New Yo La Tengo

Have acquired this. Seems very nice on first listen. What can you say about a new Yo la Tengo record in 2009? it sounds like YLT. They're good.

If there's a USP it seems that organ is quite key.

I'm only about 1/4 of the way through it but so far I like it more than anything since "and nothing...", maybe more than that album too.

Excellent. Really looking forward to this - YLT rarely disappoint.

Wow, this IS a pleasant surprise. Agree with you up above, YLT are consistently awesome but this record (so far) is really drawing me in. The band sounds inspired.

good to hear these early raves! i haven't heard it yet, but i am looking forward to it. was just thinking that YLT is the only band whose new records I'll always automatically buy. i love 'em all.

by two's is really nice

This is wayyyyy better than the last one...

yeah I like the first track on the last one and didn't care for the rest at all

yeah? I liked that last one quite a bit -- could've been cut by a song or three, but that's pretty much par for the course with YLT ...

loved the assbeating last one, this one needs a to incubate a bit longer i think, not really grabbing me on first listen. maybe because i'm in a bit of a loud rock mood lately

listening to the new one for the first time now - sounds great, but like I said, I like everything by these guys. So, grain of salt, etc.

More Stars Than There Are In Heaven sounds particularly glorious

love that the last three tunes are the big epics ...

love how proggy the first song is, almost a stereolab pastiche at times

The Story Of Yo La Tango is still one of the best indie rock songs of the decade.

i've totally missed they had a new one out?? and it sounds good, the last one never really grew on me.

well it's not "out" yet ... technically. If you preordered it, Matador has a stream up. you also get an LP of their score to Adventureland. So there's that.

bought the new one a few days ago. haven't had a chance to form a proper opinion on it, but did have a phone interview with ira a couple of weeks ago. i wasn't in prime form and didn't get much valuable information from him. nothing that i hadn't already picked on from what i'd read in any case. he did talk at length about the recording process for this new record though, specifying how as usual he didn't approach it with any kind of set goal in mind.

listened to the CD this morning on the busride to work -- sounded awesome, awesome, awesome. only song I'm not sure about is the ira/georgia Motown-pop duet -- kind of seems like they don't quite pull it off.

I have a feeling this is a very solid to pretty good YLT album, but the horrible sequencing is keeping it from truly being a great YLT album. As some of the reviews I've read have mentioned, the decision to dump all three 10 minute plus songs at the end really does no favors. The last two are probably my favorites, with the 16 minute closer being absolutely sublime, but I was pretty worn out by the time I got there. I feel like mixing them up with some of the poppier tracks would have made for a better journey. Maybe when I don't have all these Beatles remasters to sift through I'll play around with some reconfiguring of the tracklist.

I think the Motown duet is kinda cute.

This is very nice, but yes, the sequencing is lazy and stupid, and this is gonna suffer massively in my mind for getting lost in the Beatles rush.

Are any YLT albums NOT too long?

I don't think Electr-O-Pura, ICHtHBaO, or AtNTIIO are too long but then, yeah, much better sequencing on those.

I Can Hear the Heart whatever is too long (too long title too). I've rarely made it past "Little Honda" when listening from the beginning.

Electropura on the other hand is just about right, as is Painful.

I think it's only really since Summer Sun where the albums have gotten to be a little too long for me. Don't get me wrong, still good to great albums all, but a bit wearing on a full listen.

this is gonna suffer massively in my mind for getting lost in the Beatles rush.

I hadn't really thought about that but tbh I just assumed that YLT albums were bought by basically the same people every time for the last decade

All the long tracks on one end haven't bothered me, since some of their long instrumentals placed in the middle of their albums (looking at you "Daphnia") don't work out that well.

Since I've got it on vinyl I've been thinking of it more as two separate releases, the first with the short, poppier numbers and the second with the extended tunes.

yeah i like having the epics at the end ... almost like a separate album -- which is maybe the way the vinyl is? are all of those long tracks on the second LP?

