Yeah Yeah Yeahs S/T EP vs. Lightning Bolt’s Ride the Skies

Best Record of 2001: Day 50 Good morning! Today we’re taking a quick look at Yeah Yeah Yeahs self-titled EP. Yeah Yeah Yeah’s self-titled, 5-song EP was self-released on their own Shifty label in 2001. Their decidedly garage-punk sound featured guitarist Nick Zinner, drummer Brian Chase, and no bassist. No matter; even in these early days, everything orbits around frontwoman Karen O. Her vocals are hard to pin down– she coos one minute, screams the next (see also: the entire chorus of “Art Star”), and occasionally works in a sort of disaffected monotone The synths and more polished sound would come in time, but here they’re still incubating, and it’s very much rough around the edges. Whether that was because they were still finding their legs or an intentional aesthetic choice, the end run is the same. Nick Zinner’s riffs do a lot of weight-bearing. They’re basic, but that’s all that was called for here. The first thing we hear is Karen O repeating “the bigger, the better” on “Bang.”…