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February 21, 2006
MS Picks - a Whisper, a Shout
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - "Hyperballad"
(Bjork Cover, W-END 107.7 Seattle, WA Radio Session)
I managed to miss this older track completely despite what I thought was a thorough search during the first wave of Yeah Yeah Yeahs press a few years ago. Now, at the edge of wave number two, it stands as a reminder that the band was very capable working with the volume down all along, and any claims that an emphasis on acoustic melody is a total departure aren't entirely accurate.
Bjork's version of this song exudes joy and alien confidence. The futuristic production keeping the strange lyrics at bay, a rising beat making the open ended statements sound triumphant. Yeah, she throws things off the cliff so that she can feel happy and safe again. I guess it's a bit odd, but you're dating Bjork. She's going to do some weird stuff before you wake up, man. Deal with it.
In contrast, Karen O's reading is drenched in vulnerability. The lyrics are gutted, losing both the playful tosses of "car parts, bottles, and cutlery" and the more grave imagined chasm dive. With only a minimal guitar line to hold the vocals up, the song is given a sad facelift not unlike Cat Power's signature reinterpretations. Here is a narrator afraid to be alone, killing time back at her cliff, waiting to be joined by her lover. Whether or not that'll help is in doubt. Listen to her struggle, voice straining, to choke out the word "safe" in the chorus. As if she can barely bring herself to think it, let alone shriek it to the heavens.
Gentle and evocative.
Love is All - "Motorboat"
But whether a softer YYY sound is well accomplished or not, there still might be a segment of the population that now has a "girl fronted trashed art rock" shaped hole in its heart. May I direct you to Swedish upstarts, Love is All.
Starting off with a boat motor that sounds suspiciously like a 8 bit NES "Spy Hunter" sound effect, and seguing into stomping horn and drum beats, this track evokes a sweet party where the din of accumulated conversation threatens to make any meaningful one on one interaction completely impossible.
Streches of the lyrics are indecipherable and snippets that can be sussed out are deliriously goofy. "Modern deco, a punk rock (unitelligible)" "Shampoo your head in a hurry!" "Dancing on the ceiling! Dancing with the feeling!" It's dizzy and disorienting. What's going on? Where are we?
Motorboat. Motorboat? Motorboat. Motorboat? MO - TOR BOAT!
Then, when lead LIA girl Josephine loses the plot and just starts making "BRRRRRRRR" propeller noises, you just have to give in and start doing the Swim or the Mashed Potato or something. Something frantic and giggly.
Note: This is an unreleased, non-album track. But, the recent album (Nine Times That Same Song) it doesn't appear on is not to be ignored.
Previously: Williamsburg Forever!, Addition, Subtraction
Tags: Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Love is All, Bjork, Cat Power, Motorboats
Posted by Jeff Klingman at February 21, 2006 12:00 PM
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