Strokes, Yeah Yeah Yeahs Highlight YES NEW YORK
The red-hot New York rock scene will be comprehensively represented
for the first time on an album with the release of YES NEW
YORK (Wolfgang Morden/Vice), a 16-track compilation due June 3rd.
"We wanted to capture NYC's early millennium rock renaissance," said
New York-based artist manager Chris White (AKA Hallogallo), who
co-executive produced the album with booking agent Brian Long.
The album features many (although not all) of the best New York-based
bands. The collection "was never designed to be anything but a
document of the best bands and their best songs," White said. "We had
been watching and rooting these bands on from the sidelines like [at]
a football game, watching this amazing connection happening. We
wanted to document this triumph we were witnessing."
The album is highlighted by a previously unreleased live recording of
"New York City Cops" by The Strokes, and an intense acoustic version
of "Our Time" (AKA "Year to Be Hated") by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs (listed
on the CD as Unitard). White said that "the bands liked the project
and the cause so much" that getting the tracks from both The Strokes
and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs was easy.
Other album highlights are recordings by Radio 4 ("Save Your City"),
Calla ("Strangler"), The Rapture ("Olio"), Interpol ("NYC"), and a
dfa remix of Le Tigre's "Deceptacon." Also featured are the Rogers
Sisters, Ted Leo/ Pharmacists, The Fever, Longwave, The Walkmen, the
Natural History, The Witnessess, Icd soundsystem, and Secret Machines. (Missing, however, are the Liars and French Kicks.)
The title of the project is taken from the infamous 1978 post-punk,
no wave, Brian Eno-produced compilation NO NEW YORK, which
followed what some consider the Golden Age of New York rock. New
York's mid-'70s punk explosion (which in turn inspired the English
punk scene) included bands such as The Ramones, Talking Heads,
Blondie, Television, the Patti Smith Group and Richard Hell and the
Voidoids. The current New York rock scene has been developing since
the late 1990s, but it burst into international consciousness in 2001
with the release of The Strokes' "The Modern Age" and has been
gaining momentum and attention ever since.
White said 95% of the net proceeds from the album will benefit the
progressive Musicians on Call, (MOC), a non-profit organization that
brings musicians and their music to hospitals. Founded in 1999, MOC
works to promote and complement the healing process of patients in
health care facilities by providing music and entertainment in
addition to their medical treatment. Both White and Long had been
trying to find a way to donate their skills to MOC for a long time
and "this project was a perfect opportunity for us to contribute our
expertise to the cause," White said.
For more information about YES NEW YORK, check out the Vice
Recordings Web
site. — Michael Goldberg and Nicole Cohen [Friday, May 23,
2003]
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