IT IT IT Band

The Yeah Yeah Yeahs made EW's It List

Why Them? Two years is a long time to haul around a load of hype as colossal as the one that greeted these New York City art-punks' five-song EP. The backlash should be in full flower by now -- except their debut full-length album, ''Fever to Tell'' (released in April), is fantastic: not just ''sleazy, sweaty, and dancey'' (as O describes the band's early stuff) but unexpectedly melancholy and gut-wrenching.

Innocence of Youth ''[Going to school in the Midwest] makes you want to burn down houses and write songs about it,'' says O.

Sign of Impending Maturity ''[The album begins as] a really sort of gleeful, self-destructive kind of thing -- having a good time and partying,'' she says. ''The second part is, like, more about...the morning after. Maybe you feel a little bit lonely, or a little bit empty.''

Then Again... ''We were playing this small venue, and all these middle-aged, overweight guys with baseball caps on backwards were cheering when I was pouring [beer] on my chest. I was like, 'I don't know about this. Maybe I can only pull this off in the big cities.'''

Next Touring Europe and writing material. ''If we don't have a new song every month,'' says O, ''it just feels really stagnant.''