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Bottom of the Hill April 20, 2003 Review by Jake Thomas Ah hype, you've gotta love it. For a band that hasn't even released a full length album, it seems interesting that the Yeah Yeah Yeahs sold out not only the Bottom of the Hill well in advance but the Great American Music Hall for the 4/21 show as well. I figured I'd go see what all the fuss was about now, while they're still playing somewhere small like Bottom of the Hill, because I wouldn't be surprised if they're playing the Fillmore or something that size next time around. I guess the pertinent question at hand is 'are they worth the buzz?' My answer would be 'sort of'. The music is decent but nothing groundbreaking; it pretty much falls in line with all of the other popular 'no wave/garage punk/whatever you want to call it' stuff; better than some, not nearly as good as Les Savy Fav or Liars, my two favorite picks for this type of music (I actually think Les Savy Fav reach far above this one-dimensional type of music, but they always get lumped with these other groups). There are only three people in the band, and they had a fair amount of their music pre-recorded onto a sampler I guess because a lot more music was coming out of the speakers than what they were playing. Karen O makes for a pretty good band leader - she has a decent voice, reminding me of Grace Slick at times, and is considered to be 'hott' in most circles. She's certainly not bad to look at, but her fashion looks a little too purposeful for me to really enjoy her on that aspect. All that aside, she does a decent job of entertaining the crowd, and the lads are fine musicians. At their best, they have moments that remind me of some weird hybrid of Devo and Blonde Redhead. At their worst, it was just mediocre rock music that tried to put me to sleep. I suppose in the grand pantheon of music that might get popular this is a good choice, but that doesn't mean it's anything great. Check it out for yourself, but don't believe the hype. ©2003 playinginfog.com |