New Yo La Tengo

It used to be when I saw Ira writhe and flail around with his squalling guitar, eyes closed, I'd think it was cool. Now my first thought is man, just play a fucking song.

songist!

Guilty as charged.

I once saw Tony Conrad and Jim O'Rourke play some lame violin drone behind a hung bedsheet for 45 minutes, before I finally left. The next day I got into an argument with David Grubbs about it, and he was all "you just don't get it, man!"

that is very lazy, lame and arrogant. drones on their own are boring as hell. they need a melody or a kind of destination to be good. to draw the listener in. otherwise they are just wanking in front of a public.

You just don't get it, man.

drones: some people like them, some people don't.

the only people over fifty who should use drones are members of the executive branch

I'd be all for assault drones if they played a little melody, like ice cream trucks. Imagine if you're just walking along and then you hear "Turkey in the Straw" coming from some place in the clouds. They wouldn't even need to fire, you'd just drop dead.

I've had enough of drones. I want queens.

not even gonna address the "boring as hell" comment...heh.

last night on jimmy fallon: http://www.latenightwithjimmyfallon.com/video/yo-la-tengo-ohm-1-15-13/1428751/

w/ fred armisen (that guy is everywhere now...) & i believe oneida's kid millions. probably my favorite song on the record, which i am still really digging. the rest of you is crazy!

Bonus jam: http://www.latenightwithjimmyfallon.com/video/yo-la-tengo-ill-be-around-11513/1428773/

first time since elecr-o-pura i've liked a new one on first listen

Really surprises me Ira is already 55. I always thought of my own parents as pretty old...and he's not that far behind. I guess he got a late start, relatively speaking, with his band.

The band will turn 30 next year.

The strings and horns on "Before We Run" makes me think they are slowly turning into Lambchop.

http://sickmouthy.com/2013/01/16/yo-la-tengo-and-then-nothing-turned-itself-inside-out-2000-summer-sun-2003-i-am-not-afraid-of-you-and-i-will-beat-your-ass-2006/

encouraged by that, qualmsley, as electr-o-pura is my fave.

saw Ira & Georgia at the movies the other day (not a Tom Courtenay film)

electr-o-pura's my favorite - first album i heard of theirs, plus so many guitar over distorted keybs rave-ups and songier than painful - but i def see Heart Beating as the peak in the sense of their world becoming all-encompassing. Later albums have some lyrical and orchestral experiments, but that was a refinement of the palette more than an extension of it. It's a good problem to have though - most of their peers, if they even tried to break out of guitar-bass-drums, didn't put their mark on genre experimentation the way YLT did, to the point where there were no more worlds to conquer unless Ira was going to start rapping.

I'm liking this one too, but similar to how I liked those Kinks albums from the 1980s - competent, with a moment or two of genuine inspiration. A song that instantly feels "this one will be good live," etc. etc.

Anyone want to start a "Yo La Tengo albums from the 21st Century POX"?

oh man, i wonder how ira of all people would take an "80s kinks" comparison.

ok, he'd probably take it by showing his "no 80s kinks were great!" mixtape.

YLT different in their members recognizing their own vox limitations and working w/in them beautifully imo, generally avoiding cracked "plaintive" caterwauling.

though in the past i think they did that a bit more.

also the difference between a thrice-divorced guy and his brother saying everything was better before and a married for decades guy and his wife saying they've got some awesome old shit on dvd

difference songwriting-wise, i mean

i was sort of ruminating on my own there w/r/t their place in "indie" but that's also otm w/r/t to the kinks

xp: electro-p-ura is my fave too. i saw them live a little later in berlin on a hot summer night. the place, the knaack club was packed, sweat was running from the walls, we were pretty close to the stage. ira almost melded with his guitar and became a new creature. he coaxed noisy feedback, sweet tunes, psychedelic drones, a whole cosmos of sounds out of the instrument. that night he was god. someone mentioned that he is about 55 today. no wonder that his music really feels insipid and weary these days. the thrill is gone.

^ this is/sounds OTM. Electr-O-Pura is my favorite too, but the show I saw on the Painful tour will be forever etched in my memory. Hearing "Sudden Organ" emerge from the massive feedback/looped wreckage of the "Out The Window" breakdown was like witnessing a sunrise for the first time.

he is about 55 today. no wonder that his music really feels insipid and weary these days

i am going to insert my insipid AARP card in you.

His age is irrelevant, but his knack for making tunes stick isn't.

i think age is relevant, especially in rock music. there are few good albums by people over 60 except maybe some blues men. but let's not get further into this, yo la tengo really should retire by now. otherwise they'll become the rolling stones of indie rock.

dubious comparison on a dozen levels

haha, seriously. making me think of that horrible "Sonic Youth, please break up" article.

because listening to the new one makes one rethink if this kind of hollowness wasn't already incrusted in the old albums which i used to love. there is this nagging doubt coming up. maybe they were never good at all. they should be able to judge themselves and not release stuff which is below their standard. but maybe they aren't. do they need the money? that would be an excuse i could accept.

*hugs*

wow that is brutal!

do they need the money? that would be an excuse i could accept.

while i don't doubt they enjoy what they do, i think it worth remembering that a professional musician is not just an artist but someone that makes their living by playing music. while i find their last decade of music to be less engaging than the one before it, i don't begrudge it and wish they'd evaporate just because i think they've stagnated.

"I wish they'd stop doing this thing that I stopped paying attention to years ago!"

it's cool if you're not into what they're doing now, but ... chill pill?

the new one isn't hollow. it's loose

Man, "Painful"-era YLT was just soooo good.

Still don't own it. Saving myself!

It's really good, Alfred. "Electropura" and "Heart" are fine, but so scattershot compared to the perfect concision that is "Painful."

Weird that President Yo La Tengo doesn't pop up here. I've always thought that was their peak. Electropura and surrounding albums also up there...

I'd go with Painful too--the big doubles have great peaks, but I love almost every song on Painful. Looking forward to the new one; will be content with two or three great songs.

i don't think fade is amazing or anything, but it's certainly not embarrassing. did james steal alex in mainhattan's gf or something?

Man, "Painful"-era YLT was just soooo good.

― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, January 16, 2013 4:05 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Still don't own it. Saving myself!

TS: Yo La Tengo's "I Heard You Looking" vs Yo La Tengo's "Blue Line Swinger"

been here too long jeez

Weird that President Yo La Tengo doesn't pop up here. I've always thought that was their peak. Electropura and surrounding albums also up there...

i have been meaning to bring up President - it's a solid album and i almost wonder if people underrate it since most people who hopped on in the 90s first heard sandwiched with New Wave Hot Dogs. "Barnaby, hardly Working" is really the blueprint for a lot of what was to come.

I first heard President on the CD with New Wave; love President, have middling-at-best interest in NWHD.

yeah nwhd only sounds good compared to ride the tiger

there are some gems on those early records though:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJqrglXJgXw

guess i'm just the resident ylt fanboy here, but i can't find a song on Fade I don't like.