No Me Pegues!

Yo La Tengo beat the shit out of everybody.
By Evan George

My recent fears that journalists will become obsolete, replaced by web technology and online communities of blog-happy commentators, were thankfully dashed this week, when I came across Wikipedia’s entry on indie-rock stalwarts Yo La Tengo.

Yo La Tengo is an American rock band, based in Hoboken, New Jersey. They have demonstrated unusual longevity for the indie-rock scene. While they are a critical favorite with a devoted fan base, they have achieved only limited popular success.

While not incorrect, per se, that is perhaps the worst summation of the band Yo La Tengo. Fuck you, Wikipedia.

The trio, made up of Ira Kaplan (guitar/vocals), Georgia Hubley (drums/vocals) and James McNew (bass/vocals) is perhaps the most consistently stellar rock band the ’80s ever gave us. Think Sonic Youth minus “Washing Machine,” “New York Ghosts and Flowers,” “Sonic Nurse”… OK you get the point: Pick any album they’ve done since 1993, after McNew joined the band, and it’s as good as the next.

With last month’s “I Am Not Afraid of You And I Will Beat Your Ass” (Matador), Yo La Tengo have proved, yet again, the absolute power of music-obsessed nerds and critics turned rockers. For this album the band digs deep, using every strength in their repertoire to produce their most eclectic effort in a 22-year career. Each song could be filed under a different genre, each piece communicates a different mood, and yet it all makes sense together.

Album opener “Pass the Hatchet, I Think I’m Goodkind” is a focused, but free-wheeling, jam that barrels down on listeners for 10-plus minutes. A five-finger bass riff holds the whole thing together while Kaplan squirts out crazed stream-of-consciousness poetry from an electric guitar. Next comes a stream of twee pop ballads (”Bean Bag Chair”), symphonic gems (”Black Flowers”), instrumental, emotive interludes (”Daphnia”) and even muzak-style jazz pop (”Sometimes I Don’t Get You”). When Matador released a Best Of compilation in 2004 some saw it as a sign of the end drawing near. But with “I Am Not Afraid,” it seems we’ve already been given a Part II of the band’s greatest hits.

Nearing the end of a U.S. tour in support of the album, Yo La Tengo will play in Los Angeles Tuesday, Oct. 23. Before taking the stage at Portland’s Crystal Ballroom, L.A. Alternative chatted on the phone with bassist James McNew about the rigors of the road, the importance of cover songs and the band’s love for the New York Mets.

L.A. Alternative: Yo La Tengo seems to be a band that appreciates a seasonal schedule, what with the pledge drive once a year for WFMU and the Hanukkah Festival. Has touring for an album become just as routine?

James McNew: It’s not exactly clockwork, but it’s definitely cyclical in terms of … if you would consider the release of a new album to be a calendar year, that it does sort of work on that cycle. We’ll release a record and the first normal wave of touring we would do in support of that record would be a lot of similar cities that would usually be the first leg. There are bits of every day, a minute or a few seconds, that are impossible to deal with and make you nuts, but the rest of the day is pretty sweet, I mean, it’s fantastic. We get to tour around and play shows for people who want to come see us, it’s awesome.

LAA: You live in Brooklyn, what’s your take on Los Angeles?

JM: I remember early trips to Los Angeles were kind of… they weren’t as much fun. It was sort of an unforgiving trip. Over the years we’ve made lots and lots of friends there, and that has certainly made it really fun and actually, we actually really love coming to Los Angeles. I know people from New York are supposed to say that they don’t, and actually stand-up comedians are supposed to point out how different Los Angeles and New York are. I’ve seen some pretty enlightening material on that subject, but we don’t really… The first time I was there, I believe, was in 1992 and we played at the Whiskey and it was peculiar. We returned there a few months later supporting My Bloody Valentine on what turned out to be their last, their final American shows, and that was just amazing. That was at the Palace. But I like L.A. If I had time, I would consider it as a vacation option.

LAA: Every year you do this pledge drive for WFMU, your local radio station, where you play cover songs on request and people donate money. What’s that like?

JM: It’s sort of akin to just going into a trance and then when you come out of a trance you just feel like you’ve blacked out for three hours. I can’t remember where I live and I’m just sort of shot. My mind is completely gone after doing that show every year. It’s probably really good for you. And I think it’s been really good, even though we’re committing musical atrocities while we’re doing it. It sort of forces you to lose any kind of inhibitions that you have, like extreme karaoke. I’ve never been of the school of thought that I could only play my own material. We don’t really believe that at all. I think cover songs are really… we love ‘em obviously. I find it really interesting when you go see a band you that you like and then they pull a cover song out of nowhere that you weren’t expecting and all of a sudden it forces you to think about, oh, you had an idea about the personality of what this band was, and they show you something personal to play and it makes things more complex, you feel like you know them a little better.

LAA: When you joined in 1992, did something gel right away?

JM: It seemed like half the practice time was devoted to discussing TV shows or movies and our practices are still really similar to that. We get a lot done at practice but we also fuck around a lot. You know, talk about basketball or TV and you know it’s pretty amazing that things haven’t changed that much in the practice department.

LAA: Do you think it throws some of your fans for a loop, all the connections with your band and baseball? I know you’re all sports fans and the Yo La Tengo crowd is not necessarily an athletic one.

JM: I don’t buy that. I definitely broke with sports. It was kind of politics. That was probably my introduction to political thought… I found out in my teens that I really had less and less in common with the people who I was playing sports with.

LAA: Are you guys following the Mets while on tour?

JM: This is a very busy baseball week for our band, so being on the West Coast is actually really great because the games are ending before we go on stage. The night before it did hurt the mood definitely. Wednesday’s loss-we were in Vancouver watching them get trounced. I know it definitely had an effect on the show, we played a pretty savage show that night. We had a lot of demons to exorcise.

LAA: So should L.A. fans be hoping that you’re team wins before your show here?

JM: We’ll be professional enough that we’ll bring our A-material regardless of the outcome.

Yo La Tengo plays Monday Oct. 23 at the Henry Fonda Theater.