Yeah Yeah Yeahs FEVER TO TELL (SDE)

Yeah Yeah Yeahs: Karen O (vocals); Nick Zinner (guitar, drum machine); Brian Chase (drums).
Producers: David Andrew Sitek, Yeah Yeah Yeahs.
Recorded at Headgear, Brooklyn, New York.
FEVER TO TELL was nominated for the 2004 Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album.
Punky New York scions the Yeah Yeah Yeahs may have been strapped with an unfortunate albatross by receiving Next Big Thing status in the wake of the supernova explosion of the Strokes, the White Stripes, et al. However, if one hasn't already heard either of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs excellent Touch & Go EPs or witnessed one of the outfit's electric live shows, one listen to FEVER TO TELL should swiftly dispel any doubts about the trio's credibility. Visually outrageous singer Karen O., primal drummer Brian Chase and devilish guitarist Nick Zinner take an artier-than-most approach to the garage-rock world; think the Velvet Underground as channeled through the Fall or Sonic Youth with just a wisp of the Pretenders.
The Yeah Yeah Yeahs' music explodes in a sea of overt sexuality and frenzied emotion, hinting at hooks and sometimes even getting totally enveloped in them, as on the disarmingly charming "Maps." On the other end of the spectrum lies the raw MC 5 full-on punk-blues of tracks such as "Man" and "Tick." On FEVER TO TELL, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs prove their ability to stand out in a crowd, offering perhaps the most original recording to be hailed in the '00s garage-rock revival.

• Format: Vinyl