Yeah Yeah Yeahs Tease With Machine EP
New York City's raw punk trio the Yeah Yeah Yeahs who currently carry the red-hot Next Big Thing torch will release Machine (Touch and Go), a three-song EP produced by David Andrew Sitek (Lovelife) and the group, on Nov. 5. The EP will be available in both CD and 10-inch pink vinyl formats.
"Machine" opens with a two-line spoken word intro: singer Karen O, sounding like she's reciting to a cheap cassette recorder, says what sounds like: "Wasteful season take my hand/ Take the place of the snakes who ran." The song then explodes with Brian Chase's frantic drumming, O's screams and guitarist Nick Zinner's dark punk-surf guitar riffing. In fact the track is full of guitarist Zinner's striking guitar work, which on this one song ranges from textured strumming to huge power chords to wild string-bending.
It's been nearly a year since the band released its debut, self-titled, five-song EP on their own Shifty label (Touch and Go re-released the EP in July), becoming immediate contenders in the revival of NYC CBGB-era punk and post-punk no wave. So perhaps it is the new single consisting of the mind-blowing title track, a previously unreleased four-track demo of "Graveyard" and a remix of "Pin," which fans know from the group's live set that will help satiate fans' trashy punk-rock appetites until the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' highly anticipated first full-length record hits the streets early next year.
The upcoming longplayer the group hasn't settled on a label to release it yet is slightly less frantic, slowed down by a more intense and emotional side, according to lead singer Karen O. The not-yet-titled debut reflects the band as a bit more mature, O said in a recent interview. While emotions and mindsets changed through growth, so too did production aspirations. The band spent just two days on the first EP; they devoted two months to the album.
"I think we thought at first that we could do the album how we did the EP, like blow right through it and it just be this raw thing," O explained before a Portland, Ore., live appearance. "But the level of the songs changed, so the level of production needed to change. We had to rethink how to record and produce the songs to do them justice because the way we did it with the EP would be doing it no justice at all 'cause of how far we've come. So, our mindset was still young about the whole thing and it had to catch up with the songs that's why it took so long; we had to refigure out, or figure out again, how to get them down."
O also said her personal life and relationship with Liars frontman Angus Andrew influenced songwriting for the new album, which will include some ballads. Jenny Tatone [Monday, Oct. 28, 2002]
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