There's like 25 threads about this band and it's still not enough.
― billstevejim, Tuesday, 15 September 2009 06:35 (fifteen years ago) link
I wanted a Yo La Tengo video to post on Facebook the other day and found this (one of my favourite songs by them):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4l6EjHxfzC4
A lot of people take great songs and put up junk on YouTube, but now and again I'm amazed at how good some of the homemade stuff is.
― clemenza, Tuesday, 5 February 2013 13:22 (eleven years ago) link
That's nice. Years ago there was a homemade youtube for Durutti Column's "Sketch for Summer" that was perfect: shot through the windshield of an old Merc driving down some roads in the setting sun.
― willem, Tuesday, 5 February 2013 13:32 (eleven years ago) link
Derp.
― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 5 February 2013 17:59 (eleven years ago) link
you know, when they played state college on their '04 rock the vote tour, the hardest political line ira kaplan drew was that dick cheney or rumsfield or somebody was mean for not respecting the other side.
― da croupier, Tuesday, 5 February 2013 18:06 (eleven years ago) link
That's Andy Schafly-level derp. (xpost)
― Nataly Dawn's echoey swamp sound (Dan Peterson), Tuesday, 5 February 2013 18:06 (eleven years ago) link
I heard a brief promo for the Pitchfork Fest on NPR the other morning - Pitchfork is a sponsor - and as the voice was listing acts on the bill, when she got to Yo La Tengo, as per NPR's wont, she totally went into dramatically proper Spanish inflection, which I found jarring and hilarious in equal measure.
"With Bjork, Belle & Sebasian, JO LA TENGO and more!"
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 11 June 2013 18:18 (eleven years ago) link
Clickhole knows.
http://www.clickhole.com/blogpost/i-regret-waiting-until-marriage-have-sex-all-3-mem-1258
― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 23 October 2014 17:52 (nine years ago) link
just checked and the onion's yo la tengo roof collapse article is over twelve years old. christ.
― da croupier, Thursday, 23 October 2014 17:55 (nine years ago) link
They had a couple of things up on their Bandcamp but the floodgates just opened with a lot of their back catalog:
https://yolatengo.bandcamp.com/
― Ned Raggett, Monday, 31 October 2022 20:39 (one year ago) link
8 Days of Chanukah shows in NY sold out quick
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 1 November 2022 03:53 (one year ago) link
Annnnnd new album
https://yolatengo.bandcamp.com/album/this-stupid-world
― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 2 November 2022 14:05 (one year ago) link
new song rules
― na (NA), Wednesday, 2 November 2022 14:08 (one year ago) link
sounds grrrrrreat
― tylerw, Wednesday, 2 November 2022 14:42 (one year ago) link
this song is fantastic! so stoked for this. also, as a fan of longer YLT jams, some of those song lengths on the back of the CD get me excited.
― a superficial sheeb of intelligence (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Wednesday, 2 November 2022 17:45 (one year ago) link
Tour dates announced as well, two nights at the Fillmore out here -- which is where I saw them last time, though then they were backing Robyn Hitchcock on Black Snake Diamond Role (hell of a version of "Acid Bird" that night).
― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 2 November 2022 19:24 (one year ago) link
oh man that sounds incredible
― sleeve, Wednesday, 2 November 2022 19:27 (one year ago) link
Worth seeking out, I assume there's a recording somewhere!
― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 2 November 2022 19:27 (one year ago) link
Good tune! Promising.
― The Triumphant Return of Bernard & Stubbs (Raymond Cummings), Wednesday, 2 November 2022 19:35 (one year ago) link
ooh this is classic ylt, how long has it been since they've sounded like that?
― ufo, Wednesday, 2 November 2022 21:57 (one year ago) link
Riot was my fav YLT album in 15+ years but I am also ready for them to get loud again, bring it on
― nobody like my rap (One Eye Open), Wednesday, 2 November 2022 23:26 (one year ago) link
Aaaah, that hits the spot.
― Cow_Art, Wednesday, 2 November 2022 23:51 (one year ago) link
Tix on sale today. Glad to be seeing them again finally.
― a superficial sheeb of intelligence (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Friday, 4 November 2022 15:36 (one year ago) link
And another new song
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7J9fV29AuOQ
― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 11 January 2023 17:56 (one year ago) link
It's great, of course.
― Evan, Wednesday, 11 January 2023 20:27 (one year ago) link
new album is very good
― ufo, Tuesday, 17 January 2023 13:12 (one year ago) link
Lately I've been listening to We Have Amnesia Sometimes and I like it a lot more than I expected. It feels like hanging out in their practice space while they zone out. Very satisfying.
They Shoot, We Score has been in regular rotation in the minivan as I drive around Savannah. It has some nice variations of Green Arrow.
― Cow_Art, Tuesday, 17 January 2023 14:06 (one year ago) link
Yeah both are great! Zoned out experiments are great indeed.
― Evan, Tuesday, 17 January 2023 14:46 (one year ago) link
it's not like they ever really fell off that much but the new one is maybe their best since and then nothing turned itself inside out?
― ufo, Tuesday, 17 January 2023 22:39 (one year ago) link
If there's an unfair criticism of the band to be made, it's that they have been firmly in the "best album since ..." cycle for what feels like several albums now.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 17 January 2023 23:21 (one year ago) link
it's true though!
