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| From | matty karas <mkaras@mindspring.com> |
| Subject | Re: Yo La Tengo |
| Date | Fri, 19 Nov 2004 01:08:14 -0500 |
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there are two ways you can go with yo la tengo, 'cause they're kinda
sorta two bands living in one band's body. they're a droney, vaguely
velvet undergroundy electric guitar band who've produced some of indie
rock's most blissful guitar noise over the past two decades (while
slowly evolving into more of a stereolabby thing, with light electronics
and a softer palate overall). but they're also a pop song band who have
repeatedly cited nrbq and the kinks as two of their favorite bands. so
one day they're knocking out 10-minute jams and the next they're
blasting through catchy two-minute pop ditties.
if you love the drone and the electric gtr tones, you can't go wrong
with stewart's suggestions of PAINFUL -- which i think more yo la fans
than not tend to cite as the band's masterpiece -- or ELECTROPURA. i
like PAINFUL a lot more myself, but i can easily see someone making the
argument for ELECTROPURA instead. they're both amazingly consistent
albums. so there you go on that.
if you worship the pop, though, you can't go wrong with the great hybrid
album MAY I SING WITH ME, which mixes giddy electric pop ("Upside-Down")
with long splattery guitar freakouts ("Mushroom Cloud of Hiss") and
whispery late-night pop that Lou Reed could have written back in the day
("Satellite," not to be confused with Lou's "Satellite of Love"). an
amazingly and happily INconsistent album.
and then there's FAKEBOOK, which as someone else pointed out, sounds
like nothing else in their catalog, being acoustic covers of obscure pop
collectables from nrbq and the kinks to the flamin' groovies and the
scene is now (along with a few fantastic yo la originals) that totally
fit in. it's my all-time favorite example of record collector's rock and
was massively influential on me.
i'd say take your pick from all of that.
i thought I CAN HEAR THE BEATING AS ONE was ok but way overrated and the
couple they've done since then have pretty much sucked. they're pop
soundscapes so soft and soothing they disappear into nothingness, and
the songs aren't there to rescue it. but that's just me.
matty
>
>Generally, PAINFUL and ELECTROPURA are considered the pinnacle. YLT
>grew up in public for a much longer period than most bands (their 1986
>album RIDE THE TIGER barely even sounds like the band they became, and
>Ira Kaplan is shamelessly pillaging Lou Reed's solo records for his
>vocal style) and while their early records -- which is everything
>through 1992's MAY I SING WITH ME, the first album by the stable trio
>incarnation of Ira, Georgia and James -- have much to offer once
>you're familiar with the band, I don't recommend starting with them.
>PAINFUL and ELECTROPURA are the albums on which they finally perfected
>their sound, and really, every subsequent album has been a kind of
>refining process.
>
>If you're looking for one over the other...man, that's a tough call.
>PAINFUL is a more consistently great album, and it has two landmark
>YLT recordings, "From A Motel 6" and the closing instrumental "I Heard
>You Looking." ELECTROPURA is a little more experimental and has one
>or two songs that are more interesting sonic experiments than
>satisfying songs, BUT it also has both "Tom Courtenay," which may well
>be their best straightahead pop song ever, and "Blue Line Swinger,"
>which to my mind is all of the wonderful things about Yo La Tengo
>condensed into nine minutes. (Recipients of my first SOTT mix some
>years ago might recall "(Thin) Blue Line Swinger," a re-recording
>which turns the gentle little pop song that's at the heart of the
>album version into a stand-alone unit; that's from the now OOP EP
>called CAMP YO LA TENGO.)
>
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