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June 19, 2007
New (old) Yeah Yeah Yeahs songs totally prove my point
Several months back, I questioned whether or not it was poor tracklisting that made Yeah Yeah Yeahs' Show Your Bones seem like a bit of a letdown for longtime fans. The object of my focus at that point was the track "Sealings," which later popped up on the soundtrack for the not-as-bad-as -advertised-but-almost Spiderman 3. But there was so much material from that time, widely known and bootlegged, that would have given SYB a needed kick in its sleepy pants.
In July, wrapped up in a neat little bow, will see the release of the Isis EP and most of these misplaced songs. Guess what? Almost all sound simultaneously rawer, subtler, and better assembled than the majority of their album bound successors. Why would a band revisit 2003-2004 material now, long after the decisions have been made and the style boat has mainly sailed? Second thoughts? Regret? Lack of progress moving forward with a new sound? Tough to say. It is safe to speculate that somebody realized that shelving kernals of the band's best material was a questionable decision. Thank you, I give mysef full credit as well.
You can decide for yourself by downloading "Down Boy" and "Kiss Kiss" at Candy Beans.
Also, some prime footage of the stuff before "the band" (cough, Karen O, cough) apparently got sick of it...
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - "Down Boy"
(Hoboken, NJ. August 2003)
I reviewed another faux-newbie, "10 x 10," on Prefix yesterday morning, and it's perhaps the best of the bunch. Certainly would have been worth a footnote in the 10 edition of Numerology had it been uncaged in a timely manner. Which is perhaps the delayed release's cruelest repercussion of all.
Oh, by the way, I've been posting daily track reviews on the 'fix every morning for the past few weeks. Reviews, on a new Liars track and one of the leaked Animal Collective for example. Possibly I should have mentioned this weeks ago...
Posted by Jeff Klingman at June 19, 2007 03:50 PM
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Comments
I wonder what other bands will unshelf their old material on behalf of Jeff Klingman.
Posted by: Kelli Douglas at June 19, 2007 05:16 PM
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