“Boy you’re just a stupid bitch, and girl you’re just a no good dick.”

After that there’s nothing left to do but rip your fishnets, douse yourself in beer and let it ooze into your skin along with the howling music of the best band in New York City, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

In every single article I’ve ever read about the Yeahs, the number one topic discussed is the heavy hype they’ve been creating, and these articles create more hype which creates more hype, etc. This is a completely overstated statement, but also completely true. Last summer I saw the Yeah Yeah Yeahs all over fashion and music magazines everywhere before their EP ever made its way to KCOU. Unlike some over-exposed groups however, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs completely live up to their hype.

“We’re all gonna burn in hell, I said we’re all gonna burn in hell”

*dump more beer, tear more fishnets, howl and scream*

I fell in love with the Yeah Yeah Yeahs the very first time I heard them and I think that the lead singer Karen O. is one of the coolest women in rock ‘n roll. She screams, yelps, and howls in almost every song, and then, in the next breath, can belt out a beautiful love song. And that’s just on cd. Live she gets into the performance so much she drenches herself and the audience in beer while jumping and strutting across the stage in custom designed outfits created by her friend, punk designer Christian Joy. Matched with Nick Zinner playing momentous, escalating guitar and pounding drums by Brian Chase, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs sound can’t be mistaken. I got to see them live last fall and I have never seen so much crazy energy on one stage before. That is part of the reason that it has taken the band so long to release their first full length album. It’s almost impossible to bottle all that craziness and put it all onto one tiny compact disc. The finished product, Fever to Tell, doesn’t accomplish this completely, but it still does an amazing job. Its almost impossible to completely capture an amazing live band on disc but I think that the Yeah Yeah Yeahs do a fantastic job and that this album shows how infectious and energetic their music really is. I am slightly biased, but I think all the songs on the album are fantastic, though certain ones definitely stand out. “Rich”, “A Date with a Night”, “Tick”, and “Black Tongue” to me are the best examples of their loud, intense music ability while “Maps” and “Modern Romance” show that they have slow, intense ballad abilities too. All in all, if you liked their EPs even a LITTLE bit, then you are going to completely love Fever to Tell. And if you hated their EPs completely then chances are you are going to love Fever to Tell anyway.

- Rachel Gagnon