The new Yo La Tengo (inaouaiwbya)

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since ylt seems to be putting out only one album every three years, i don't mind the extended lengths of the last few records. Since I can hear the heart beating...their records have been great to get lost in. Sure, they may not be the sort of thing you can sit down and listen to all the way through every time, but there are always new songs / parts to discover...

― Tyler W (tylerw), Wednesday, 14 June 2006 18:25 (seventeen years ago) link

Really really really bad cover.

― strom (strom), Wednesday, 14 June 2006 18:53 (seventeen years ago) link

Awww c'mon, the cover's great and so is the title! Also, the mp3 at the Matador site is excellent, great horns. I'm excited for this now, after feeling meh about Summer Sun.

― mcd (mcd), Wednesday, 14 June 2006 19:14 (seventeen years ago) link

"Beanbag Chair" is great; everything Is This It? should have been.

― Sundar (sundar), Wednesday, 14 June 2006 20:49 (seventeen years ago) link

the cover looks like a quicksilver t-shirt that mates with a bit of escher, looking foward to hearing it though

― gary donegan (transform-a-snack), Wednesday, 14 June 2006 21:03 (seventeen years ago) link

I strugled with the leap, finally coming to the conclusion that this sampler rocks. Beanbag Chair is the weakest track on the album. Kudos to Matador. I'm frothing at the mouth for the entree. YLT rules.

― wonderwonder (wonderwonder), Sunday, 18 June 2006 03:21 (seventeen years ago) link

I like it! "The Room Got Heavy," "Mr. Tough," and "Sometimes I Don't Get You" are especially great.

― Matthew Perpetua! (Matthew Perpetua!), Monday, 19 June 2006 12:12 (seventeen years ago) link

Also, this is not a bad album title. It is a wonderful album title!

― Matthew Perpetua! (Matthew Perpetua!), Monday, 19 June 2006 12:13 (seventeen years ago) link

this is still the version with the fadeouts that's out there? i'm really itching to hear this record but i gotta wait till i can at least hear the full songs.

― rajeev (rajeev), Monday, 19 June 2006 13:26 (seventeen years ago) link

For me, on a ten point scale from 'ugh' to 'yum', that cover rates about a 'oh' as far as Gary Panter covers go. More here.

― NickB (NickB), Monday, 19 June 2006 13:46 (seventeen years ago) link

two months pass...

So did Matador just send out promos to journalists with the fade outs? Did they ever get around to sending out full length copies of the album?

― Roy Kasten (Roy Kasten), Wednesday, 23 August 2006 20:52 (seventeen years ago) link

I heard Mr Tough at a club on Saturday night and it went on longer than the sampler does, so I guess there's full lengths out there now..

― jona (jona), Wednesday, 23 August 2006 21:41 (seventeen years ago) link

I just reviewed it yesterday: the slightly experimental air of the first half is charming, the skronky things on the second most welcome. In short: not great, just a job well done.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Wednesday, 23 August 2006 21:55 (seventeen years ago) link

Did you get the full length version from Matador? A friend is planning a review but only has the fade version....

― Roy Kasten (Roy Kasten), Wednesday, 23 August 2006 21:59 (seventeen years ago) link

"The Room Got Heavy" = totally new wave

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 24 August 2006 12:53 (seventeen years ago) link

Alfred OTM, more or less.

I liked it better than anything they've done since 1997.

― Raymond Cummings (Raymond Cummings), Thursday, 24 August 2006 15:33 (seventeen years ago) link

is that when Electr-O-Pura came out? Mebbe.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 5 September 2006 14:50 (seventeen years ago) link

I can hear the sound of asses being beaten all over the land.

Loews Jersey sold out yet?

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 15:50 (seventeen years ago) link

I think it's their best album.

― M. V. (M.V.), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 18:03 (seventeen years ago) link

Album of the year. This, Grizzly, FF, maybe Guillemots, and Shack.

― Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 18:42 (seventeen years ago) link

I'm with Alfred on this one--I like it, but I don't think it's great. It sounds good, sure, but I don't feel like it has the charm or coherence of their pre-And Then Nothing... records. What could I be missing?

― mike powell (mike powell), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 18:46 (seventeen years ago) link

don't ask that question, you might not like the answer you get.

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 18:47 (seventeen years ago) link

It's an improvement over "Summer Sun", but is incredibly self-indulgent even by their standards. There is no need for this album to be bookended by long, meandering (if occasionally beautiful) tuneless jams. The songs sandwiched between the bloated puffery veer from cute to cloying to classic, but damned if I want to spend the time necessary to find the gems.

A pale redo of ICHTHBAO.

― EZ Snappin (EZSnappin), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 19:00 (seventeen years ago) link

TS: Loews Jersey vs. Playtime

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 19:29 (seventeen years ago) link

first listen snap judgement: love, love, love it. especially "the race is on again".

― Emily B (Emily B), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 19:53 (seventeen years ago) link

really bizarre drop in volume on the last track, one of the two long jammy ones. Occurred about 5 minutes before the end, sounded like it was fading out, and then just kept going at the lower volume. I was on the radio and was a a bit worried for a minute.

― sleeve version 2.0 (sleeve testing), Tuesday, 12 September 2006 23:49 (seventeen years ago) link

Well, nothing in the universe will beat I can hear the hearts.

I really liked it, but I was dissuaded from 'classic' status by some of the more twee maneuvers (Beanbag, Sometimes I Don't Get You, The Weakest Part).

Most of it is lovely, though.

