Touch & Go Records
2002
Machine
About This Album
A quickie to tide fans over until the 2003 release of their full-length debut, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' Machine is appropriately economical and efficient -- once again, the trio manages to cram more ideas and attitude into a few songs than most bands do in a full-length release. If possible, this three-track single is even more impressive than Yeah Yeah Yeahs, demonstrating both their ever-expanding range and their increasingly focused style. In the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' case, however, "focused" doesn't mean tamer -- if anything, "Machine" is even more ferocious and unhinged than the songs on their first EP, a complex and somewhat cryptic mix of anger and desperate lust that recalls the scary sexiness that PJ Harvey displayed on Rid of Me and 4-Track Demos. Nicolas Zinner's guitars and Brian Chase's drumming are still simple and streamlined, but display a new level of sophistication, while Karen O's snarling vocals span smooth, high notes and choppy growls. "Graveyard" adds a dash of shockabilly to this rougher, tougher sound, but the real deal is "Pin (Remix)," the most remarkable song of their young career, musically speaking: a spooky but beautiful mix of dreamy vocals synths and guitars looped and layered over a minimal beat, it's a ghostly expression of their punk attitude that rivals Sonic Youth's "Shadow of a Doubt" in its eerie loveliness.
Track List (try tracks 1 and 2)

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