Clap Your Hands Say Yeah

One of the biggest critical successes of the year, CLAP YOUR HANDS SAY YEAH is proving it can reach beyond the realm of critic darlings. With rapidly expanding commercial, specialty and college radio, sold out tour dates around the globe, and high profile television appearance s scheduled, this is going to be a fourth quarter must-have. And, the most impressive part of it all is that this band is doing it all WITHOUT A LABEL IN THE US. CLAP YOUR HANDS SAY YEAH is showing the music business how it should be done.

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah sold nearly 20,000 copies of its self-titled, self-released debut through the mail--and got nearly as many raves from enthusiastic MP3 bloggers, leading to an entry on Rolling Stone magazine's coveted Hot List. It's easy to feel skeptical, especially of an album that opens with a carnival barker imploring you to "Clap Your Hands!" But anyone that's felt the lure of bands such as the Arcade Fire and Interpol will want to keep listening. In vocalist Alec Ounsworth, this Brooklyn five-piece has found its own Jonathan Richman, a yelping madman that can sing things like "The Skin of My Yellow Country Teeth" with a straight face. Meanwhile, the music itself is typically unhinged and under-produced, taking an anything-goes approach that coasts on sheer exuberance and results in moments of profound clarity such as "Let the Cool Goddess Rust Away" and "Upon This Tidal Wave of Young Blood." A promising start but hold the applause. --Aidin Vaziri