― Myke. (Myke Weiskopf), Wednesday, 13 September 2006 01:17 (seventeen years ago) link

At first I wondered the fadeouts went along with the album as sort of the bluff for the title ("I'm not afraid of you..." i.e., 'guys, hold me back')
Which could be kind of cool as a concept.

― mox twelve (Mox twleve), Wednesday, 13 September 2006 03:10 (seventeen years ago) link

I don't imagine the long fadeouts are on the release version?

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 13 September 2006 12:14 (seventeen years ago) link

No.

― willem -- (willem), Wednesday, 13 September 2006 12:25 (seventeen years ago) link

Never been a great fan of this band, but this album is great. The chorus of "Beanbag Chair" reminds me of They Might Be Giants, and perhaps the best song here.

― zeus (zeus), Sunday, 24 September 2006 15:18 (seventeen years ago) link

Acronymizing a title for thread: Dud.

DC show:

http://www.morecowbell.net/2006/09/27/yo-la-tengo-at-the-930-club/

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 27 September 2006 18:21 (seventeen years ago) link

great, great album

― marc h. (marc h.), Wednesday, 27 September 2006 18:50 (seventeen years ago) link

why did you have to compare it to they might be giants

― s1ocki (slutsky), Wednesday, 27 September 2006 19:10 (seventeen years ago) link

why did you have to compare it to they might be giants
-- s1ocki (slytus...), September 27th, 2006.

Because the melody of that song could have been written by them.
Perhaps you won't like my other revelation: "Black Flowers" is very much like a Delgados song. Sorry about this profanity.

― zeus (zeus), Wednesday, 27 September 2006 20:20 (seventeen years ago) link

no that's ok

just the they might be giants thing kind of a turnoff

― s1ocki (slutsky), Wednesday, 27 September 2006 20:30 (seventeen years ago) link

OK. Listen "Beanbag Chair" again, and try to imagine it with the voice of John Linnell.

― zeus (zeus), Wednesday, 27 September 2006 21:02 (seventeen years ago) link

no that's okay

― jergins (jergins), Wednesday, 27 September 2006 21:03 (seventeen years ago) link

Was the reason for having the weird fadeout promo version because half of YLT's fanbase is comprised of music critics, and Matador wanted these folks to actually buy the full-length CD in addition to getting the free promo?

But seriously, what does this accomplish, other than ticking off critics?

― Ernest P. (ernestp), Thursday, 28 September 2006 02:09 (seventeen years ago) link

The two best songs are free mp3s on their site, though. so it's all good.

― Zwan (miccio), Thursday, 28 September 2006 02:11 (seventeen years ago) link

I wish the whole album was more in the vein of the opening and closing tracks. Those are pretty great.

― Zachary Scott (Zach S), Thursday, 28 September 2006 02:23 (seventeen years ago) link

Ticking off critics: Classic

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 28 September 2006 14:18 (seventeen years ago) link

agree w/Zachary Scott

― held tony (held tony), Thursday, 28 September 2006 16:49 (seventeen years ago) link

Zachary, that’s EXACTLY how I felt too.

― Raymond Cummings (Raymond Cummings), Thursday, 28 September 2006 16:54 (seventeen years ago) link

I could also see "Beanbag Chair" as a Ben Folds song.

― John Fredland (jfredland), Thursday, 28 September 2006 21:59 (seventeen years ago) link

After one listen I think the album's pretty good, "Black Flowers" stuck with me. But it's kind of stompy.

Yo La Tengo should start their own label, only releasing hour-long jams SY-style.

― strom (strom), Thursday, 28 September 2006 22:04 (seventeen years ago) link

I could also see "Beanbag Chair" as a Ben Folds song.

NOT HELPING

― jergins (jergins), Thursday, 28 September 2006 22:09 (seventeen years ago) link

http://img82.imageshack.us/img82/6655/evilrockvc0.png

― Proselytitties (Proselytitties), Thursday, 28 September 2006 23:10 (seventeen years ago) link

six months pass...

finally got around to buying it

sort of lacks the variety i was expecting, but still very, very solid.

'pass the hatchet...' is a pretty majestic opener

― Charlie Howard, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 17:23 (sixteen years ago) link

three months pass...

"i feel like going home" is breaking my heart right about now.

― Jordan Sargent, Sunday, 29 July 2007 08:53 (sixteen years ago) link

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Recent-Records-That-Would-Be-Great-If-They-Were-Quieter/lm/R3B3E6JXJYMN7O/ref=cm_lm_byauthor_title_full/202-7710384-1394246

― Scik Mouthy, Sunday, 29 July 2007 09:22 (sixteen years ago) link

omg southall don't you have volume control?! etc.

― Jordan Sargent, Sunday, 29 July 2007 15:34 (sixteen years ago) link

the more i hear it, the more i'm convinced that 'pass the hatchet' is my favorite thing yo la tengo has ever done

― stephen, Sunday, 29 July 2007 16:50 (sixteen years ago) link

― Jordan Sargent, Sunday, 29 July 2007 16:55 (sixteen years ago) link

Okay but you're all wrong about the M83 one and the Bloc Party one, about two thirds of Before The Dawn Heals Us's greatness comes from the pummelling compression and the Bloc Party one would be shit even if Albini recorded it and Jim O'Rourke mastered it and everyone was only allowed to listen to it on top of the line HiFi.

― I know, right?, Sunday, 29 July 2007 17:25 (sixteen years ago) link

eleven years pass...

found my Mr. Tough 7" the other day and now I'm obsessed with this album again

― flappy bird, Thursday, 6 December 2018 18:12 (five years ago) link

"Pass The Hatchet" is otherworldly.

― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Thursday, 6 December 2018 19:11 (five years ago) link

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