Album Review: Mosquito by Yeah Yeah Yeahs

I used to work with a guy who was always against anything that achieved any level of popularity. If he initially loved it he would loath it once it became popular. That's just how he rolled. There is something about the Yeah Yeah Yeahs that gives me the impression they are in that school of thought.

On their opening album they had the brilliant song "Maps." If you want you can go on youtube and watch many live versions of them making a joke out of the song. It's as though they didn't want to be too close to it once it was accepted as being so good.

It is widely accepted that Karen O has one of the best voices in rock and roll today, but the band does nothing to tap into the talent that she has. In fact this album in many ways feels like a study in how to avoid highlighting Karen O's abilities.

All in all as you can tell I'm not too happy with this album. I should say I'm not a big Yeah Yeah Yeahs fan because over the years I find them to be frustrating. I'm torn. Either they are too cool for their own good, or they simply can't write songs.

This album is moody and noisy and kind of all over the place. The truth is there is nothing on this album that accomplishes what they seem to be trying to accomplish as well as David Lynch accomplished it using Karen O on his album.

Following the Rhapsody rating method I give it 1 out of 5 stars for Just OK.

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