It's Blitz!

It's Blitz!
Studio album by Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Released	March 6, 2009
Recorded	2008
Studio	The Boat and Seedy Underbelly in Los Angeles; Long View Farm Studios in North Brookfield; Sonic Ranch in Tornillo; Stay Gold Studio in Brooklyn
Genre	Synthpunk,[1] alternative pop[2]
Length	41:49
Label	Dress Up, DGC, Interscope
Producer	Nick Launay, David Andrew Sitek
Yeah Yeah Yeahs chronology
Is Is (2007) It's Blitz! (2009) iTunes Originals – Yeah Yeah Yeahs (2009)
Singles from It's Blitz!
"Zero" Released: February 24, 2009 "Heads Will Roll" Released: June 29, 2009 "Skeletons" Released: February 1, 2010

It's Blitz! is the third studio album by American indie rock band Yeah Yeah Yeahs, released on March 6, 2009, by Interscope Records. It was originally set for release on April 13, 2009. However, after being leaked to the Internet on February 22,^[3] the release date was pushed forward to March 9 for the digital version and March 31 for the physical version.^[4]

The album was produced by Nick Launay (Nick Cave, Arcade Fire, Talking Heads, Public Image Ltd), along with TV on the Radio's David Andrew Sitek.^[5] It spawned three singles: "Zero", "Heads Will Roll", and "Skeletons". It's Blitz! was nominated for Best Alternative Music Album at the 2010 Grammy Awards.^[6]

Recording

According to Nick Launay, one of the two producers, the recording of the album was unusual for being largely written and created in the studio at a time when record labels have cut back considerably on production budgets. The few songs the band did take along to the first sessions were later altered significantly.^[7] Launay described a typical session as follows:

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.^[7]

The album sessions took place over several months in 2008, during which time there were numerous breaks "to get inspired".^[7]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	82/100[8]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[9]
The Daily Telegraph	[10]
Entertainment Weekly	B+[11]
The Guardian	[12]
Los Angeles Times	[13]
MSN Music	A−[14]
NME	8/10[15]
Pitchfork Media	8.1/10[16]
Rolling Stone	[17]
Spin	9/10[2]

It's Blitz! received universal acclaim from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted mean rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 82, based on 36 reviews.^[8] The Guardian's Caroline Sullivan commended the band's more dance-oriented sound, writing their "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".^[12] Emily Mackay of the NME wrote that "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",^[15] while Spin's Charles Aaron said that it is "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".^[2] Theon Weber of The Village Voice said that 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."^[18] Mojo gave it a score of four stars out of five and wrote that the band has "managed to mix the human and the electronic, the emotional and the artsy, the fashion-forward and the oddly retro."^[19]

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."^[20] Clash commented that the trio had achieved growth 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".^[21] 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".^[22] Uncut's April Long gave it a score of four stars 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".^[23]

Accolades

Publication	List	Rank
A.V. Club, TheThe A.V. Club	The Top 25 Albums of 2009[24]	20
Billboard	Top 10 Albums of 2009[25]	2
Clash	Top 40 Albums of 2009[26]	3
Consequence of Sound	The Top 100 Albums of 2009[27]	6
Drowned in Sound	Top 50 Albums of 2009[28]	3
Entertainment Weekly	10 Best (and 5 Worst) Albums of 2009[29]	Best Rock Album
Guardian, TheThe Guardian	Albums of 2009[30]	10
Mojo	Top 50 Albums of 2009[31]	10
musicOMH	Top 50 Best Albums of 2009[32]	6
NME	50 Best Albums of 2009[33]	3
Paste	The 25 Best Albums of 2009[34]	23
Pitchfork Media	The Top 50 Albums of 2009[35]	12
PopMatters	The Best 60 Albums of 2009[36]	11
Q	50 Best Albums of 2009[31]	3
Rhapsody	The 25 Best Albums of 2009[37]	12
Rolling Stone	The 25 Best Albums of 2009[38]	20
Slant Magazine	The 25 Best Albums of 2009[39]	2
Spin	The 40 Best Albums of 2009[40]	2
	125 Best Albums of the Past 25 Years[41]	118
Uncut	50 Best Albums of 2009[31]	9
Village Voice, TheThe Village Voice	Pazz & Jop Critics' Poll: The Top 25 Albums of 2009[42]	4

Commercial performance

It's Blitz! debuted at number 32 on the Billboard 200, selling 13,000 digital copies in its first week.^[43] 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.^[44] The album entered the UK Albums Chart at number nine with first-week sales of 18,054 copies.^[45]

Track listing

All tracks written by Yeah Yeah Yeahs. 

