# It's Blitz!

It's Blitz! is the third studio album by American indie rock band Yeah Yeah Yeahs, released on March 6, 2009, by Interscope Records. It was originally set for release on April 13, 2009. However, after being leaked to the Internet on February 22, the release date was pushed forward to March 9 for the digital version and March 31 for the physical version.
The album was produced by Nick Launay, along with TV on the Radio's David Andrew Sitek. It spawned three singles: "Zero", "Heads Will Roll", and "Skeletons". It's Blitz! was nominated for Best Alternative Music Album at the 2010 Grammy Awards.

## Recording

"When Yeah Yeah Yeahs guitarist Nick Zinner packed his bag for the band's trip to the studio…" wrote John Doran in Classic Rock, "he made a random decision that would completely change their direction. The vintage ARP synthesizer that he carried with him to the Tornillo studios in the west Texan desert was supposed to provide downtime entertainment, but ended up being the defining noise on It's Blitz!."
According to coproducer Nick Launay, the album was unusual for being largely written and created in the studio at a time when record labels had cut back considerably on production budgets. The few songs the band took to the first sessions were altered significantly.
Launay described a typical session: "Brian [Chase] would play lots of different drumbeats and we'd record it, chop it up and then make a groove loop out of it. Nick [Zinner] would then just jam to it, and we'd come up with an interesting rhythm part. Karen [O] would listen to that and come up with a vocal melody and then suddenly everything would fall into place."
During the sessions – which took place over several months in 2008 – there were numerous breaks "to get inspired".

## Critical reception

Professional ratings :
| Aggregate scores ||
| Source | Rating |
| AnyDecentMusic? | 8.2/10 |
| Metacritic | 82/100 |
| Review scores ||
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic | |
| Classic Rock | |
| The Daily Telegraph | |
| Entertainment Weekly | B+ |
| The Guardian | |
| Los Angeles Times | |
| MSN Music (Consumer Guide) | A− |
| NME | 8/10 |
| Pitchfork | 8.1/10 |
| Rolling Stone | |
| Spin | 9/10 |
It's Blitz! received universal acclaim from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 82, based on 36 reviews.
The Guardian's Caroline Sullivan declared the "glittery new disco sound suits them very well. It's all cool, brittle catchiness, with a debt owed to Eat to the Beat-era Blondie".
Emily Mackay of NME wrote, "It's Blitz!'s heartfelt love letter to the transcendent possibilities of the dancefloor is an unexpectedly emphatic reassertion of why Yeah Yeah Yeahs are one of the most exciting bands of this decade."
Spin's Charles Aaron called it "the alternative pop album of the decade – one that imbues The Killers' Hot Fuss and MGMT's Oracular Spectacular with a remarkable emotional depth and finesse".
Theon Weber of The Village Voice said Karen O "isn't revealed to us through the record's lyrics, which are as gnomic as ever, but through attitudes, tones, put-on sneers, and audible grins."
Mojo awarded it four stars out of five and wrote that the band "managed to mix the human and the electronic, the emotional and the artsy, the fashion-forward and the oddly retro."
Blender also gave the album four stars out of five and hailed it as "the sound of a band reborn with new momentum, and on an album that requires dancing, the message is clear: It doesn't matter where you came from. Just keep moving."
Clash commented that the trio had grown without distancing themselves from what made their name: "The album proves that they can provide epic music with personal themes, that YYYs can expand without losing what made us fall for them in the first place".
Jon Pareles of The New York Times wrote that the band "grapple with separation and need, using dance beats to suggest the compulsive pleasure seeking that tries to drown out loneliness", and he commended their musical direction, stating, "The band is echoing the evolution of postpunk, from dogmatic austerity to technologically assisted".
Uncut's April Long scored it four out of five and praised its "spirit of experimentation", stating "What unifies them is a warm romanticism that runs throughout, edging out Karen's blatant eroticism of yore – even though there are more come-downs than come-ons, every song seems to glow from within".

