Whether taking its cue from hip-hop and rap, as in the case of the new Black Eyed Peas album, or turning garage punk into synthesized dance, as in the case of the current Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ CD, these two albums emphasize how fun and getting your bodies moving, no matter what music genre, is today’s dictum. The party atmosphere on the Peas CD is non-stop; while the Yeahs show they’re up to new tricks.
The E.N.D. — The Black Eyed Peas (Interscope/MCA Universal). E.N.D. means the Energy Never Ends and on the CD the Peas definitely live up to that claim. Forget the socially conscious lyrics of Where Is the Love. On the CD, all they want to know is Where Is the Party! While no track stands out like that aforementioned track, there is a consistency and groove to the CD that makes this the one that can be left on the player track after track. The Fergie standout would be Meet Me Halfway, and I also liked I Gotta Feeling and Alive. One Tribe and Now Generation are the latter tracks that try and approximate Where Is the Love, but they’re poor substitutes. This one is Energy with a capital E, and there’s a bonus track on the Philippines edition, Mare (yup, two syllables). You may classify this music as R&B, but it’s definitely more the R in Rhythm that’s on display.
It’s Blitz — Yeah Yeah Yeahs (Geffen/MCA Universal). In the annals of Rock Music power trios, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs are fast making their claim to be duly considered. Ever since they burst on the New York club scene, the band has shown amazing talent in evolving its music and defying expectations. With It’s Blitz, its garage/punk sound has discovered synthesizers and there’s a maturity in the material that brings vocalist Karen O to the fore as a depthful singer. The first three tracks — Zero, Head Will Roll and Soft Shock — make this abundantly clear. And while the band’s gentler side (if one can believe that adjective) is shown on tracks like Hysteric and Little Shadow, it’s the “wall of sound” tracks with synthesizers that make this outing so impressive and dance-oriented. The US edition has acoustic versions of four tracks, and they’re exquisite, especially Little Shadow, which is treated like accompanied by a string quartet.