There was a time back in the early 2000s, during a defining era of the New York City music scene, Karen O was the idealized version of the rock star. She embodied the presence of the artists with the rage and lawlessness of the punks. She was known for insane live shows where she'd sometimes hurt herself on stage. If she didn't get in trouble, she'd be disappointed in herself.
Nearly two decades later, Karen and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs have calmed down a little bit. Since the band's last record in 2013, Karen's musical contributions have been mostly dreamy solo acoustic tracks, like the Oscar nominated "Moon Song" for Her or her lo-fi album Crush Songs. You could call it a lullaby phase—one that fits with a rock icon who grew up, got married, had a son.
That phase extends to the band's first recording in five years, which is a bubbling and beautiful cover of Big Star's "Thirteen."
It's a reflection of a wild youth, a pensive memento to a crazy time that will always exist in recordings and grainy videos. And that seems to be what the Yeah Yeah Yeahs are remembering here—those warehouse shows in the early 2000s, the 20-something that guitarist Nick Zinner once called "a party in a bag." "She had this infectious, super-wild, didn't-give-a-fuck, awesome, fun, silly thing," he once told Elle.
Everyone goes through the crazy phase, but eventually everyone should grow up, too. And if we're lucky, we'll all grow up as gracefully as the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.
Listen to the recording below, which at the time of this writing, Spotify has mislabeled as "Maps" for some reason.
