Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Mosquito
Critic Score
Based on 46 reviews
2013 Ratings: #442 / 1115
User Score
Based on 272 ratings
2013 Rank: #465
Liked by 9 people
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CRITIC REVIEWS

91
Pretty Much Amazing

They have crafted a sound that is new for them and unique in its context, but that falls neatly into what we have come to expect from a trio whose power and creativity runs consistently unchecked.

90
musicOMH

It combines such a variety of disparate styles that it really should not work, but Yeah Yeah Yeahs manage to tie everything together seamlessly into what is possibly their most assured and unique record to date.

90
Loud and Quiet
It never feels like Yeah Yeah Yeahs are flogging us old stock, more that they’ve stealthily become a band with a classic sound.
90
DIY
The magic here is less visceral than their debut, but far more accomplished than many may have given the trio credit for.
83
A.V. Club

Mosquito takes a much more open-ended, and less studied, approach to Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ electric eccentricity.

81
Paste

For a band who knows their history with their own vocal and guitar sound, the genre-hopping is a natural fit.

80
Drowned in Sound

It is a blazingly enjoyable record, the most purely fun album the band has made since Fever to Tell.

80
FasterLouder
Mosquito is a grubby, psychosexual, gothic rockin’ good time pulled Botox taut by a lean, mean production.
80
Alternative Press
What ultimately matters is how vital they’ve managed to sound coming off of a break while pushing the experimental envelope in ways that go beyond a guest appearance by Kool Keith as Dr.
80
Exclaim!
There's nothing perplexing in the music — the Yeah Yeah Yeahs are back, better than ever and ready to "suck your blood."
80
Billboard
An album that’s challenging and conceptual, yet also playful and raunchy.
80
Clash
Returning to their roots by hitting up a low-budget studio in downtown Manhattan seems to have done them the world of good
80
The Arts Desk
The song structures themselves are not sophisticated, but they groove their way to satisfaction, and the hooks on almost every track are addictive for all their lack of subtlety.
80
Record Collector
Mosquito sees the band reenergised, trying new things and, generally, succeeding.
80
The Guardian
The thing that binds the album's disparate musical styles together is how assured Yeah Yeah Yeahs sound throughout.
80
Uncut

They don't sound so zeitgeisty anymore, but "Mosquito" caterwauls mightily, and the closing "Wedding Song" is a feat of lip-quivering sensitivity up there with "Maps."

80
Q Magazine
As much as it recaptures some of their buccaneering early spirit, it also shows off some explosive new tricks too.
80
The Irish Times
Yeah Yeah Yeahs are still innovating, and even those previously apathetic to them will be hard-pressed to deny that they’re still one of the most exciting guitar bands around.
80
SPIN

They've stepped up their ballad game, and the grooves, smartly percussive and Kanye-slick, are deeper than ever.

80
The Telegraph

[Shimbe] promised the imagery would make sense with the music. And, in a way it does. It captures this record's sense of cartoonish, pop fun and lo-fi cut'n'paste punk roots.

80
NOW Magazine
Karen O, Brian Chase and Nick Zinner are still putting out music that manages to be consistent while challenging themselves.
80
The Independent
This follow-up positively revels in its ranginess – while also serving up irresistible tunes.
75
Under the Radar

For all their consistency, it's good to know Yeah Yeah Yeahs remain capable of pulling off the unexpected.

73
Northern Transmissions

More of a pick and mix selection than a fully formed record, Mosquito at times punctures the skin but not often enough does it have sufficient zeal to take a good slurp of your life source.

71
Beats Per Minute

Solicited as a return to basics, it’s actually more of a compromise, blending the garage melee of their earlier efforts with danceable tempos and emotionally searing balladry.

70
Rolling Stone
Like the best blues singers, O manages to make loneliness not just inclusive but balls-out celebratory.
70
American Songwriter
The fine line between predator and prey in the urban landscape through which O wanders is the overarching theme for most of these songs, but it gets a bit hard to distinguish amidst the clatter.
70
The Sydney Morning Herald
Much of the New York trio's fourth album has a bracing energy and they repurpose three-decade-old influences instead of bowing down to them as revivalists.
70
The 405

When they hark back to dingy dives, it falters, but when they embrace the synthesizer, the LP is astounding.

