"turn on your bright lights"
The first track of Yes New York— a tribute to the legendary 1978 no-wave comp No New York— is the Strokes’s aptly titled "New York City Cops," immediately letting you know what type of album this is going to be: powerful, hard-hitting, and (mostly) name-brand.
Immediately following the garage gods is Radio 4, a band that incorporates energy and eighties synth-rock elements to produce a "dance-glam-rock" sound. Then come the Rogers Sisters— clean delivery, infectious drumbeat, and Blondie-era punk influences— with a neo-surf rock gem. Next we are introduced to Ted Leo/Pharmacists (a current darling) with a punk feedback groove and a Rage undertone. This song ("The Ballad of the Sin Eater") is attitude without the flash, incorporating numerous tongue-in-cheek commentaries on culture and politics. The Fever finishes up this "energy" portion of the CD with "Ladyfingers," a catchy, joyous, and raucous tune that has the Clash mating with the Ramones. Watch these guys.
Then the CD switches over. (Whoever ordered these tracks must have made a ton of mix tapes when they were younger, because it flows so nicely.) Longwave sings to us about the "Next Plateau" with melodic strumming reminiscent of Elvis Costello and Elliot Smith at their best. The emotion is simply flowing out of the speakers. And then local faves Calla invite us into the basement for the "Strangler." This Massive Attack creeper belongs on the Natural Born Killers soundtrack, the love child of Leonard Cohen and Robert Smith that was kept locked up in the closet. Slowly moving out of this mood is The Rapture, giving us an ambient/house dance track with gorgeous swarming vocals.
The second half plays around a bit looser, but not much. The notoriously overlooked Walkmen demonstrate their herky-jerky, off-tempo love: luxurious, vivid, and shimmering. Interpol, one of my favorites, contribute "NYC," a symphony to remembering. The Natural History brings us back full circle to garage-indie punk; with a blistering combination of Television, the Strokes, and Hunky Dory–era Bowie.
Rounding out Yes New York are the Witnessess (Black Crowes with rollicking choruses and the swing of the Blues Brothers); lcd soundsystem, a Hannibal Lecter dance of insanity drawing on Zeppelin and Sabbath; Le Tigre’s straight-up electronica funk dance track that would work well at the Mos Eisley cantina; Secret Machines (these guys are incredible live), deliciously layered, like diving into the deep blue sea; and Unitard, an alter-ego of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs (the press release coyly reveals their identity as "the twenty-fifth letter of the alphabet x3"), which gives us— well, a beautiful ballad with a singer that sounds exactly like Johnette Napolitano of Concrete Blonde.