Maps by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs is ten years old this year but I still love to play this song and feel nostalgic. The song (“My Angus Please Stay”) is a garage rock ballad written for lead singer Karen O’s then-boyfriend, and is just the perfect love song; Rolling Stone named it the 7th best song of the 2000’s, and it stands at #6 on Pitchfork Media’s top 500 songs of the same decade.
Thankfully the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s released their fourth full-length studio album in April. The band issued a music video for their second third single, Despair, three days ago from the album Mosquito which includes collaborations with James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem and Dr. Octagon (OMG Dr. Octagon!). The song, like Maps, showcases what the Yeah Yeah Yeahs are capable of — a wide range of styles from the punk-influenced rock of their earlier days (see “Y Control“) to danceable pop-electro hits like Heads Will Roll, to reflective love songs. Karen O’s voice is also so versatile and well suited for these wide range of styles, which makes me excited about discovering all the songs off of Mosquito.
Noisey, through Vice.com, offers a preview of all the songs off the new album, as well as very awkward band commentary showing how shy and quiet the band members are in real life. I actually kind of love this, especially considering O’s onstage band persona (i.e. jumping around in her wacky, custom-made outfits), as it show how the band members are just introverted art-nerds making rock music. How can you not love that?
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