The singer behind 'Maps' and 'NYC Baby' brings a loud, direct energy to New York rock.
For a quick sense of her style, put on 'Maps' and then 'NYC Baby.' That's the range, the tight, aching pull and the swaggering city shout.
When 'Maps' came out in 2003, it gave the Yeah Yeah Yeahs a song people held onto, a sharp, yearning thing in the middle of all that guitar noise. Karen O's voice on tracks like 'NYC Baby' doesn't smooth anything over; it's all elbows and attitude, which feels right for a band that started playing in New York in 2000. That unpolished, urgent sound, somewhere between punk and rock, is what she's been putting across ever since.
The Yeah Yeah Yeahs formed in 2000 with Karen O singing, Nick Zinner on guitar, and Brian Chase on drums. Their first album, 'Fever to Tell,' arrived in 2003, and they've released records like 'Show Your Bones' and 'It's Blitz!' since. The songs have stayed guitar-heavy and direct, from 'Maps' to later ones like 'Sing Along.'
Keep it compact: a lyric you come back to, a live memory, or the part of the catalog you would point someone toward first.
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