It's Blitz!

"When Yeah Yeah Yeahs guitarist Nick Zinner packed his bag for the band's trip to the studio…" wrote John Doran in Classic Rock, "he made a random decision that would completely change their direction. The vintage ARP synthesizer that he carried with him to the Tornillo studios in the west Texan desert was supposed to provide downtime entertainment, but ended up being the defining noise on It's Blitz!."{{cite journal|first= John |last= Doran |title= Reviews |journal= Classic Rock |date=June 2009|issue=132|page=82}}

According to coproducer Nick Launay, the album was unusual for being largely written and created in the studio at a time when record labels had cut back considerably on production budgets. The few songs the band took to the first sessions were altered significantly.{{cite web |last=Bouwman |first=Kimbel |url=http://www.hitquarters.com/index.php3?page=intrview/opar/intrview_Nick_Launay_Interview.html |title=Interview with Nick Launay |website=HitQuarters |date=November 16, 2009 |access-date=November 17, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120229175606/http://www.hitquarters.com/index.php3?page=intrview%2Fopar%2Fintrview_Nick_Launay_Interview.html |archive-date=February 29, 2012}}

Launay described a typical session: "Brian [Chase] would play lots of different drumbeats and we'd record it, chop it up and then make a groove loop out of it. Nick [Zinner] would then just jam to it, and we'd come up with an interesting rhythm part. Karen [O] would listen to that and come up with a vocal melody and then suddenly everything would fall into place."

During the sessions – which took place over several months in 2008 – there were numerous breaks "to get inspired".

{{Music ratings

| ADM = 8.2/10{{cite web |url=http://www.anydecentmusic.com/review/490/Yeah-Yeah-Yeahs-Its-Blitz.aspx |title=It's Blitz! by Yeah Yeah Yeahs reviews |website=AnyDecentMusic? |access-date=January 8, 2020 |archive-date=January 18, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220118202132/http://www.anydecentmusic.com/review/490/Yeah-Yeah-Yeahs-Its-Blitz.aspx |url-status=live }}

| MC = 82/100

| rev1 = AllMusic

| rev1score = {{Rating|4|5}}{{cite web |last=Phares |first=Heather |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/its-blitz!-mw0000813137 |title=It's Blitz! – Yeah Yeah Yeahs |website=AllMusic |access-date=November 24, 2012 |archive-date=November 28, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121128212024/http://www.allmusic.com/album/its-blitz!-mw0000813137 |url-status=live }}

| rev2 = Classic Rock

| rev2score = 8/10{{cite journal|first= John |last= Doran |title= Reviews |journal= Classic Rock |date=June 2009|issue=132|page=82}}

| rev3 = The Daily Telegraph

| rev3score = {{Rating|4|5}}{{cite news |last=McNulty |first=Bernadette |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/5099344/Yeah-Yeah-Yeahs-Its-Blitz-album-review.html |title=Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Its Blitz album review |work=The Daily Telegraph |date=April 3, 2009 |access-date=September 30, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100524021637/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/5099344/Yeah-Yeah-Yeahs-Its-Blitz-album-review.html |archive-date=May 24, 2010}}

| rev4 = Entertainment Weekly

| rev4score = B+{{cite magazine |last=Vozick-Levinson |first=Simon |url=https://ew.com/article/2009/03/11/its-blitz/ |title=It's Blitz |magazine=Entertainment Weekly |date=March 11, 2009 |access-date=January 8, 2016 |archive-date=December 13, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151213154524/http://www.ew.com/article/2009/03/11/its-blitz |url-status=live }}

| rev5 = The Guardian

| rev5score = {{Rating|4|5}}

| rev6 = Los Angeles Times

| rev6score = {{Rating|3.5|4}}{{cite web |last=Wood |first=Mikael |url=http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/music_blog/2009/03/album-review-yeah-yeah-yeahss-its-blitz.html |title=Album review: Yeah Yeah Yeahs's 'It's Blitz!' |work=Los Angeles Times |date=March 30, 2009 |access-date=June 10, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090403084627/http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/music_blog/2009/03/album-review-yeah-yeah-yeahss-its-blitz.html |archive-date=April 3, 2009}}

| rev7 = MSN Music (Consumer Guide)