― sleeve, Tuesday, 17 January 2023 23:24 (one year ago) link
idk i wouldn't really say that about any of the others from the past decade? we have amnesia sometimes was all drones, quite the stylistic diversion. there's a riot going on was just 'yet another decent ylt album' with a focus on ambience. stuff like that there was a very inessential covers album. fade was pretty solid and comes the closest to that but only really represented a step above popular songs (which is one of their weaker albums).
this one's also stylistically the closest to their 90s peak since then
― ufo, Tuesday, 17 January 2023 23:39 (one year ago) link
xpost And yet, while I enjoy each of their new albums, I really never go back to them. Again, it's unfair, and not the band's fault for being consistent, just not often anything that really jumps out at me. Certainly nothing as much as " ... And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out" did. For example, I'm listening to "There's a Riot Going On," prompted by this thread, and it's lovely. But if someone told me this *was* the new album, I would have totally believed them.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 17 January 2023 23:41 (one year ago) link
Then I'm psyched!
Fade rules, I Am Not Afraid Of You rules, There's a Riot rules, wtf u jaded cynics
― sleeve, Tuesday, 17 January 2023 23:43 (one year ago) link
"this band keeps being good, it's so boring"
tbh Stuff Like That There is top 5 for me...a superfan :D
― dronestreet, Tuesday, 17 January 2023 23:45 (one year ago) link
i am not afraid of you is quite good! but after a few listens i think i like the new one more
― ufo, Tuesday, 17 January 2023 23:51 (one year ago) link
lol it's not that any of it is bad or sub par or even boring, it's just that there never seems to be anything drawing me back. Maybe that's really a "me" problem...
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 17 January 2023 23:56 (one year ago) link
I felt pretty much the same way; thought for a few years I’d had my fill of Yo La Tengo albums, but these 2 new songs have piqued my interest again — they’re pretty much exactly what I want from them.
― Chris L, Wednesday, 18 January 2023 00:35 (one year ago) link
Summer Sun is extremely underrated
― Cow_Art, Wednesday, 18 January 2023 02:10 (one year ago) link
Which sort of underscores my point, as I honestly haven't listened to it since it came out; at the time, following "And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out," it felt something like a disappointment. So is it underrated? Maybe! At this stage I'd call half their catalog underrated (to me, at least), because scanning the album titles there's not a single one I recall disliking, but also not a single one that pops out as something I specifically return to. It's like the last half dozen albums have been one really long compilation.
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 18 January 2023 13:26 (one year ago) link
I've been having my own moment with them as a listener these past few months. I loved them in the late '90s as a teen and have always given what they release a listen but hadn't really spent real time with their records for a while...then I grabbed some cheap copies of Stuff Like That There and I Am Not Afraid Of You... and now I'm all the way back in. SLTT is a good example of something I thought I wouldn't need (probably dismissed it unfairly when it came out as "just" quiet covers or something)--it's actually wonderful. And gentle, sure, but still demonstrating their range and taste to superb effect. Sleepless Nights is similar and achieves that weird feeling of like...this is minor work from them in the long run but I still am stunned it's so successful.
I'm someone who thinks Fade is a top 5 album of theirs so I don't feel like their best days are long behind them. (I know that album is now a decade old-wow.) But I'm really excited for this new one.
― mr. milligan, Wednesday, 18 January 2023 13:55 (one year ago) link
I wish I saved a screenshot of this, but around 2006, there was this bootleg forum I frequented where people traded CD-R's of various shows, and one day, this post comes up where a user calls out another user for sending him a threat with a package of bootlegs he sent him. It's a long, angry post, but also a little vague on the details, and the user it's addressed to actually responds with some bewilderment. Turns out, what sparked the angry post was something like a ribbon or poster promoting Yo La Tengo's upcoming album, but it's designed to look like someone scrawled on a piece of paper "I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass." The other guy had included it as a surprise gift.
It was a hilarious misunderstanding, and searching for it now, I found the item in question.
― birdistheword, Wednesday, 18 January 2023 18:10 (one year ago) link
amazing
― Evan, Wednesday, 18 January 2023 18:15 (one year ago) link
haha that's classic
― sleeve, Wednesday, 18 January 2023 19:30 (one year ago) link
I love that record title so much because YLT has to be a contender for the least threatening band in all of indie rock's history.
― Maxmillion D. Boosted (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Wednesday, 18 January 2023 19:52 (one year ago) link
Agree. And yet, you put that record on without any context and it drops right into the intensity of Pass the Hatchet, it totally feels like it fits the title
― Lavator Shemmelpennick, Thursday, 19 January 2023 14:51 (one year ago) link
Good point, it was around that album when I last saw them live, killer shows (god, it's been so long! glad I'll see them in March).
― Maxmillion D. Boosted (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Thursday, 19 January 2023 15:42 (one year ago) link
I think it’s actually quite a feat that YLT have remained so consistently good without ever turning that quality into a knock against them. Yes some albums are better than others but personally, aside from the ones that caught me at just the right personal moments of my life, I don’t even have any desire to rank them. Just let ‘em play and may keep playing for a long long time
― sctttnnnt (pgwp), Friday, 20 January 2023 02:25 (one year ago) link