Yo La Tengo has managed to sustain a 22-year career as one of the bands most immediately associated with the very idea of indie rock, with their admirably consistent output of records that, truth be told, haven’t really varied much over the years. Sure, their earlier material was a bit fuzzier and more playful, while recently, we’ve seen them rely more on repetitive beats and singular, exhaustively explored ideas. But in the end, the result was always the same: You’d have an enjoyable record full of epic, atmospheric rock songs that would lend themselves just as well to close scrutiny as they would resign themselves to the role of background music.
But something about that blind dependability has never quite jibed with the other side of the band. Ira Kaplan, who, along with his wife Georgia Hubley, has long served as the band’s backbone and driving force, is famously astute when it comes to rock music. He’s a fan and a collector and even served time as a music writer before forming the band. His musical vocabulary is huge, and so it was always a little surprising that the basic premise for Yo La Tengo records was always pretty much the same.
On the new record, though, there are hints of that wide ranging eclecticism. On I Am Not Afraid…, they flex their muscles in a number of different ways. It starts off with ‘Pass the Hatchet, I think I’m Goodkind’, a ten-plus-minute, mostly instrumental guitar freak-out that almost sounds like Trans Am. Then they do a complete 180, with ‘Bean Bag’ and ‘Mr. Tough’, two snazzy, upbeat pop tracks that will surely surprise longtime listeners. Throughout the rest of the record, we come across a nice variety of styles: the 60s dance-party vibe of ‘Point and Shoot,’ the stripped down soul romp, ‘Watch Out for Me Ronnie’, and the more typical summery pop of ‘The Race Is on Again’ and ‘I Should Have Known Better’. It’s their most adventurous record in a long time, and while it sounds ridiculous to talk about Yo La Tengo fulfilling their potential after all these years, that’s exactly what they’ve done.
But something about that blind dependability has never quite jibed with the other side of the band. Ira Kaplan, who, along with his wife Georgia Hubley, has long served as the band’s backbone and driving force, is famously astute when it comes to rock music. He’s a fan and a collector and even served time as a music writer before forming the band. His musical vocabulary is huge, and so it was always a little surprising that the basic premise for Yo La Tengo records was always pretty much the same.
On the new record, though, there are hints of that wide ranging eclecticism. On I Am Not Afraid…, they flex their muscles in a number of different ways. It starts off with ‘Pass the Hatchet, I think I’m Goodkind’, a ten-plus-minute, mostly instrumental guitar freak-out that almost sounds like Trans Am. Then they do a complete 180, with ‘Bean Bag’ and ‘Mr. Tough’, two snazzy, upbeat pop tracks that will surely surprise longtime listeners. Throughout the rest of the record, we come across a nice variety of styles: the 60s dance-party vibe of ‘Point and Shoot,’ the stripped down soul romp, ‘Watch Out for Me Ronnie’, and the more typical summery pop of ‘The Race Is on Again’ and ‘I Should Have Known Better’. It’s their most adventurous record in a long time, and while it sounds ridiculous to talk about Yo La Tengo fulfilling their potential after all these years, that’s exactly what they’ve done.
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