| rev7score = A−{{cite web |last=Christgau |first=Robert |author-link=Robert Christgau |url=http://music.msn.com/music/consumerguide/2009/?photoidx=116 |title=Consumer Guide 2009 |work=MSN Music |date=May 2009 |access-date=June 10, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100714231347/http://music.msn.com/music/consumerguide/2009/?photoidx=116 |archive-date=July 14, 2010}}

| rev8 = NME

| rev8score = 8/10

| rev9 = Pitchfork

| rev9score = 8.1/10{{cite web |last=Love |first=Joshua |url=https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/12855-its-blitz/ |title=Yeah Yeah Yeahs: It's Blitz! |website=Pitchfork |date=March 26, 2009 |access-date=June 10, 2010 |archive-date=June 17, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100617040916/http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/12855-its-blitz/ |url-status=live }}

| rev10 = Rolling Stone

| rev10score = {{Rating|4|5}}{{cite magazine |last=Rosen |first=Jody |author-link=Jody Rosen |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/its-blitz-20090317 |title=It's Blitz! |magazine=Rolling Stone |date=March 17, 2009 |access-date=May 16, 2013 |archive-date=June 16, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130616032934/http://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/its-blitz-20090317 |url-status=dead }}

| rev11 = Spin

| rev11score = 9/10

}}

It's Blitz! received universal acclaim from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 82, based on 36 reviews.{{cite web |url=https://www.metacritic.com/music/its-blitz/yeah-yeah-yeahs/critic-reviews |title=Reviews for It's Blitz by Yeah Yeah Yeahs |website=Metacritic |access-date=November 19, 2009 |archive-date=April 10, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130410050318/http://www.metacritic.com/music/its-blitz/yeah-yeah-yeahs/critic-reviews |url-status=live }}

The Guardian{{'}}s Caroline Sullivan declared the "glittery new disco sound suits them very well. It's all cool, brittle catchiness, with a debt owed to Eat to the Beat-era Blondie".{{cite web |last=Sullivan |first=Caroline |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2009/mar/19/yeahyeahyeahs-popandrock |title=Yeah Yeah Yeahs: It's Blitz! |work=The Guardian |date=March 19, 2009 |access-date=January 8, 2016 |archive-date=March 5, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305042538/http://www.theguardian.com/music/2009/mar/19/yeahyeahyeahs-popandrock |url-status=live }}

Emily Mackay of NME wrote, "It's Blitz!{{'}}s heartfelt love letter to the transcendent possibilities of the dancefloor is an unexpectedly emphatic reassertion of why Yeah Yeah Yeahs are one of the most exciting bands of this decade."{{cite web |last=Mackay |first=Emily |url=https://www.nme.com/reviews/yeah-yeah-yeahs/10237 |title=Album Review: Yeah Yeah Yeahs (It's Blitz!) |work=NME |date=March 26, 2009 |access-date=June 10, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120423070751/http://www.nme.com/reviews/yeah-yeah-yeahs/10237 |archive-date=April 23, 2012}}

Spin{{'}}s Charles Aaron called it "the alternative pop album of the decade – one that imbues The Killers' Hot Fuss and MGMT's Oracular Spectacular with a remarkable emotional depth and finesse".{{cite magazine |last=Aaron |first=Charles |author-link=Charles Aaron |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rwcxxhbc_kYC&pg=PA83 |title=Party at Ground Zero |magazine=Spin |volume=25 |issue=5 |date=May 2009 |pages=83–84 |issn=0886-3032 |via=Google Books}}

Theon Weber of The Village Voice said Karen O "isn't revealed to us through the record's lyrics, which are as gnomic as ever, but through attitudes, tones, put-on sneers, and audible grins."{{cite web |last=Weber |first=Theon |url=https://www.villagevoice.com/2009/04/01/the-yeah-yeah-yeahs-bowery-ballroom-blitz/ |title=The Yeah Yeah Yeahs' Bowery Ballroom Blitz |work=The Village Voice |date=April 1, 2009 |access-date=January 12, 2018 |archive-date=August 22, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170822215426/https://www.villagevoice.com/2009/04/01/the-yeah-yeah-yeahs-bowery-ballroom-blitz/ |url-status=live }}

Mojo awarded it four stars out of five and wrote that the band "managed to mix the human and the electronic, the emotional and the artsy, the fashion-forward and the oddly retro."{{cite magazine |title=Review: It's Blitz |magazine=Mojo |location=London |date=May 2009 |page=94 |issn=1351-0193}}

