Yo La Tengo’s not touring behind an album. They’re touring behind 26 years of existence, taking their catalog on tour as The Freewheeling Yo La Tengo, in which the geek-rock pioneers spin a wheel to see what set the band will start with. Will it be a set by Condo Fucks, the bands lo-fi, cover-song alter ego?

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Physical limitations in the form of a bum knee dictated that this day be slightly more mellow. It began with a magical set from Yo La Tengo, a band who was born long before or contemporaneously with many festival attendees. The Jersey three-piece took their time, dragging songs out into even longer than usual, extended instrumental jams with frontman Ira Kaplan taking a guitar-shaped sledgehammer to the rhythmic cinder blocks being patiently stacked bassist James McNew and drummer Georgia Hubley.

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The fact that Princeton made some songs about famous dead writers has only fueled more crazy assumptions that they’re both creative and smart. It can only help them get girls, which means heartache, which means more material to translate into their signature string-and-synth pop. This interview by Daiana Feuer.

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Popular Songs’ “If It’s True”—a sugary Kaplan/Hubley duet that unapologetically borrows its intro from The Four Tops’ “Sugar Pie Honey Bunch”—was introduced as the most “straightforward pop song [they’ve] ever written.” Before launching into it, an audience member implored the band to play more fuzzed out jams, to which Kaplan responded, “We’ll get around to the noise later.”

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Entire island ecosystems arise, corrupt, decay and disappear within the generous lifespan of Yo La Tengo, the New Jersey three-piece who reinvent endlessly what an independent American rock band is supposed to do—play Flamin’ Groovies songs in heaven, for instance. Guitarist/singer Ira Kaplan speaks very early in the morning. This interview by Chris Ziegler.

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Download: Yo La Tengo “Here To Fall” [Audio clip: view full post to listen] (off Popular Songs out Sept 8th on Matador Records)

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The Cotton Jones live experience was quite different, probably because the band found it difficult to match the plush reverberation that is achievable with a studio set-up. Songs like “Blood Red Sentimental Blues” were only tweaked slightly, but the difference was remarkable. Without the echo chamber quality of the studio, Michael Nau and Whitney’s McGraw’s contrasting vocals (he a husky Jim Morrison, she the delicate siren of a 1950’s radio program) rang clear and true, allowing pretty turns of phrase—like “I heard it in the garbage can, in every piece of trash, you better color up my heart again, I’m afraid it’s turning black”—their due.

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Download: Yo La Tengo “Periodically Double Or Triple” [Audio clip: view full post to listen] (off Popular Songs out  Sept 8th on Matador Records)

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alice rutherford

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