Clap Your Hands And Say Yeah Album: "Clap Your Hands And Say Yeah" Release Date: June, 2005 Label: Self-Released Rock-Rev Value: [8.5/10] Genre: Rock Styles: Indie Rock, Alternative Pop/ Rock Buy It

Tracklist:

1. Clap Your Hands!
2. Let the Cool Goddess Rust Away
3. Over and Over Again (Lost and Found)
4. Sunshine and Clouds and Everything Proud
5. Details of the War
6. The Skin of My Yellow Country Teeth
7. Is This Love?
8. Heavy Metal
9. Blue Turning Gray
10. In This Home on Ice
11. Gimme Some Salt
12. Upon This Tidal Wave of Young Blood

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review by:Stylus
reviewer: Derek Miller
Allmusic Album Value: (B+)

We retreat into the Bowery and its crude antiquity for a reason. I, too, am weary of now. Scrape at the surface for a moment, Downing Street memo and beyond, and it’s getting harder to avoid the ominous similarities ‘twixt Nixon and Bush.

Sure, one man’s megalomania is another man’s faith, but it ends in the same Orwellian pit. Maybe there’s something to be gleamed from our popular return to the frantic leap-abouts of the gilded-CBGB era, the rehumanizing of its cartoon statues—the Talking Heads, the Ramones, Blondie. Maybe this glorious skip-forward through generations of the best post-Nixon pop culture is more regeneration than retread, more cranky revolt than historical-revisionism. We need cacophony now. We need to limber ourselves in awkward dance. Everything’s become too quiet. The papers run rolls of faceless print. The television news is apoplexy via death toll. Maybe this is all too obvious to you. Maybe I should shut the fuck up.

Either way, we should thank Christ (er, Bush?) for Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. They make us loud again. They have debts to shoulder from us all. They refuse to voice themselves in the kind of faceless subtlety that evokes modernity without a history, now without a then. You can’t avoid the obvious; lead singer Alec Ounsworth has studied the pre-80 Heads’ records. He knows every one of Byrne’s jumpy lead vocal gymnastics. That much is obvious. Fortunately for the band, they summon the manic lightning of the Heads and countless other bands while making them sound crisp and brutal at once. Shit, put all the if-you-like-then-you’ll-likes aside: such influences don’t tire in the hands of adept students.

After the Augie March-like carnival start of intro “Clap Your Hands!” “Let the Cool Goddess Rust Away” whispers with the colors that dominate the album: auger red inter-locked guitars, crisp black drum rolls, and the swirling oranges of tambourine in their background choruses. It’s a mix that plays well only in the dark, forced to blush and hide in the openness of the day. “Over and Over Again (Lost and Found)” repeats those gains, adding jeweled synths to the tangled guitar lines. Ounsworth’s lyrics are half-indecipherable, slurred out like a hipster urchin bound to the stool for one dark bar-time swallow.

“Details of the War” is the record’s garbled torch song, emblazoned not by flame but by neon and brick mortar. Concrete and heat, and the stiff return to both, seems to swell within the song’s mournful air. As summer boils on, it’s hard to imagine a song that better embodies our retreat from the air.(...)

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review by:Pitchfork
reviewer:Brian Howe, June 22, 2005
Album Value: (9/10)

Maybe no one told Clap Your Hands Say Yeah that first impressions are important. Or maybe they've just got massive sack. Either way, their self-released, self-titled debut CD opens with the weirdest, most potentially grating bit of snake-oil salesmanship you're likely to hear until Tom Waits puts out another record. I happen to dig the song, entitled "Clap Your Hands!" (a theme is emerging), but a maniacal carny barking over a stuttering calliope isn't for everyone. Those who persevere, though, will quickly discover that this garish foyer gives out onto spacious, elegant chambers of clean lines and soft lights.

Clap Your Hands are a five-piece from Brooklyn who're known to break out both harp and harmonica. They've recently been garnering rave press in their home city, and, over just the past two weeks, burning up the internet like a vintage Lohan nipslip. The pundits are saying Wilco (not hearing it), Talking Heads (okay), and Neutral Milk Hotel (getting warmer), but if it checks in with a number of modern and classic new wave referents, the music sings for itself: Clap Your Hands traffics in melodic, exuberant indie rock that pairs the shimmering, wafting feel of Yo La Tengo with a singular vocal presence that sounds like Paul Banks attempting to yodel through Jeff Mangum's throat. Or imagine the Arcade Fire if their music were more fun-loving and less grave.