Blender also gave the album four stars out of five and hailed it as "the sound of a band reborn with new momentum, and on an album that requires dancing, the message is clear: It doesn't matter where you came from. Just keep moving."{{cite magazine |title=Review: It's Blitz! |magazine=Blender |date=March 2009 |issn=1534-0554}}

Clash commented that the trio had grown without distancing themselves from what made their name: "The album proves that they can provide epic music with personal themes, that YYYs can expand without losing what made us fall for them in the first place".{{cite web |last=Murray |first=Robin |url=https://www.clashmusic.com/reviews/yeah-yeah-yeahs |title=Yeah Yeah Yeahs – It's Blitz! |work=Clash |date=March 13, 2009 |access-date=April 15, 2009 |archive-date=May 25, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090525103359/http://www.clashmusic.com/reviews/yeah-yeah-yeahs |url-status=live }}

Jon Pareles of The New York Times wrote that the band "grapple with separation and need, using dance beats to suggest the compulsive pleasure seeking that tries to drown out loneliness", and he commended their musical direction, stating, "The band is echoing the evolution of postpunk, from dogmatic austerity to technologically assisted".{{cite web |last=Pareles |first=Jon |author-link=Jon Pareles |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/30/arts/music/30choice.html |title=New CDs |work=The New York Times |date=March 29, 2009 |access-date=June 10, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090416000418/http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/30/arts/music/30choice.html |archive-date=April 16, 2009}}

Uncut{{'}}s April Long scored it four out of five and praised its "spirit of experimentation", stating "What unifies them is a warm romanticism that runs throughout, edging out Karen's blatant eroticism of yore – even though there are more come-downs than come-ons, every song seems to glow from within".{{cite web |last=Long |first=April |url=http://www.uncut.co.uk/reviews/album/yeah-yeah-yeahs-its-blitz |title=Yeah Yeah Yeahs – It's Blitz! |work=Uncut |date=April 3, 2009 |access-date=January 8, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304192801/http://www.uncut.co.uk/reviews/album/yeah-yeah-yeahs-its-blitz |archive-date=March 4, 2016}}

It's Blitz! debuted at number 32 on the Billboard 200, selling 13,000 digital copies in its first week.{{cite magazine |last=Peters |first=Mitchell |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0WL4O__HkSoC&pg=PT31 |title=Leak Builds 'Blitz!' |magazine=Billboard |volume=121 |issue=12 |date=March 28, 2009 |page=32 |issn=0006-2510 |via=Google Books}} Following its physical release, the album climbed to a new peak position of number 22 in its fourth week on the chart, selling 22,000 copies.{{cite magazine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Wvih8wnKvXwC&pg=PA38 |title=The Billboard 200 |magazine=Billboard |volume=121 |issue=15 |date=April 18, 2009 |page=38 |issn=0006-2510 |via=Google Books}} As of October 2009, it had sold 184,000 copies in United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.{{cite web |last=Perpetua |first=Matthew |url=https://perpetua.tumblr.com/post/293484776/pitchfork-top-10-albums-in-us-sales |title=Pitchfork Top 10 Albums, In US Sales |website=Fluxtumblr |date=December 21, 2009 |access-date=September 14, 2017 |via=Tumblr |archive-date=May 30, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230530160514/http://perpetua.tumblr.com/post/293484776/pitchfork-top-10-albums-in-us-sales |url-status=live }} The album entered the UK Albums Chart at number nine with first-week sales of 18,054 copies.{{cite web |last=Jones |first=Alan |url=http://www.musicweek.com/news/read/gaga-edges-it-in-albums-chart/039753 |title=GaGa edges it in albums chart |work=Music Week |date=April 14, 2009 |access-date=July 17, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140726000313/http://www.musicweek.com/news/read/gaga-edges-it-in-albums-chart/039753 |archive-date=July 26, 2014}}

