Album Review: Is Is [EP] by Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Halfway between Fever to Tell's saucy rave-ups and the somber, slower sound of Show Your Bones, the Is Is EP is a welcome reminder of how potent the Yeah Yeah Yeahs are when they're firing on all cylinders. It also reaffirms that the Yeah Yeah Yeahs may be at their best on their EPs: Is Is delivers sleekly nasty rockers and vulnerable moments that are often more focused than the band's album tracks. Though the songs here are balanced between the extremes of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' sound, their performances sound wilder than they have in a while, and the production -- which is neither too raw nor overcooked with studio fussing -- shows them off perfectly.

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Billie Holiday Five years ago the apparitional rasp of Billie Holiday brought a whiff of desolation to “Verve Remixed,” the album that sparked a vogue for jazz-meets-D.J. compilations. The better of her two tracks on the album was produced by Tricky, who found a way to make “Strange Fruit” even stranger, in the word’s most foreboding sense.

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