so i finally listened to fever to tell tonight on the drive home. i thought about writing about how it seems really fake until the once-ubiquitous single "maps", and how the band seemed more like a meta-post-grunge band than an actual post-grunge band (i.e. the killers or the white stripes). then, on a whim, i read a site that i find incredibly pretentious and overwritten, pitchforkmedia. i may have mentioned the site before. anyways, i read their review of fever to tell and honestly, i could not agree with them more. i probably wouldn't have written it like such a know -it-all dick (mainly because i'm not smart enough, not because i'm not a know-it-all dick), but it was not an unexpected voice so its ok.

did you follow all that?

here is the key passage:

Still, for proof that the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, at their core, make a better band than they do runway trendsetters, one need look no further than Fever to Tell's singular true moment of clarity-- a tune of such moving grace I can scarcely believe they're responsible for it-- "Maps". Though the song is sadly in a class by itself on this record (it would take about two seconds to call roll for the tunes that even come close), absolutely everything falls into place here. The drums are gentle enough to simply caress the tune, but still pressing enough to make it clear that this second of happiness is fleeting, and Zinner's guitar work is easily his best to date, equal parts joy and discord. But it's Karen's vocals that steal the show; for once, they fairly drip genuine, regretful emotion: When she sings, "Lay off/ Don't stray/ My kind is your kind/ I'll stay the same.../ They don't love you like I love you," almost on the verge of defeated tears, the emotive response it produces is very real, and that means a lot.

Read the full review here.

more on the mao shit tonight and tomorrow.