The Iceberg

One of my two favorite CDs* from 2006 is Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ “Show Your Bones“, which was released last March. In my opinion, there isn’t a bad song on the album. The band’s musical style is described as “art rock”, whatever the hell that means. All I know is that the three-member band from New York City’s music is varied and possesses the right mix of guitars and drums to suit my tastes. But what really does it for me is the uniquely energetic voice of singer Karen O (Karen Lee Orzolek). Born in Korea to a Polish father and Korean mother, O manages to sound tough, girlish, and sexy all at the same time. I’m not normally a fan of female rock singers, but she’s got it going on. I’m surprised the Korean media hasn’t given her more play. Perhaps it’s because of her somewhat outlandish stage presence, but regardless I think it’s just a matter of time before she becomes one of Korea’s new darlings. Here is an excerpt from a piece written by Minnie Chi in 2003 at the Asia Pacific Arts Online Magazine:

Her ethnic background is not so obvious as her dynamic rock persona, however. Karen, who was born in Korea, says that her whole ethnic experience has been quite “strange.” Her mother is full Korean and her father is Caucasian but they decided not to enforce the culture onto her and her younger brother out of a desire for them to fit in while they were growing up on the East Coast. “My mom is definitely Asian looking but I didn’t even realize that she was Korean until I was 7 or 8. I was sort of half-Caucasian to the world as I was growing up,” Karen recalls. “When I hit 7th or 8th grade, you become really really self-conscious about fitting in, and that’s when I was sort of ashamed that I was half Asian. I didn’t realize how much of an asset that is until I went to college and I had this real desire to explore that side of me that I’ve been neglecting for so long. Now it’s like I’d rather much be half-breed than all white. Now days I have a much easier time with it.”

The fashionable singer has visited her family in Korea several times and has grown an affinity with the culture and the community. She is well aware that there is an unfortunate lack of underground scenes in her homeland, so she doesn’t want to take her status as a rock icon in vain. “That’s why it’s important to me to sort of represent to Korean Americans and the Korean community that I am a personality who’s part Korean. I’d be thrilled if I was younger and there was someone who has a Korean heritage that’s standing against the grain. I definitely feel like there’s a sort of satisfaction out of touching people’s lives being of Korean heritage more than if I was just white.”

(You can read the whole article here.)

In case you’ve never heard their music, I’ve uploaded a couple songs for you to check out. As I mentioned earlier, there isn’t a weak effort on the entire album, so choosing which ones to upload was tough. I finally settled on “Way Out“ and “Warrior“ because I felt these two songs capture the essence of Karen O’s voice as well as any.

(*My other favorite is Muse’s “Black Holes and Revelations”.)