Odd Blood

US trio Yeasayer are musical magpies, cut from the same colourful cloth as acts like MGMT or Santogold. "Odd Blood" is their sophomore disc, comprising catchy jittery electronic Pop with a myriad of influences.

The woozy "Strange Reunions" has a Middle Eastern feel as does "Madder Red" (with a hummed wordless chorus), while the psychedelic clap-filled ballad "I Remember" is remniscent of "Animal Collective". At 10 tracks, no two songs are alike. Their debut CD was beautifully fractured psychedelic Folk/Pop, and they retain their strong sense of melody despite the change in style.

Other standouts are the Radiohead-style "The Children" (with eerie vocodered vocals and clanking beats), the tribal-sounding "O.N.E.", the progressively trancey "Love Me Girl" (my favourite), the bouncy "Rome" with stabbing syths & the experimental ballad "Grizelda".

Otherworldly and highly infectious!

All Hour Cymbals, Yeasayer's first album was a shambling, faded psychedelic romp through post-apocalyptic Africa and Asia. In contrast to that, this sophomore effort, Odd Blood, is a strange marriage of Animal Collective, Radiohead, The Knife, and Phoenix's dancy electro pop. Higher production values come with a complete 180 in terms of musical design, but I'll be damned if it isn't just as fun.

I admit, I enjoyed the old Yeasayer more in terms of genre, but slap me upside the head if I didn't say this wasn't one of the better records I've heard in a while. This new music's just as well written and certainly more mature, and the cheerier atmosphere makes it more approachable. It's a significant movement for the band and it makes me all the more excited for these talented musicians. At least no one can say Yeasayer took the easy way out.

Folks:

This is it! This is the new direction of music. Brooklyn, NY is the hotbed of music these days and Yeasayer is leading the pack in my opinion. The Brooklyn sound fuses an electronic sound that harks back to the 80s with a modern twist of great songwriting. You can easily tell that all the members in Yeasayer are highly skilled musicians and they know how to use their skills in effective songwriting techniques. Most importantly, the songs are catchy and don't require many listens before they creep into your brain and settle in. What a great band. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!

I was a late comer (last summer) to "All Hour Cymbals" but I love that album and was really looking forward to this one. I have been desperately trying to like it since Tuesday and I have to be honest: this is nothing like the previous album and a huge disappointment. There are some catchy songs, but I cannot name one that comes close to having the staying power of nearly every song from the previous album. Worse still, I find about half the album just bad. I have no doubt it will appeal to a broader audience as much of it is probably pretty danceable and hummable, but it does not capture the subtle almost Sung Tongish grace of much of previous album. While "Cymbals" was reserved, subtle, catchy and beautiful, this is up front, in your face and sounds like it was produced for Top 40 radio play (I say that more in feeling rather than as a general judgment of the bands purpose).

I know musicians progress and often that progression leaves us yearning for the old while we learn to appreciate the nuances of the new, but in this case Yeasayer has progressed in a direction that I just cant get into.

This is totally new wave. It's just remarkable. Yeasayer blew my mind with their first album. Literally. I could not think for an hour, just trying to realize what I just listened to. This one is a little more clear. It's totally Eighties pop music. It's just groovy and new-wavey.

Let's get to the really good songs. I loved "O.N.E.," because it was just something you could make a hit record out of. Forget Ke$ha, who should never have stayed at #1 for that long, and listen to real pop should-be hitmakers.

"Ambling Alp" was also just as good. A highlight here, with such beautiful sounds and lyrics.

"Madder Red" was pretty weird, but really good.

Among other highlights on this masterpiece are "I remember," "Rome," and the awesome "Love Me Girl."

In conclusion, buy this album or I will put a bumper sticker on your car saying "I don't listen to real music. I suck and have no life in the real world. I am stuck in what's popular and not what's good."

Put simply: Really? Has anyone else noticed the obvious early 'Some Great Reward'-era Depeche Mode influence? "Hold me like you used to, Control me like you used to" (O.N.E.) seems right out of the Martin Gore handbook; not to mention the dreamy falsetto voice...

With the years gone by, I must say Yeasayer have a hand up on sound depth. This album is done well, and despite the obvious comparison I noted, I can't help but get on my melancholic groove.

