It's Blitz!

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title: "It's Blitz!" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["2009-albums", "albums-produced-by-dave-sitek", "albums-produced-by-nick-launay", "albums-recorded-at-long-view-farm", "albums-recorded-at-sonic-ranch", "dgc-records-albums", "interscope-records-albums", "polydor-records-albums", "yeah-yeah-yeahs-albums"] description: "2009 studio album by Yeah Yeah Yeahs" topic_path: "arts/music" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It's_Blitz!" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary 2009 studio album by Yeah Yeah Yeahs ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox album"]

Field	Value
name	It's Blitz!
type	studio
artist	Yeah Yeah Yeahs
cover	Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz.png
border	yes
alt	On a white wall, the hand of an unknown woman crushes an egg.
released
recorded	2008
* Synth-punk{{cite magazine	last
* alternative pop<ref name	"Aaron"/
* synth-pop<ref name	"Gray 2018"
* pop rock<ref name	"Gray 2018"/
length	41:49
prev_title	Is Is
prev_year	2007
next_title	iTunes Originals: Yeah Yeah Yeahs
next_year	2009
misc	{{Singles
name	It's Blitz!
type	studio
single1	Zero
single1date	February 24, 2009
single2	Heads Will Roll
single2date	June 29, 2009
single3	Skeletons
single3date	February 1, 2010
::

| name = It's Blitz! | type = studio | artist = Yeah Yeah Yeahs | cover = Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz.png | border = yes | alt = On a white wall, the hand of an unknown woman crushes an egg. | released = | recorded = 2008 | studio =

• Sonic Ranch (Tornillo, Texas)
• Long View Farm (North Brookfield, Massachusetts)
• Stay Gold (Brooklyn, New York)
• The Boat (Silver Lake, California)
• Seedy Underbelly (Valley Village, California) | genre =
• Synth-punk
• alternative pop
• synth-pop
• pop rock | length = 41:49 | label =
• Dress Up
• DGC
• Interscope | producer =
• Nick Launay
• David Andrew Sitek | prev_title = Is Is | prev_year = 2007 | next_title = iTunes Originals: Yeah Yeah Yeahs | next_year = 2009 | misc = {{Singles | name = It's Blitz! | type = studio | single1 = Zero | single1date = February 24, 2009 | single2 = Heads Will Roll | single2date = June 29, 2009 | single3 = Skeletons | single3date = February 1, 2010

It's Blitz! is the third studio album by American indie rock band Yeah Yeah Yeahs, released on March 6, 2009, by Interscope Records. Originally set for release on April 14, 2009, the album was leaked to the Internet on February 22, causing it to be pushed forward to March 10 for the digital release and March 31 for the physical release.

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! received acclaim from music critics, and 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

| ADM = 8.2/10 | MC = 82/100 | rev1 = AllMusic | rev1score = | rev2 = Classic Rock | rev2score = 8/10 | rev3 = The Daily Telegraph | rev3score = | rev4 = Entertainment Weekly | rev4score = B+ | rev5 = The Guardian | rev5score = | rev6 = Los Angeles Times | rev6score = | rev7 = MSN Music (Consumer Guide) | rev7score = A− | rev8 = NME | rev8score = 8/10 | rev9 = Pitchfork | rev9score = 8.1/10 | rev10 = Rolling Stone | rev10score = | rev11 = Spin | rev11score = 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, indicating "universal acclaim". Heather Phares of AllMusic believed the band successfully departed from their established sound, writing that "between the violently happy songs and the softer ones, this is some of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' most balanced and cohesive music." 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".

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". *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." 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."

*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". *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". 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."

Rankings

::data[format=table]

Publication	Accolade	Rank	Ref.	1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die	**	Billboard	Clash	Consequence of Sound	Drowned in Sound	Entertainment Weekly	**	Mojo	musicOMH	NME	Paste	Pitchfork	PopMatters	Q	Rhapsody	Rolling Stone	Slant Magazine	Spin	Spin	Uncut	**
1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die
The Top 25 Albums of 2009	20
Top 10 Albums of 2009	2
Top 40 Albums of 2009	3
The Top 100 Albums of 2009	6
Top 50 Albums of 2009	3
10 Best (and 5 Worst) Albums of 2009	Best Rock Album
Albums of 2009	10
Top 50 Albums of 2009	10
Top 50 Best Albums of 2009	6
50 Best Albums of 2009	3
The 25 Best Albums of 2009	23
The Top 50 Albums of 2009	12
The Best 60 Albums of 2009	11
50 Best Albums of 2009	3
The 25 Best Albums of 2009	12
The 25 Best Albums of 2009	20
The 25 Best Albums of 2009	2
The 40 Best Albums of 2009	2
125 Best Albums of the Past 25 Years	118
50 Best Albums of 2009	9
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_writing = Yeah Yeah Yeahs

| title1 = Zero | length1 = 4:25

| title2 = Heads Will Roll | length2 = 3:41

| title3 = Soft Shock | length3 = 3:53

| title4 = Skeletons | length4 = 5:02

| title5 = Dull Life | length5 = 4:08

| title6 = Shame and Fortune | length6 = 3:31

| title7 = Runaway | length7 = 5:13

| title8 = Dragon Queen | length8 = 4:02

| title9 = Hysteric | length9 = 3:50

| title10 = Little Shadow | length10 = 3:57

| headline = Deluxe edition bonus tracks | title11 = Soft Shock | note11 = acoustic | length11 = 3:25 | title12 = Skeletons | note12 = acoustic | length12 = 3:29 | title13 = Hysteric | note13 = acoustic | length13 = 3:51 | title14 = Little Shadow | note14 = acoustic | length14 = 2:53

| headline = iTunes Store bonus tracks | title11 = Faces | length11 = 3:33 | title12 = Clap Song | note12 = pre-order only | length12 = 3:26

| headline = Japanese edition bonus tracks | title11 = Hysteric | note11 = acoustic | length11 = 3:51 | title12 = Soft Shock | note12 = acoustic | length12 = 3:25 | title13 = Little Shadow | note13 = acoustic | length13 = 2:53 | title14 = Skeletons | note14 = acoustic | length14 = 3:29 | title15 = Faces | length15 = 3:33

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)

Charts

Weekly charts

::data[format=table title="Weekly chart performance for ''It's Blitz!''"] | Chart (2009) | Peak position | European Albums (Billboard) | Japan Album Sales (Billboard Japan) | Japanese Albums (Oricon) | Mexican Albums (Top 100 Mexico) | |---|---|---|---|---|---| | 32 | | | | | | | 90 | | | | | | | 62 | | | | | | | 56 | | | | | | ::

Year-end charts

::data[format=table title="Year-end chart performance for ''It's Blitz!''"]

Chart (2009)	Position	UK Albums (OCC)	US Billboard 200	US Top Alternative Albums (Billboard)
164
192
43
::

Certifications

Release history

::data[format=table title="Release dates and formats for ''It's Blitz!''"]

Region	Date	Format	Edition	Label	Ref(s)	Australia	United Kingdom	United States	Germany	United States	Australia	Germany	United Kingdom	United States	Japan
March 6, 2009	Digital download	Standard	Universal
March 9, 2009		Polydor
March 10, 2009
March 13, 2009	Standard	Universal
March 31, 2009	CD
April 3, 2009	Universal
Digital download	Deluxe
CD
LP	Standard
Digital download	Deluxe
April 6, 2009	CD		Polydor
LP	Standard
April 14, 2009
April 15, 2009		Japan standard	Universal
::

References

References

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