Of course, if Clap Your Hands had a press kit, it would undoubtedly include something about "synthesizing these influences into a sound that's uniquely their own." And for once, it would be true. On the album's first true song, "Let the Cool Goddess Rust Away", a wailing vocal evokes Walkmen frontman Hamilton Leithauser, as hitching, muted guitars and singing melodic ones twist and furl over throbbing bass. On "Over and Over Again (Lost and Found)", the band veers into more Interpol-ish territory, with small, stripped guitars and bass, a thin synth wash, and lilting vocals with woozily yawning vowels. Same goes for the iridescent guitars, purring synths, and weary vocals of "Details of the War".. (...)

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review by:Almostcool
reviewer: ???
Album Value: [7.75/10]

I suppose that you could call Clap Your Hands Say Yeah the band that was launched by a single review. As an unknown batch of artists hailing from the New York area, they received an absolutely glowing review from a certain online review site, creating an instant buzz for their CD (which sold out of its initial pressing right away) and their performances. Although there have been instances of groups garnering acclaim through the wildfire information clearinghouse that is the internet, CYHSA is this years perfect example of the little unsigned band that could.

In terms of other artists, the group has been compared to everyone from The Arcade Fire (who themselves recieved a huge load of press from the internet world) to The Talking Heads, and both comparisons are warranted at times. The vocals of singer Alec Ounsworth at times resembles David Byrne when he's not completely overdoing things and in places the group lends just as much cred to the keyboard as the guitar, making for retro-sounding tracks that buzz and chime.

After the carny sideshow intro of "Clap Your Hands!," the group launches into "Let The Cool Goddess Rust Away" and they make a bid for indie stardom with a proficient rhythm section (including plenty of shakers), solid guitar work and crooning vocals from Ounsworth. "Over And Over Again (Lost And Found)" is a track where The Talking Heads references were easily founded as Ounsworth sings his tracks with a more rhythmic inflection while the stripped-down, keyboard and guitar instrumentation provides a quaint backdrop.

As mentioned above, Ounsworth gets a bit over the top with his vocal warblings in places and "The Skin Of My Yellow Country Teeth" is a perfect example as he wails and croons nasally over a instrumental backing that sounds more like Peter Hook led New Order than anything else while "Heavy Metal" again finds him bleating over a more fuzzy guitar indie rock track. Like all aquired vocalists, though, his weird quirks do grow on you, especially because the music backing him is so solid most of the time. With twelve songs that clock in at just under forty minutes, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah have turned in a debut album that is assured even if several tracks feel more like short noodling sessions than anything else ("Sunshine And Clouds (And Everything Proud)" and "Blue Turning Grey"). Production on the release isn't outstanding, but for a self-recorded and released album that nobody probably expected to blow up like it did, it captures the rough charm of the group quite well. With some more performing under their belt and the help of a label (which they'll no doubt get now), I can't wait to hear what they do from here on out.

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review by: Tinymixtapes
reviewer: amneziak
Album Value: (4.5/5)

I'm not always sure where my music choices come from, nor can I understand why I'm so adamant to analyze and defend them. Many music enthusiasts get downright ugly if you even hint at showing disregard for something they love, yet I guess that's just a distinct trait of those who take their music seriously. But for us jaded listeners that pledge devotion to the avant-garde and noise albums of today, is it still possible for us to like good ol' wholesome pop music?

New York's newest underground party pack Clap Your Hands Say Yeah is a band teetering on the fence of obscurity and stardom, with so much hype that even David Bowie is showing up to their gigs. Their self-titled (and self-released) debut is an album which will force even the most hardened listeners to throw in the towel. And it's about fucking time!!! I, for one, have needed a great pop record for a very long time. This is perfect timing, too, because I've been pretty disenchanted with what's happened in 2005 so far.