### Accolades

| Publication | Accolade | Rank |
| 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die | 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die | — |
| The A.V. Club | The Top 25 Albums of 2009 | 20 |
| Billboard | Top 10 Albums of 2009 | 2 |
| Clash | Top 40 Albums of 2009 | 3 |
| Consequence of Sound | The Top 100 Albums of 2009 | 6 |
| Drowned in Sound | Top 50 Albums of 2009 | 3 |
| Entertainment Weekly | 10 Best (and 5 Worst) Albums of 2009 | Best Rock Album |
| The Guardian | Albums of 2009 | 10 |
| Mojo | Top 50 Albums of 2009 | 10 |
| musicOMH | Top 50 Best Albums of 2009 | 6 |
| NME | 50 Best Albums of 2009 | 3 |
| Paste | The 25 Best Albums of 2009 | 23 |
| Pitchfork | The Top 50 Albums of 2009 | 12 |
| PopMatters | The Best 60 Albums of 2009 | 11 |
| Q | 50 Best Albums of 2009 | 3 |
| Rhapsody | The 25 Best Albums of 2009 | 12 |
| Rolling Stone | The 25 Best Albums of 2009 | 20 |
| Slant Magazine | The 25 Best Albums of 2009 | 2 |
| Spin | The 40 Best Albums of 2009 | 2 |
| Spin | 125 Best Albums of the Past 25 Years | 118 |
| Uncut | 50 Best Albums of 2009 | 9 |
| The Village Voice | Pazz & Jop Critics' Poll: The Top 25 Albums of 2009 | 4 |

## Commercial performance

It's Blitz! debuted at number 32 on the Billboard 200, selling 13,000 digital copies in its first week. Following its physical release, the album climbed to a new peak position of number 22 in its fourth week on the chart, selling 22,000 copies. As of October 2009, it had sold 184,000 copies in United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The album entered the UK Albums Chart at number nine with first-week sales of 18,054 copies.

## Track listing

All tracks are written by Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

## Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of It's Blitz!

### Yeah Yeah Yeahs

* Brian Chase – drums, cymbals, percussion
* Karen O – vocals
* Nick Zinner – guitars, keyboards, drum machine, bass

### Additional musicians

* Stuart Bogie – tenor saxophone (tracks 1, 8, 9); baritone saxophone (tracks 8, 9)
* Eric Biondo – trumpet (tracks 1, 9)
* Greg Kurstin – piano (track 7)
* Jane Scarpantoni – cello (track 7)
* Tunde Adebimpe – vocals (track 8)
* Imaad Wasif – guitar (track 10)

### Technical

* Nick Launay – production, recording
* David Andrew Sitek – production (tracks 1–4, 8, 9); additional production (tracks 5); recording (all tracks)
* Dan Huron – recording
* Aaron Dembe – engineering assistance
* Alyssa Pittaluga – engineering assistance
* Atom – engineering assistance
* Charles Godfrey – engineering assistance
* Chris Coady – engineering assistance
* Chris Moore – engineering assistance
* Justin Leeah – engineering assistance
* Mike Laza – engineering assistance
* Spike Stent – mixing at Chalice Recording Studios (Los Angeles, California)
* Matty Green – mixing assistance
* Chris Kasych – mixing assistance
* Ted Jensen – mastering at Sterling Sound (New York City)

### Artwork

* Karen O – art direction
* Seb Marling – art direction
* Urs Fischer – art direction, cover photography, inside photography
* Autumn de Wilde – live photography (band)
* David Belisle – live photography (Karen and Brian)
* Eric Uhlir – live photography (Nick)

## Certifications

Certifications for It's Blitz! :
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
| Australia (ARIA) | Gold | 35,000$^^$ |
| United Kingdom (BPI) | Gold | 100,000$^^$ |
| United States (RIAA) | Gold | 500,000$^‡$ |
| $^^$ Shipments figures based on certification alone. $^‡$ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. |||

## Release history

Release dates and formats for It's Blitz! :
| Region | Date | Format | Edition | Label |
| Australia | March 6, 2009 | Digital download | Standard | Universal |
| United Kingdom | March 8, 2009 | Digital download | Standarddeluxe | Polydor |
| United States | March 10, 2009 | Digital download | Standarddeluxe | Dress UpDGCInterscope |
| Germany | March 13, 2009 | Digital download | Standard | Universal |
| United States | March 31, 2009 | CD | Standarddeluxe | Dress UpDGCInterscope |
| Australia | April 3, 2009 | CD | Standarddeluxe | Universal |
| Australia | April 3, 2009 | Digital download | Deluxe | Universal |
| Germany | April 3, 2009 | CD | Standarddeluxe | Universal |
| Germany | April 3, 2009 | LP | Standard | Universal |
| Germany | April 3, 2009 | Digital download | Deluxe | Universal |
| United Kingdom | April 6, 2009 | CD | Standarddeluxe | Polydor |
| United Kingdom | April 6, 2009 | LP | Standard | Polydor |
| United States | April 14, 2009 | LP | Standard | Dress UpDGCInterscope |
| Japan | April 15, 2009 | CDdigital download | Japan standard | Universal |