ness of "Pin". The incest anthem "Cold Night" has that "Beat on the Brat" guitar thing going on after 1:15 or so. There's subtle tempo changes and hooks everywhere. This is what pop music should be like.There's even an AMAZING Velvet Underground pastiche called "Poor Song" that is hidden after "Modern Romance". Whats refreshing about this band is they are not being postmodern or ironic. I saw them live in LA 2 weeks ago, Karen couldn't stop smiling. They actually love what they are doing and you can tell they had fun making this album. You'll have even more fun listening to it. I haven't been this addicted to an album in years. BUY THIS!"

Transgress All Limits

Zachary A. Hanson | Tallahassee, FL United States | 03/05/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"4.75 stars--not perfect, but almost



Well, YYY's new album _Show Your Bones_ will be out before you know it, so let's revisit from whence this band has come. When _Fever to Tell_ came out three years back, there was a considerable hype to back them up. For once in punk rock, it was justified. While _Fever to Tell_ does not quite have the distilled intensity of their self-titled EP, it comes close, throwing in a relatively smooth ballad, _Maps_, to really complicate our understanding of what this band is about.



From what I can tell, they are all about transgressing limits. I am eager to see where they take this ethic on _Show Your Bones_, because few bands have been as good at this in the new millennium, punk or otherwise. The French call the orgasmic feeling that comes from going past boundaries jouissance. Another term they have for orgasm is _le petit mort_, or the little death. Karen O liberally scatters these little deaths all over every record they have made to date. Nick Zinner and Brian Chase, on guitar and drums, respectively, have the perfect approach to backing this up, always straddling the line between fine musicianship and reckless abandon. To see this in the flesh at a live show comes highly recommended. They are perhaps the most exciting "punk" band I have ever seen. Karen O looks like she is going to explode into a supernova at any moment while Nick Zinner cuts a Nick Cave-like profile as he handles all the musical notes the band makes with admirable aplomb.



"Cold Light," for example: "We can do it to each other/ Just like a sister and a brother." Ooohhh. She transgresses the incest taboo. Unlike what some may think, there is more to what she is doing than mere shock value. Like the best art, they transgress limits to make us question our values, in this case the bases upon which we form our love relationships. I'm pretty sure Karen O is not advocating incest, just shaking our cages for the next time we choose to "do it to each other," both sexually and with psychic violence. This is really a philosophical band (that rocks you out of your mind, infinitizes you, Emmanuel Levinas would say).



Next, "No No No": lets concentrate on the music here. Jack White doesn't have anything on Nick Zinner as far as being a one-man guitar armada goes. He handles the low-end and the high-end all at once in many songs. This one starts out slow, a prohibition against a girlfriend who is about to go and do something that she will regret. The music is subdued. Then the guitar and drums get almost sloppy with fuzz, feedback, and flailing. This is an old, old punk technique, but one that YYY's excel at. The musicians' transgression of technique make us feel that the subject of Karen's prohibitions is about to spin herself into danger if she doesn't heed her "no." All we can say is "yes."



"Maps": The transgression here might be harder to spot than in other songs. It's the most conventional thing the YYY's have ever done. "Wait, they don't love you like I love you." Here they are crossing the line in the sand that punkers of the generations before have drawn: NO SONGS ABOUT GENUINE LOVE. Well, Karen O has a fever to tell and since it has to do with her experience of love, in large part, why would she not witness? Punk's near-demise in the last decade or so has a lot to do with relying on the old formulae that the Sex Pistols "set up" for us. Punk's only chance of surviving is constantly transgressing its own aesthetic. YYY's have this down pat.



"Y Control" might be the most exciting song on this album. When I saw this one live, Nick Zinner had all his pedals going at once looking like a goth dervish as he hopped between positions to Karen's _ecriture feminine_ dervish. Again, this raises a major philosophical question: Why should we try to control anything, music or otherwise? Going by the intense polarization that the YYY's cause, it is clear that many people prefer their music controlled, dwelling neatly in totalized little boxes, even in a so-called transgressive form such as punk. Well, if that is what "punk" is, the YYY's tell us, you can have it. No limits. No prescriptions. No taboos. All jouissance, right in the same vein of other rockers who have lasted because they dared to defy: Patti Smith, VDGG, the Clash, the Pistols, Nirvana, P.J. Harvey, and so on in a list of illustriously self-destructive names. The clincher is that this is more than just mindless nihilism: it is transgression that makes a theoretical difference, a change in the way we see and feel things. Few artists have done this in any manner that approaches _Fever to Tell_ since its release. If the YYY's cross new borders with the same cavalier mania on _Show Your Bones_, they will certainly cement their place amongst the rock artists who are truly unforgettable while also showing the ablitity to exhibit enduring genius."