On the album's intro, "Clap Your Hands," I'm reminded of what it might be like if Jack White sang during the 7th Inning stretch of a Cubs game. It swiftly leads into the first proper song, called "Let the Cool Goddess Rust Away," where we're met with perfectly paced pop and quaint, yet familiar sounding, vocals from Alec Ounsworth. While many are quick to dismiss him as Byrne derivative, I'm more inclined to compare him to a shakier live version of Thom Yorke. Nevertheless, I find Ounsworth to be quite original in terms of distinction, someone who will certainly make a name for himself in the months to come. His band mates better watch out, too.

While I won't challenge that "Over and Over Again (Lost and Found)" could be quickly labeled a second coming of the Talking Heads, I'll admit that I find it more enjoyable than just about anything they ever recorded. The carefree approach in which this song takes is enough to give credibility to the band's gift to be original. "Details of the War," a decisive favorite of the TMT staff, changes route for a moment to show a more emotive side to the band's repertoire. Appearing to completely forgo the giddy tone of the album, it takes a step back and gives it to us straight. Or does it?.(...)

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review by: Popmatters
reviewer: Stephen Stirling
Album Value: (7/10)

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah will save rock and roll. They're the next Talking Heads, Neutral Milk Hotel, and Arcade Fire all rolled into one. They sell out shows, merchandise, and copies of their latest release wherever they go. Watch out America, this indie-rock quintet is taking over.

Hold on a minute. Let's wait and see if they reach their second record first.

With all the press hoopla, rave reviews, and the nod of every faux-hawk wearing hipster in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, when first hearing the name Clap Your Hands Say Yeah its difficult not to expect some kind of prophetic musical savior here to change the face of music as we know it. It's just all too easy to jump aboard the musical bandwagon.

When faced with the facts though, CYHSY are in their infancy. They formed in Brooklyn over the course of the last few years, are as of now still unsigned, and much of their CD sales are still done through the band itself. Their self-released debut, while extremely promising, sounds just as it should: A self-released bid for some deserved attention. So let's not get ahead of ourselves here.

This is part of the allure of CYHSY though; this honest, raw feeling of a hard-working group of guys out of Brooklyn seemingly concerned with nothing more than their music and giving their fans a damn good show. Not to mention that for a first effort on limited funds, it's not half bad.

The album begins with "Clap Your Hands", an eerie, organ-driven opener that features lead singer Alec Ounsworth as the ringmaster to a somber circus of back-up singers as he commands them to forget their worries.

This transitions nicely into the album's first true song, "Let the Cool Goddess Rust Away". An upbeat tune, Ounsworth's vocals croon over choppy and creative muted guitar that gives way to lush chords accented gently accented by atmospheric synths, a fitting formal introduction to CYHSY's eclectic yet accessible style..(...)

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review by: Lost At sea
reviewer: Bob Ladewig
Album Value: (9/10)

A band name like Clap Your Hands Say Yeah is honestly terrible. One would think they were going to be the next in the series of Rapture dance-punk rip off bands, but rest assured they are not - they are much more creative than that. Influences like the Smiths, the Modern Lovers and even a little Joy Division come out in different songs at different times. They tip their hats to new wave acts from the 80s, but they don’t beat it to a pulp. They let the influences suffice with just a light peppering in their songs, and because of this, their efforts shine. It’s refreshing and delightful.

It’s been noted this band came up with their name on the way to their first gig. They walked past a tagged wall with “Clap Your Hands Say Yeah” spray painted on it and thought they should name their band in kind - not only is it the band name, but the album title and the label, since they do it all themselves at this point, the poor guys. Nevertheless, their fidelity to the cause is not lost here; they have made one heck of a great album.

To be personal for a moment, I myself enjoy the Talking Heads, but I don’t know how big a fan I am. I own their live album and have downloaded a few songs here and there, but overall I have never gone out of my way to get their merchandise. They seem like a creative and influential band, especially considering when they were around and how many of today’s indie-rock favorites mark them as an influence. That being said, upon first listen to Clap Your Hands Say Yeah’s debut, I couldn’t help but hear David Byrne come out in the lyrical stylings of Alec Ounsworth and company.

In this collection, the instruments are varied and the tempo is usually upbeat but not needlessly punky. Heck, they even provide a song called “Details of the War” which could be a more dramatic conclusion to the Talking Heads’ “Life during Wartime”, though the two songs sound nothing alike. Listening to Clap Your Hands Say Yeah makes me want to hunt down the Talking Heads collection and see if I’m right about the sound comparison.
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