Recommended to young and old.

Yeasayer's newest album certainly caught me off guard. I only listened to their 2007 debut once and was pretty bored with it. But after hearing the singles, "Ambling Alp" and "O.N.E." and reading positive critical reviews, I decided to take a chance. I'm glad I did. Odd Blood turns out to be a truly awesome sophomore effort from these indie rock innovators. It is an album that may be labeled as indie rock, but actually transcends that genre to become a truly terrific pop record.

The band's songs seem to be a patchwork of several differnt sounds and styles. There is psychedelic folk, electronica, dance, world music, pop and rock among others. Yet this is no mere mash up of various styles for sheer experimentation. Yeasayer blend these different threads together to weave a cohesive tapestry that sounds familiar yet original and fresh at the same time.

But what really sets Yeasayer apart from the pack is their ability to write good songs. They could have just played around with their various influences and released an album full of sonic concoctions that were nothing but noise. Instead, these guys have written an album's worth of stellar songs. There are hooks and melodies aplenty, but the lyrics are emotionally resonant as well. In Ambling Alp, there is a passionate cry to "raise your head and wear your wounds with pride". I Remember delivers the lyric "you're stuck in my mind all the time", and on O.N.E., Chris Keating sings, "You don't love me anymore, and I'm glad that you don't, 'cause I can't have you anymore" set to a melody that Peter, Bjorn and John would have killed to come up with.

What more can you ask for from an album? Great songs, innovative sounds and emotional depth. It all coalesces into a marvelously enthralling indie rock/pop gem that grows richer and more satisfying with each listen and will be on the short list for the best albums of 2010.

I want to start of by saying that if this review was based on the two singles from Odd Blood, Ambling Alp and O.N.E. it would be a 5 star + review. The first time I heard Ambling Alp (think it was on WOXY) a smile formed on my face and I went on a mission to find that Mp3. I then heard their next single, entitled O.N.E. - another funky track that is sure to elicit a smile. The thought and detail that went into producing these songs is most definitely apparent when you throw on a pair of good headphones and just sit in a quiet room and listen. Slight nuances that are not normally heard when blasting down the highway come out and really show what Yeasayer is all about.

So now that I've rambled on about why I think the two singles are so great, let's get into the rest of the album.

When I first popped the disc into my CD player I was instantly let down. Yes, "Children" could be considered a relatively effective intro track with its slowed down tempo and notions of "building up" for what is to come, but overall I wasn't really impressed. The beat and looped piano worked well, but it could have done without the distorted audio. "The Children" leads into "Ambling Alp", one of the catchiest songs of 2010 as of this writing. If by the end of this track you do not have the lyric "Stick up for yourself son" repeating in your head, this album is probably not for you. "Madder Red" is an epic sounding "indie rock ballad" with a solid hook and great vocals. It reminds me of their first album, All Hour Cymbals. "I Remember", and "O.N.E." are two more that are worth talking about.

The rest of the album is good, but nothing stands out in my mind as being something I want to hear repeatedly. Highlight tracks on the album include:

Ambling Alp
Madder Red
I Remember
O.N.E.
Rome

Odd Blood is the album that will help project Yeasayer more into the mainstream. While this album may be just a hair shy of commercial radio play, this is no indicator of success (by any means!). For those who have not heard their first album, it is definitely worth a listen - at a minimum, listen to the single "Sunrise."

As a side note, there is a "making of" studio tour video posted at Pitchfork, and if you are into the band go watch it, very cool.

Although this is a pretty big turn-about for Yeasayer, they manage to pull off the stylistic shift with aplomb. Going from Celtic/African/Gospel to an amalgam of 80's synthesizers and vocals that hark back to Queen is not easy. However, this thoughtful trio has managed to pull off an album that is charming, experimental, and on the whole a lot of fun.
ONE and Mondegreen are funky exercises in different stereotypical song tropes, but they make them their own.

And Ambling Alp is just plain old badass. Buy the album, you won't regret it.

Thoughtful, layered, rich, fun songs. I get a little Flaming Lips, Talking Heads, Passion Pit, but more than those comparisons is a band here that is truly making music their way. They are innovators and will hopefully make music for many years to come.