Re: I got it!

Yo La Tenga

Uninitiated. There. I said it.

Give me three reference points, and tell me why so I can check them out.

Thanks for not scoffing. I am not afraid of you....

3 reasons to c heck out yo lo tengo

1. ira kaplan is often confused for our ira.
2 their name came from a ny mets refrence where 2 outfielders collided when one yelled out i got it and the other did not move. unfornately the spanish outfielder yelled out yo lo tengo and the other one didnt speak spanish.
3. electic choices of covers during a wfmu marathon including the only version of meet the mets that a rock n roll band ever did

1. best live band on the planet
2. name a style, they can nail it
3. georgia is a peach

yeah, people were hauling ass to the back of the room during each of three noise interludes last time i saw em! all three members torturing their own keyboard devices at the end of ra's "nuclear war" was probably my favorite! wow!!!

There. You had to go and do it.

You had to get me started about Yo La Tengo. Three reference points? I'll try to stop at three. There are a lot more. These are just the first three that spring to my mind:

1. The Velvet Underground - seems like if you made indie music in the 80s, you were obliged to reference the Velvets at some level. Yo La Tengo went so far as to play the Velvets in a film ("I Shot Andy Warhol"). Don’t know what that means except that somebody somewhere thought that was an appropriate idea. As they've moved away from the post-R.E.M. sound that was everywhere when they made their debut, and broadened their sonic palette, this reference point gets less relevant, perhaps. But it's still a useful landmark for this sort of triangulation.

2. NRBQ - It makes sense to me. Think about what the two bands have in common. Eclectic sensibilities, a sense of humor, the courage to cover almost ANY song (whether they can play it or not) ... and at the root of it: they both approach their craft from the vantage point of "Ultimate Fan." You don't have to listen to either band long to feel how much they really love the music and get a blast out of what they're doing. In varying degrees, both bands still have bit of the garage about them. It is infectious.

3. The Kinks - Not so much an influence on the sound as they are a role-model for ace songwriting.

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I’ll stop at three and conclude with my “Best of 2008,” as it concerns Yo La Tengo.

They came through town (Springfield, MO) on their “Freewheelin’ Yo La Tengo” tour. I found out about the show by the slightest chance the very day before (which is a whole ‘nother story for a whole ‘nother time) and scored one of three remaining tickets at the local record store. Got to see them in a wee tiny place that doubles as an art gallery. Two different accounts of the evening are:

[www.thebathysphere.com]

[blogs.pitch.com]

Ira was working the t-shirt table. Great show. They played a Morells tune (I think). They declined to play my request. No grudges. I recorded the entire evening for posterity on my mp3 player (don’t ask … the recording sounds like the mic was in my pocket).

I had attended their 1998 New Year’s Eve show at the TLA in Philly (they played “New Day Rising” at the very stroke and only half the balloons suspended from the ceiling dropped … D’oh!). James M. was at the gate, giving away copies of the “Urban Crusher” 7” single, along with cheap plastic leis (hold the jokes, please) and noise-makers. I managed to have James (bunny head) and Ira K. (squiggle) sign the vinyl that evening, but never could manage to locate Georgia (turns out I walked past her half a dozen times … she is nothing if not “low key”) and had to settle for two out of three on the autograph scorecard.

Sharpie in hand, I took that single along to the gig here in town and managed to get the trifecta a decade after the fact. Georgia H. was most gracious.

What I like best about Yo La Tengo is that at the end of the day there’s a sense that they’re decent people.

You could do a lot worse when it comes to a favorite band. I don’t actually have one, but Yo La Tengo are Top Five, easily.

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There is your story.
Night-night.

My own personal YLT faves, in no particular order (but in truth, they're a band that you can put their entire catalog on random shuffle and chances are that whatever comes up is going to be a keeper):

From A Motel Six
Barnaby, Hardly Working
Upside Down
Double Dare
Pass the Hatchet, I Think I'm Goodkind
Sugarcube
Flying Lessons
You Can Have It All
Tom Courtenay
Griselda
Little Eyes
Mr. Tough
Big Day Coming
Beanbag Chair
Moby Octopad
Deeper Into Movies

Hell, basically everything.

I saw them in Athens in 1988 or '89 on the President tour, I think. It was a great show until Ira went into the masturbatory 15-minute squealing guitar solo from whatever that loud song on that album is. People left in droves and there were probably only a dozen of us left at the end of the show.

I haven't seen them since then and I pick up about every other of their albums, but I wonder: does he still do that guitar solo?

Yes. It changes titles with the release of a new album, but yes. When I saw them at ACL Fest, they opened with it as "Pass Me the Hatchet, I Think I'm Goodkind."

Speaking for myself, I dig that sort of thing when it's done well, and I think YLT does it extremely well. It didn't seem self-indulgent to me, more like them being caught up in the moment. But I can see how that tests the patience of some listeners. My girlfriend didn't like it at all.

Is that a play on "Pass the dust, I think I'm Bowie?" Which, come to think of it, has to reference some other phrase I don't know.

we say "yo la tengo" around here.

Good question. I just assume it was one of their usual non-sequiters, if weirder than usual.

I'm listening to the new Damned album at the moment, and "Dark Asteroid," the final song, seems to be a tribute to Yo La Tengo's psychedelic noise jams.

> I'm listening to the new Damned album at the moment, and "Dark
> Asteroid," the final song, seems to be a tribute to Yo La
> Tengo's psychedelic noise jams.


either a tribute or a harsh reminder that not just anyone can pull that shit off

It's not the be-all end-all of the style, but it's pretty good. I would never have imagined the Damned as trying this, let alone pulling it off. I guess their psych/Nuggets roots are finally showing.

1. Winsome pop.

2. Psychedelic skronk.

3. Honesty, integrity and just plain niceness.

A great band. I saw them live for the first time last year at the Austin City Limits Music Festival and they were frickin' incredible.

Nice people. Opened up for them in OKC several years ago at VZD's.

Dear Mr. Pimp,

You need no reference points.

Just buy FAKEBOOK.

You will be rewarded.

when the hell did willie the pimp get back?


was he disbarred?


1. fakebook
2. live
3. played ira's third or fourth wedding


am i being redundant?

ok

the guitar work on:
I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One