New Yo La Tengo

Oh I like the new album. It sounds like they set out to make a spacious, atmospheric record and they succeeded. For as much as it "sounds like YLT" I don't think there is another album in their discography that is a better version of this particular thing. Maybe individual songs, but not whole albums.

I hope they never subject an audience to 'Dream Dream Away'

They did last night! Though if you're worried about the new songs (which sound great live), fear not, they're playing a quiet set followed by a loud set, with plenty of feedback and sudden organ freakouts from peak-form Ira, who remains music's goofiest boy. Last night included a particularly breathless run of Double Dare/Decora/Sugarcube/Pass the Hatchet (!). I was hoping for "What Chance Have I Got," my favorite new one, but "Mr. Tough" (and its helpfully reprised refrain) got the message across: all our joy is mere reprieve. Somewhat less subtle: encore cover of The Dead C's "Bad Politics." Anyway, I love love love this band and they've now played two of the best shows of my lifetime.

Also: James McNew was wearing a black t-shirt with the word FUM in small white lettering. I'm still wondering about this.

what does it mean?

i was at that show too... sudden organ was soooo good. and yep still baffled by james's shirt

i was the guy who asked ira what song it was after they played 'i'll be around' haha. as mentioned above sometimes even when you're a fan you lapse now and then

oh also last night was the first time i noticed what a good bass player james mcnew is, his parts are always repetitive and simple but every now and then he'd pull off a little fill or lick that had wonderful finesse

oh man...seen them 5-6 times and never hears sudden organ. super jealous.

you should be tbh. also for pass the hatchet, top tier skronk

yeah sudden organ + deeper into movies + nuclear war with a set finale of i heard you looking was the absolute best when i first saw them live.

FUM maybe wfmu related?

james mcnew was promoting Ultra Music Festival. man that festival was sick. it is the world's premier electronic music festival, boasting elite DJs and unparalleled production located in the beautiful city of Miami.

but he messed up the acronym, easy to do

My dad used to have a shirt from Japan that just said BUM

I heard someone near me asking what it said, and someone else responding "fum, like fee fie foe fum," as if that explained it.

i was the guy who asked ira what song it was after they played 'i'll be around' haha

Howdy from the back. I tend to get some of their more languorous songs mixed up, and was pretty sure they were playing "Today is the Day" at one or two points.

how the new songs sound live?

excellent. sleepy/mellow first set then a ripper second set. one of the better shows i've seen in awhile, you should go

surely the first line of "Shades of Blue" is 'Painted my room', not 'Laid in my room' as all the lyric sites have it?
said song has probably moved into my top 5 Georgia-sung songs.

Damage
Blue line swinger
Nowhere near
Today is the day
Shadows

Pablo and Andrea
Before We Run
Shades of Blue
I Feel Like Going Home
Little Eyes

Ira sings Damage, oops. Sub Pablo and Andrea, how could I forget that one

Ira sings Damage

not entirely, Georgia sings the wordless chorus which makes the song.

the weakest part!

YLT's Instagram account posted some photos taken by James at Tweedy's studio in Chicago. Recording something new?

hopefully!

Listening to the Old Joy tracks from They Shoot, We Score and quietly hoping there's more of this in the vaults. I'd happily take a whole day's worth of it.

that was the last album of them i enjoyed. the sounds of the sounds of silence was even better but that was before, wasn't it?

new Dump album out, on some Spanish cassette-only micro label, because of course. Same playbook as usual - long dreamy jams & obscure covers - which is fine with me, good stuff. Wish he did these more often (and they werent such a pain in the ass to find out about and get)

ugh, so literally ONLY cassette. That's disappointing. Was hoping the bandcamp link would lead to somewhere to at least buy it digitally, but sold out already.

haha, he really is pathologically un-ambitious when it comes to his extracurricular activities ...

lol for real. the cassette i got came with a digital download, which is nice, but no way to buy it digital only apparently. according to his insta theyre doing a new pressing of the cassette "soon"

out, on some Spanish cassette-only micro label

I read this as "out on some Spanish micro-cassette only label"

I mean I get it that this is all super chill for James but, uh, I really want to give him my money for this. Seems weird to not at least offer a digital download option now that both pressings (so far) are sold out.

just remembering that his last full-length was released through some mail-order LP subscription label. my joke theory is that he's trying to keep it a secret from georgie & ira, terrified they'll shitcan him for moonlighting.

Dump, “Blown Dunks” cassette 3rd edition now available. 17 new/unreleased songs. 9 originals, 8 covers (ABBA, Residents, etc). Approx 60 min. https://t.co/wa9nX7DG65

— James McNew (@dumpland) December 31, 2019

thanks, i ordered it. another 4 weeks until the tape is supposed to arrive in berlin.

wasn't really in a Yo La Tengo mode when There's a Riot Going On came out, but right now this is totally hitting the spot for me.

They just have such a good sound. This record is def the all-out dreamy YLT. Feels good on a sunny winter morning.

^^^

It's such a great record, think it's going to play out as one of their high points.

thanks for the reminder to listen to this! i was also not in a YLT mode when it came out; i'm not sure if i even listened to a full track at the time. but it's hard for them to make a "bad" album. the baseline quality of a YLT track is dang good. that was their rep 20 years ago, still true today

nothing to add here except that yes, this one is probably my favorite of the last 20 years

Yeah, there's something to be said for needing to be in a YLT mood first. That wasn't always the case, at least for me. Up to and maaaaybe including I Can Hear the Heart ... I could play just about all of their stuff at any time. Pretty much everything after And Then Nothing ... I need to be in the mood and/or patient enough to explore. And Then Nothing ... might be the only one I put on if I actually want to *be* in a mood. Painful and Facebook remain the ones I play the most for pleasure. The last six or however many records, none of them are bad, I just, yeah, need to be in the right mood and/or have nothing else I want to listen to first.

I Can Hear the Heart Beating As One is probably the one I could reach for any time, but tbh that one is tied to a very specific time and place and nostalgia for certain people

i might say that Popular Songs was my least favorite YLT album overall, but I played it recently and it still sounded damn good. the catalog is pretty strong.

"Avalon or Someone Very Similar" off of Popular Songs is staggeringly well done for a genre-exercise, which these guys never seem to get bored of. I pretty much fell off after "And Then Nothing.." but the aforementioned song stopped me dead in my tracks the first time I heard it.

didnt know a new one was imminent

espied Ira at a NYC indie-film rep house last night

"She May, She Might", "For You Too", and "Ashes" is up there with my favorite run of YLT songs in this century. "Above the Sound", too - great mood music. such a good band.

The new one sounds to me like the record they were aiming for but didnt quite nail with Summer Sun. Their first front-to-back classic of the 2000s for me (aside from Sounds of Science, which is probably the 21st century YLT album that I spin the most these days tbh.)

yeah i'd love it if they put out more of that soundtrack-y / instrumental stuff in between the "proper" albums.

didnt know a new one was imminent

I think they might be working on one, but we're still talking about their 2018 one.