Yo La Tengo: Popular Songs (Matador)

By Ben Liew  •  06 Oct 2009 in Review

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For the past 20 years or so, New Jersey 3-piece indie band Yo La Tengo (which means “I’ve Got It” in Spanish) has been living up to their eccentric name. While it’s easy to lump them in the same category as aging-rockers like Sonic Youth and The Flaming Lips, the fact remains that YLT are in a league of their own. As the quintessential critics’ band, YLT is known for playing a wide variety of styles, from 3-min poppy sing-a-longs to 15-min ambient epics. And their 12th studio offering shows no sign of them slowing down or conforming to typical formulas.

Slow-burner opener ‘Here To Fall’ vaguely displays their mish mash style and is followed by ‘Avalon Or Someone Very Similar’ which is so sweetly indie rock that Dinosaur Jr would turn green with envy. The musical pot luck continues with the 90s melodic-grunge ‘Nothing To Hide’ and the Motown-ish ‘If It’s True’. For the second half of the album, YLT goes into their experimental, shoegazing mode and irons out the creases of predictability Ð the last 3 songs alone clock in a whopping 36 minutes plus! With the way indie is getting so bland nowadays, here’s one to tell the kids about.

Listen to: ‘Avalon Or Someone Very Similar’
If you like this you’ll dig: Condo F*cks (YLT’s side-project)

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGQmN76FAGc[/youtube]