Yeah Yeah Yeahs-Is Is

Yesterday I picked up the new EP by The Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Titled Is Is it includes five songs the band have never previously recorded but have regularly performed in concert. There is a CD available but I bought the vinyl version. This format is presented as two 7 inch singles in a gatefold sleeve. Oh a word of warning; A sides play at 33 and a third speed.
Tell Me What Rockers To Swallow is the title of the band's live DVD and is where I first heard the song of the same name. It's almost certainly the best song here. It's accompanied on side one by Kiss Kiss which is a lot more mellow than the first track and shows off Karen O's vocal to the Nth degree. She's like a Karen Carpenter for the No Generation. On the flip we have Down Boy which is an out and out classic which almost takes the band into John Barry mode. It sounds like the theme for a film yet to be made.
Side three features the title track Isis which is like something from an Egyptian epic. I can imagine mummies escaping from tombs and excavators running for their lives. It's melodramatic, heavy and lush all at the same time. At this point I must also praise Nick Zimmer for his masterful guitar playing that doesn't make you miss there not being a bassist.While Brian Chase is a drummer extraordinaire who plays very much in the style of a PiL drummer. No surprise then that the producer is Nick Launay who twiddled the knobs on PiL's Flowers of Romance back in 1981. The final track is 10 x 10 which I also first heard like Rockers and Down Boy on the live DVD. This is where Karen's voice takes centre stage and it's the reason why I think this band are the best band in the world today.