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Zero"	4:25
2.	"Heads Will Roll"	3:41
3.	"Soft Shock"	3:53
4.	"Skeletons"	5:02
5.	"Dull Life"	4:08
6.	"Shame and Fortune"	3:31
7.	"Runaway"	5:13
8.	"Dragon Queen"	4:02
9.	"Hysteric"	3:50
10.	"Little Shadow"	3:57

Deluxe edition bonus tracks[46]
No.	Title	Length
11.	"Soft Shock" (Acoustic)	3:25
12.	"Skeletons" (Acoustic)	3:29
13.	"Hysteric" (Acoustic)	3:51
14.	"Little Shadow" (Acoustic)	2:53

iTunes Store bonus tracks[47]
No.	Title	Length
11.	"Faces"	3:33
12.	"Clap Song" (pre-order only)	3:26

Japanese edition bonus tracks[48]
No.	Title	Length
11.	"Hysteric" (Acoustic)	3:51
12.	"Soft Shock" (Acoustic)	3:25
13.	"Little Shadow" (Acoustic)	2:53
14.	"Skeletons" (Acoustic)	3:29
15.	"Faces"	3:33

Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of It's Blitz!^[49]

Yeah Yeah Yeahs

• Karen O – lead vocals, art direction
• Nick Zinner – guitar, keyboards, bass, drum machine
• Brian Chase – drums, cymbal, percussion

Additional personnel

• Tunde Adebimpe – backing vocals (track 8)
• Atom – assistant engineering
• Louie Bandack – A&R
• David Belisle – live Karen and Brian photograph
• Eric Biondo – trumpet (tracks 1, 9)
• Stuart Bogie – tenor saxophone (tracks 1, 8, 9); baritone saxophone (tracks 8, 9)
• Tony Ciulla – management
• Chris Coady – assistant engineering
• Aaron Dembe – assistant engineering
• Autumn de Wilde – live band photograph
• Urs Fisher – art direction, cover and inside photograph
• Charles Godfrey – assistant engineering
• Matty Green – mixing assistant
• Laura Haber – management
• Ted Jensen – mastering
• Chris Kasych – mixing assistant
• Greg Kurstin – piano (track 7)
• Nick Launay – engineering, production
• Mike Laza – assistant engineering
• Justin Leeah – assistant engineering
• Seb Marling – art direction
• Chris Moore – assistant engineering
• Alyssa Pittaluga – assistant engineering
• Jane Scarpantoni – cello (track 7)
• David Andrew Sitek – engineering (all tracks); production (tracks 1–4, 8, 9); additional production (tracks 5)
• Mark "Spike" Stent – mixing
• Eric Uhlir – live Nick photograph
• Imaad Wasif – guitar (track 10)

Charts

Weekly charts Chart (2009) Peak position Australian Albums Chart[50] 8 Austrian Albums Chart[51] 61 Belgian Albums Chart (Flanders)[52] 23 Belgian Albums Chart (Wallonia)[53] 83 Canadian Albums Chart[54] 18 Danish Albums Chart[55] 40 European Top 100 Albums[56] 32 French Albums Chart[57] 160 German Albums Chart[58] 71 Irish Albums Chart[59] 10 Italian Albums Chart[60] 91 Japanese Albums Chart[61] 62 Mexican Albums Chart[62] 56 New Zealand Albums Chart[63] 22 Norwegian Albums Chart[64] 12 Scottish Albums Chart[65] 11 Swiss Albums Chart[66] 85 UK Albums Chart[67] 9 US Billboard 200[68] 22 US Alternative Albums[69] 4 US Rock Albums[70] 5

Year-end charts Chart (2009) Peak position US Billboard 200[71] 192 US Alternative Albums[72] 43

Certifications

Region	Certification	Certified units/Sales
Australia (ARIA)[73]	Gold	35,000^^
United Kingdom (BPI)[74]	Gold	100,000^^
^^shipments figures based on certification alone

Release history

Region	Date	Format	Edition	Label	Ref.
Australia	March 6, 2009	Digital download	Standard	Universal	[75]
United Kingdom			Standard deluxe	Polydor	[76][77]
United States	March 10, 2009			Dress Up DGC Interscope	[78][79]
Germany	March 13, 2009		Standard	Universal	[80]
United States	March 31, 2009	CD	Standard deluxe	Dress Up DGC Interscope	[46][81]
Australia	April 3, 2009			Universal	[82]
		Digital download	Deluxe		[75]
Germany		CD	Standard deluxe		[83][84]
		LP	Standard		[85]
		Digital download	Deluxe		[86]
United Kingdom	April 6, 2009	CD	Standard deluxe	Polydor	[87][88]
		LP	Standard		[89]
United States	April 14, 2009			Dress Up DGC Interscope	[90]
Japan	April 15, 2009	CD digital download	Japan standard	Universal	[48][91]

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