70
NME

A confusing, intriguing record, then. Not their strongest, but there's a transition underway.

70
AllMusic

It might not be as cohesive as their best albums, but the standout songs rival their finest moments.

67
Entertainment Weekly
A return of sorts to the raw-power sound of their early years, and in many ways it comes off like an album by a much younger band. That’s a good thing — and a bad thing.
65
Spectrum Culture
It’s to be praised for continuing the band’s relentless pursuit of different sounds to shape themselves around. But, all things considered, the ratio of success to failure is just a little unbalanced this time around.
60
The Observer
The problem is, for a band whose name echoes with the affirmative, none of this feels like a definitive lunge towards some loftier height, either artistic or commercial.
60
Pitchfork

Mosquito is not without highlights, but it requires some patience to unearth them, because when this record is bad, it's loudly, brazenly bad.

60
Evening Standard

Searing highlights make you wish the rest of Mosquito was a bit more full-blooded.

60
Mojo

It feels like a reaction to the concise, clear-headed It's Blitz; wild-eyed hoopla, in that spontaneous, occasionally brilliant, occasionally patchy kind of way.

60
Slant Magazine

Divided between these sorts of small successes and outright failures, Mosquito is nowhere near a coherent album, which at this stage in the band’s career feels like a refreshing return to form.

60
The Fly

All in all: not a bad album, but most of the time it’s more harmless midge than lethal mosquito.

60
Consequence of Sound

Four albums later, the Brooklyn outfit has run so far from the proverbial leash that they’ve forgotten what home might be — and really, true freedom seems frivolous without any restraint.

60
No Ripcord

With the electronic influence creeping in and more of a focus on great pop songs, Yeah Yeah Yeahs had seemed to have stopped making repetitious tracks. Seemed to. Mosquito is a big back step in that department. 

50
The Needle Drop
Unfortunately, the latest Yeah Yeah Yeahs album is one of those instances when the album's lead single seems to be the best track, dwarfing nearly every other song on the album with ambition, glitz, and great songwriting. The rest of the album is a bit spotty, in my opinion.
50
Sputnikmusic

Mosquito dips its toes into far too many pools to ever have a chance to really stop and appreciate the feeling.

40
The Line of Best Fit
With the experiments being so hit and miss you’re left looking for familiar thrills, but even when delivering these, the band sound so much like there are motions to be gone through that you just aren’t inclined to feel engaged.
30
PopMatters

It doesn’t follow a set path, makes a lot of noise in your ears, but its ultimately something you’ll want to swat away and get rid of because of just how badly it annoys you.

FritoRio
55

I ain’t ever seen a good album with a this shitty of a cover, it’s alway the album gotta be terrible

Whynot
85

The only problem with this record is the cover (which is amazingly awful). For the rest this album is huge, grandiloquent, noisy, emotional at times and dark when it has to be dark. Step back my ass guys. This is great.

Matheus
50

I'm disappointed.

It's not the worst thing I've heard, but man this album is such a step down from It's Blitz. While it opens up strong with "Sacrilege", it quickly dissolves into either a boring slog with songs like "Subway" or just plainly bad and goofy tracks like "Mosquito" or "Area 52", and don't get me started on that god awful rap verse on Buried Alive.

This album pretty much sounds like the terrible cover art to be honest.

jooklemainframe
78

💥 🦟

ilikejackwhite
23

They tried

Artificial
45

Other than Slave and Sacrilege, this album is boring slop.

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Track List

1Sacrilege
3:50
90
2Subway
5:16
58
3Mosquito
2:59
68
4Under the Earth
4:18
66
5Slave
4:06
86
6These Paths
5:03
65
7Area 52
2:54
76
8Buried Alive
5:16
62
9Always
4:07
68
10Despair
4:48
57
11Wedding Song
4:58
80
Total Length: 47 minutes

Year End Lists

#30/NME
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Added on: January 14, 2013