{{Track listing

| all_writing = Yeah Yeah Yeahs

| title1 = Zero

| length1 = 4:25

| title2 = Heads Will Roll

| length2 = 3:41

| title3 = Soft Shock

| length3 = 3:53

| title4 = Skeletons

| length4 = 5:02

| title5 = Dull Life

| length5 = 4:08

| title6 = Shame and Fortune

| length6 = 3:31

| title7 = Runaway

| length7 = 5:13

| title8 = Dragon Queen

| length8 = 4:02

| title9 = Hysteric

| length9 = 3:50

| title10 = Little Shadow

| length10 = 3:57

}}

{{Track listing

| headline = Deluxe edition bonus tracks

| title11 = Soft Shock

| note11 = acoustic

| length11 = 3:25

| title12 = Skeletons

| note12 = acoustic

| length12 = 3:29

| title13 = Hysteric

| note13 = acoustic

| length13 = 3:51

| title14 = Little Shadow

| note14 = acoustic

| length14 = 2:53

}}

{{Track listing

| headline = iTunes Store bonus tracks{{cite web |url=https://music.apple.com/us/album/its-blitz/305087260 |title=It's Blitz! by Yeah Yeah Yeahs |website=iTunes Store |date=January 2009 |location=United States |access-date=February 15, 2014 |archive-date=June 17, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140617081816/https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/its-blitz!/id305087260 |url-status=live }}

| title11 = Faces

| length11 = 3:33

| title12 = Clap Song

| note12 = pre-order only

| length12 = 3:26

}}

{{Track listing

| headline = Japanese edition bonus tracks

| title11 = Hysteric

| note11 = acoustic

| length11 = 3:51

| title12 = Soft Shock

| note12 = acoustic

| length12 = 3:25

| title13 = Little Shadow

| note13 = acoustic

| length13 = 2:53

| title14 = Skeletons

| note14 = acoustic

| length14 = 3:29

| title15 = Faces

| length15 = 3:33

}}

Credits adapted from the liner notes of It's Blitz!{{cite AV media notes |title=It's Blitz! |type=liner notes |others=Yeah Yeah Yeahs |publisher=Interscope Records |year=2009 |id=B0012735-02}}

• Brian Chase – drums, cymbals, percussion
• Karen O – vocals
• Nick Zinner – guitars, keyboards, drum machine, bass

• Stuart Bogie – tenor saxophone {{small|(tracks 1, 8, 9)}}; baritone saxophone {{small|(tracks 8, 9)}}
• Eric Biondo – trumpet {{small|(tracks 1, 9)}}
• Greg Kurstin – piano {{small|(track 7)}}
• Jane Scarpantoni – cello {{small|(track 7)}}
• Tunde Adebimpe – vocals {{small|(track 8)}}
• Imaad Wasif – guitar {{small|(track 10)}}

• Nick Launay – production, recording
• David Andrew Sitek – production {{small|(tracks 1–4, 8, 9)}}; additional production {{small|(tracks 5)}}; recording {{small|(all tracks)}}
• Dan Huron – recording
• Aaron Dembe – engineering assistance
• Alyssa Pittaluga – engineering assistance
• Atom – engineering assistance
• Charles Godfrey – engineering assistance
• Chris Coady – engineering assistance
• Chris Moore – engineering assistance
• Justin Leeah – engineering assistance
• Mike Laza – engineering assistance
• Spike Stent – mixing at Chalice Recording Studios (Los Angeles, California)
• Matty Green – mixing assistance
• Chris Kasych – mixing assistance
• Ted Jensen – mastering at Sterling Sound (New York City)

• Karen O – art direction
• Seb Marling – art direction
• Urs Fischer – art direction, cover photography, inside photography
• Autumn de Wilde – live photography (band)
• David Belisle – live photography (Karen and Brian)
• Eric Uhlir – live photography (Nick)

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{{Certification Table Top|caption=Certifications for It's Blitz!}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=Australia|artist=Yeah Yeah Yeahs|title=It's Blitz!|award=Gold|type=album|certyear=2010|access-date=November 24, 2012}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=United Kingdom|artist=Yeah Yeah Yeahs|title=It's Blitz!|award=Gold|type=album|relyear=2009|certyear=2013|id=8551-240-2|date=July 22, 2013|access-date=July 10, 2022}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=United States|artist=Yeah Yeah Yeahs|title=It's Blitz!|award=Gold|type=album|relyear=2009|certyear=2020|date=October 8, 2020|access-date=March 19, 2021}}

{{Certification Table Bottom|nosales=true|streaming=true}}

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Category:2009 albums

Category:Albums produced by Dave Sitek

Category:Albums produced by Nick Launay

Category:Albums recorded at Long View Farm

Category:Albums recorded at Sonic Ranch

Category:DGC Records albums

Category:Interscope Records albums

Category:Polydor Records albums

Category:Yeah Yeah Yeahs albums