Prepping for VirginFest - _Show Your Bones_ by The Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Coming this August 4, I'm gonna be making the trip to Baltimore, MD to attend the sure to be awesome Virgin Festival. In preparation for this, I've decided to reacquaint myself with the bands I'm going to be seeing there, and what better way to do this than by reviewing their most current albums.In order to kick off this set of reviews, I've listened through The Yeah Yeah Yeahs latest album, _Show Your Bones_. This album is an impressive sophomore effort and is an overall improvement over their first. Karen O proves that she's more than just an angsty scream and really pushes the music in a favorable direction.The LP starts off strong with "Gold Lion". The hooks are catchy and the guitar work has never been better. The lyrics are nothing to write home about, but they do their job well enough, getting stuck in your head for hours."Way out" is up next and it's a solid song. It's pretty middle of the road as far as The Yeah Yeah Yeahs sound goes, not pushing it any new direction, but allowing Karen O to show off her voice.The next song is "Fancy". It's got a plodding percussion beat and it sounds like they've doubled the vocals in some places. Overall, it's alot less catchy than the rest of the bands stuff, but it has an otherworldy, spacey sound that's quite pleasant. The following song "Phenomena" is a bit of a personal favorite. I still like to throw it on every now and then, even though this album has been out for about a year now. It's just so damn catchy and the guitar has that heavy, chunky feel."Honeybear" sounds like it was written to be performed live. It's guaranteed to have you nodding along by the end of the song. If they The Yeah Yeah Yeahs only play one song at VirginFest, I hope this is it."Cheated Hearts" is a solid song, not really doing anything special, but entertaining none the less. I will admit that the vocals are quite good, but they do tend to get repetitive."Dudley" has the beat of a nursery rhyme, not that that's a bad thing. It lends a playful fun feel to the song."Mysteries" is a punk type song that relies heavily on the simplicity of the guitar to just get you bouncing. At least that's what it seems like until it cuts into one of the few short solos that really make that guitar whine."The Sweets" is a slower song, which I would call the low point of the album. It's not that it's a bad song, it's just not up to par with the rest of the tracks.The last two tracks "The Warrior" and "Turn Into" are infused with a sense of emotion from Karen O that the rest of The Yeah Yeah Yeahs library seems to lack. They're both very good and allows the album to go out as well as it started.If you liked _Fever to Tell_, then your gonna love _Show Your Bones_. This album won't convert anyone who didn't like the band before, but it's sure to satiate anyone whose looking for more of that great "WOO HOO!" that Karen O does so well. Unfortunately though, while all the majority of the songs are awesome in their own right, none of them approach the greatness of "Maps" from the bands debut.Overall Rating: Good enough to get your head bobbing3.25/5