This is a good album. I've lived with it a full month without getting bored, yet it's mildly boring. Does that make sense?

it's understated? i kind of agree -- other than maybe the epics, no track really stands out as an instant classic kind of thing. but they all sound good.

Speaking of sequencing, I just now realized that the Summer Sun on my iPod is all kinds of out of order.

i love yo la tengo. this new one, however, is barely registering. well i guess there's always ICHTHBAO to salvage those wounds.

This is a good album. I've lived with it a full month without getting bored, yet it's mildly boring. Does that make sense?

― vulva eyes (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), viernes 11 de septiembre de 2009 06:23 PM (3 hours ago)

It does when you consider it's a Yo La Tengo album.

i just ordered it. but my expectations are low. will report later. it seems that they have lost it with the last album before. the one with the ass in the title. i never listened to the cd. the tracks were too long, too predictable and too boring. it hurts when your fave band doesn't deliver the goods anymore.

As some of the reviews I've read have mentioned, the decision to dump all three 10 minute plus songs at the end really does no favors.

Is this really what the reviews are saying? To me that's completely off the mark. The last three tracks in a row are what takes the album to the next level. It's a spectacular way to end an album, taking something they've done a few times before and going so much further with it. If anything it was the last album where the sequencing bothered me a bit. I liked a lot of the individual songs but as an album it didn't have as much of an impact, was kind of dreary.

From the Pitchfork review:

After nine tracks, the only thing missing would be the usual YLT epic, and well, the band doesn't disappoint. In an odd bit of sequencing, all the long tracks are clumped together at the end, forming a trilogy of nine-minute-plus jams with wildly varying results.

I guess Mitchum just calls it "odd", but I'm trying to dig up some other reviews saying this.

I think "The Fireside" might be my fave track here -- kind of makes me think of Fairport Convention's "Reynardine" for some reason -- sleepier, but still that sort of tense, hanging in space feeling.

even more disappointing than i assumed. the album is much too long, the tracks are too long, too much repetition. and hardly any spark anywhere. a band who sounds old, really fucking old. without any interesting new ideas. they have lost me, sorry. the last track is a waste of time like no other i have ever heard by them. they should retire, please. it's not too late. their oeuvre is big and varied enough to make them one of the most subtle bands of all time.

well, to each his own! have been listening to this a lot in the last week, and loving it more w/ each spin. maybe i'm just old, really fucking old.

older than 46?

oh god no, not that old

So after giving this a few listens I'm not that crazy about it. It's definitely pleasant and enjoyable, but not that interesting (outside of the first track, which I thought was terrific). The sequencing doesn't bother me, especially on vinyl, where all the short songs are on the first LP and the 2nd is epics. However the epics aren't that compelling. I'm nearly always game for an extended jam, and YLT rarely disappoint me in this regard... but somehow a 16 minutes of the hook to My Cherie Amour and Ira's feedback isn't doing it for me. All in all I much prefer the previous one.

My opinion of this record has grown slightly, but I still think its a second-tier Yo La Tengo album. After another listen today, I decided that shifting "More Stars Than There Are In Heaven" to the first half and completely eliminating "The Fireside" (such a snooze) would make it a lot easier to take. The closing epic really works well though.

james mcnew's track ('i'm on my way', assuming it's him singing) is one of the highlights of an otherwise inconsistent record, though it does go on for a bit too long. vocally, it recalls stephen prina and jim o'rourke for me. the instrumental parts are pretty nice.

It's definitely pleasant and enjoyable, but not that interesting

this has been my view of YLT records since 'turned itself inside-out'

I haven't heard that one or Summer Sun...

this has been my view of YLT records since 'turned itself inside-out'

+1

This is the last one I'm paying for.

+2, though change that to "since 'Electr-O-Pura'" for me.

I still haven't bought a copy of the new record, but I loved "The Story of Yo La Tango" off of the last one.

Does this have any equally excellent epic guitar tunes on it?

Two of the three long ones at the end I guess, especially the 16 minute finale - lots and lots of feedback.

