Artist: Yo La Tengo
Album: Popular Songs
Year: 2009
Grade: 3 pretzels
Yo La Tengo are yet another band that, given my established musical tastes and self-described cultural niche, I have no excuse for barely listening to. For over twenty years, the New Jersey-based trio has cranked out critically adored, fuzz-and-feedback-drenched garage rock. They were an indie rock band before the concept of being an indie rock band existed. And yet…I can only claim passing knowledge of their music and history. Perhaps this is because I’ve never heard a piece of their music that has immediately and viscerally grabbed my attention. Maybe I’m just scared off by the fact that they’re from Jersey. Either way, I approached their new album, Popular Songs, with very little band loyalty already established in my mind.
At seventy-two minutes, Popular Songs is a huge album, crammed to the gills with musical details, flourishes and tidbits. The first seventy-five percent of the album consists of fairly traditionally arranged alternative rock songs, that jangle along or roar when a spoonful of garage rock energy is added. However, the last quarter of the album features three horrifically lengthy tracks that destroy any kind of established momentum the album had going up until that point. While some of these monolithic songs work hard to earn their hugeness (the lovely, languid “More Stars Than There Are In Heaven” is a good example), they’re just no excuse for the sixteen excruciating minutes of “The Glitter Is Gone”. Once the song’s gritty, feedback-flooded pattern is established, it good for about, oh, let’s say, five minutes. But sixteen?! No, no, no, no, no!
The shorter songs that make up the rest of the album contain a similar set of hits and misses. The rolling “Avalon Or Someone Very Similar” is a gentle, flowing success, in stark contrast to another of the album’s high points, the minimal, eerie “By Two’s”. Both are sung by drummer Georgia Hubley, who’s unadorned voice is a good counterpoint to her husband (and Yo La Tengo guitarist Ira Kaplan) and his whispery croon. Kaplan doesn’t get too many moments to shine on Popular Songs, with tracks like the hokey “Periodically Double Or Triple” killing the album’s flow from song to song. Add in retro silliness like “If It’s True”, which seems to feature a string section on loan from 1960s Motown and you’ve got an album with a bit of an identity crisis.
I keep telling myself that I’m going to sit down and really figure out what people have heard in Yo La Tengo all these years. Given the sheer amount of critical praise they’ve received over the years, I’m sure they’re a good band. I just can’t quite seem to hear what so many others have picked up on. Inconsistent albums like Popular Songs don’t help me in this regard. I can hear sparks of genius every once and a while, but they get quickly drowned out by overlong sonic experiments or half-baked homages to older genres. Hopefully, their back catalogue doesn’t follow this same formula. I’ll keep digging into this beloved band’s work, trying to unravel the mystery of Yo La Tengo.
At seventy-two minutes, Popular Songs is a huge album, crammed to the gills with musical details, flourishes and tidbits. The first seventy-five percent of the album consists of fairly traditionally arranged alternative rock songs, that jangle along or roar when a spoonful of garage rock energy is added. However, the last quarter of the album features three horrifically lengthy tracks that destroy any kind of established momentum the album had going up until that point. While some of these monolithic songs work hard to earn their hugeness (the lovely, languid “More Stars Than There Are In Heaven” is a good example), they’re just no excuse for the sixteen excruciating minutes of “The Glitter Is Gone”. Once the song’s gritty, feedback-flooded pattern is established, it good for about, oh, let’s say, five minutes. But sixteen?! No, no, no, no, no!
The shorter songs that make up the rest of the album contain a similar set of hits and misses. The rolling “Avalon Or Someone Very Similar” is a gentle, flowing success, in stark contrast to another of the album’s high points, the minimal, eerie “By Two’s”. Both are sung by drummer Georgia Hubley, who’s unadorned voice is a good counterpoint to her husband (and Yo La Tengo guitarist Ira Kaplan) and his whispery croon. Kaplan doesn’t get too many moments to shine on Popular Songs, with tracks like the hokey “Periodically Double Or Triple” killing the album’s flow from song to song. Add in retro silliness like “If It’s True”, which seems to feature a string section on loan from 1960s Motown and you’ve got an album with a bit of an identity crisis.
I keep telling myself that I’m going to sit down and really figure out what people have heard in Yo La Tengo all these years. Given the sheer amount of critical praise they’ve received over the years, I’m sure they’re a good band. I just can’t quite seem to hear what so many others have picked up on. Inconsistent albums like Popular Songs don’t help me in this regard. I can hear sparks of genius every once and a while, but they get quickly drowned out by overlong sonic experiments or half-baked homages to older genres. Hopefully, their back catalogue doesn’t follow this same formula. I’ll keep digging into this beloved band’s work, trying to unravel the mystery of Yo La Tengo.
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