I didn't realize they had something new till seeing this thread a few days ago. Bought it and played it twice through in the car today. I can definitely understand thinking it's pointless, and I've reacted that way myself when they start noodling around. I'm in just the right frame of mind right now--whatever that might be--so it was perfect for aimless driving.

Yeah I can see how this might futz with expectations and disappoint those who were hoping for more obvious threads being carried forward from their past few albums (although I'd argue that this does very much feel like one possible natural step removed from There's A Riot Going On) or hoping for a more straightforward "Yo La Tengo" album. But it's been much appreciated this week for getting through some work crunches.

yeah this definitely feels like one thread among others in the YLT sound, so it's not weird or disarming for me to hear a release focusing on this aspect - just like it's not disarming when they put out, say, a record or EP full of covers.

Also I listen to music like this all the time--guitar-based ambient--and I'm enjoying this just as much, or maybe even more than, say, the new Windy & Carl album.

I met a friend in a venerable old Toronto record store today, and mostly as a token of support--it's not particularly anything I was after--I bought There's a Riot Going On.

I like about half of songs #4 through #15. There's some filler near the end, and "Out of the Pool" is the one song I definitely didn't like.

I think the first three songs--"You Are Here," "Shades of Blue," and "She May, She Might"--are masterpieces. Especially "She May, She Might." I may, I might be forgetting something, but I can't think of another Yo La Tengo song like it.

I haven't got tired of the record, just like Fade actually. I think that somehow I prefer 2010s YLT to late 00s YLT.

No doubt on that imo

Went to YouTube and was hoping to find a video for "She May, She Might" as great as the one they made for "I'll Be Around," but there's just something generic and static.

On WFmu they covered:

Yo La Tengo set #1
Yo La Tengo live! Heroes (David Bowie) Options
Yo La Tengo live! Don't You Just Know It (Huey "Piano" Smith Options
Yo La Tengo live! A Girl Like You (Edwyn Collins) Options
Yo La Tengo live! Human Fly (The Cramps) Options
Yo La Tengo live! Flying (The Beatles

Yo La Tengo live set #2
Yo La Tengo live! That's Amore (Dean Martin)
Yo La Tengo live! So Sad About Us (The Who)
Yo La Tengo live! Wonderful World (Sam Cooke/Herman's Hermits)
Yo La Tengo live! Bela Lugosi's Dead (Bauhaus) Honky Tonk Radio Girl request!
Yo La Tengo live! Whole Wide World (Wreckless Eric

Yo La Tengo live! Driver 8 (R.E.M.}
Yo La Tengo live! Sugar Sugar (The Archies)
Yo La Tengo live! Dear Betty Baby (Mayo Thompson)
Yo La Tengo live! At The River's Edge (New Colony Six)
Yo La Tengo live! We Got The Beat (The Go-Go's)

Yo La Tengo live! Street Waves (Pere Ubu)
Yo La Tengo live! Gimme Some Money (Spinal Tap)
Yo La Tengo live! Please Mr. Postman (The Marvelletes/Beatles)
Yo La Tengo live! You Can't Put Your Arms Around A Memory (Johnny Thunders)
Yo La Tengo live! Touch Me I'm Sick (Mudhoney)

Too many to cut and paste em all

From the March 13, 2021 Todd-aphonic show

https://www.wfmu.org/playlists/shows/102001

wow would love to hear the Huey "Piano" Smith or the Mayo Thompson - 2 fave songs!

Sadly not archived by WFMU

What's the reason they don't archive these specifically? For future release? Bums me out because I almost always have something conflicting with them doing this and I usually only get to hear bits and pieces, at best.

Yo la Tengo play the songs by request during fundraising that must come accompanied by large donations. WFMU & Yo La Tengo probably think making the renditions easily available after will discourage donations and the uniqueness of what they are doing once a year

i always assumed that plus maybe a bit of embarrassment, not wanting those sets hanging out there on the web with their name on them permanently

also risk of lawsuit by music publishers

wow There's A Riot Going On is even better than I remembered, works really well as a whole album listening through.