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Yo La Tengo

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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.

Yo La Tengo
Background information
OriginHoboken, New Jersey
Years active1984–present
MembersGeorgia Hubley
Ira Kaplan
James McNew

Etymology

Their name comes from a baseball anecdote. During the 1962 season, Richie Ashburn, the center fielder of the New York Mets, was collliding again and again with Venezuelan shortstop Elio Chacón. When Ashburn went for a catch, he would scream, "I got it! I got it!" only to run into the 160-pound (73 kg, 11 stones 6 pounds) Chacón, who spoke only Spanish. Ashburn learned to yell, "Yo la tengo! Yo la tengo!" which is "I've got it" in Spanish. In a later game, Ashburn happily saw Chacón backing off. He relaxed, positioned himself to catch the ball, and was instead run over by 200-pound (91 kg, 14 stones 4 pounds) left fielder Frank Thomas, who understood no Spanish.

The band wanted a name that sounded foreign in order to avoid any connotations and Kaplan is a devoted baseball fan (and a fan of the New York Mets in particular). However, it still irks them when they are asked the origin of the name. The band once performed a cover of the Mets theme song "Meet the Mets" during a benefit appearance on radio station WFMU's pledge drive.

History

Ira Kaplan and Georgia Hubley, a husband/wife duo, formed the band in 1984. They went through several other bandmembers before stabilizing with lead guitarist Dave Schramm and bass player Mike Lewis (founding bass player of Boston garage-punk mainstays DMZ and The Lyres, and a member of Brooklyn garage band The A-Bones throughout his tenure in Yo La Tengo) for their debut recording, "The River of Water". In 1986, their first LP, Ride the Tiger, was released.

Schramm and Lewis left the band, and Stephen Wichnewski joined, with Kaplan taking on the role of lead guitar. New Wave Hot Dogs (1987) did much to establish the band's reputation among rock critics, though it sold poorly. President Yo La Tengo (1989) continued this trend, with rave reviews yet poor sales.

1990 saw the release of Fakebook, an album of mostly folk tunes, including covers from Gene Clark, Cat Stevens, Rex Garvin & the Mighty Cravers, the Escorts, the Flamin' Groovies, the Scene Is Now, the Kinks, the Pastels, Daniel Johnston, and several songs by Yo La Tengo themselves. May I Sing with Me (1992) included new bassist James McNew (of Christmas and Dump), who has stayed with the band ever since. Painful (1993), Electr-O-Pura (1995) and I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One (1997) marked a steady progression towards a sprawling, multi-faceted style, which included such disparate elements as folk, punk rock, shoegazing, long instrumental noise-jams and electronica oriented songs. Painful was also the beginning of the band's fruitful creative realtionship with producer Roger Moutenot, who has produced every subsequent Yo La Tengo album release. During these years their cult grew and, thanks to almost constant touring and unrelenting critical praise, they became one of the most prominent American indie rock bands. They released And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out in 2000 and Summer Sun in 2003.

The band is renowned for its encyclopedic repertoire of cover songs, and every year plays live on the New Jersey freeform radio station, WFMU, as part of its annual fundraising marathon, performing (with guitarist Bruce Bennett of Norton Records A-Bones, and occasional additional guests like Hamish Kilgour of New Zealand's The Clean and Pacific Northwest folk-punk chantuese Lois Maffeo) impromptu cover-song requests from listeners who call in to pledge money to the station. In 2006 the band released an album compiling performances from the marathons between 1996 and 2003 entitled Yo La Tengo Is Murdering The Classics.

In 1996 Yo La Tengo appeared briefly (along with their friend Tara Key of the band Antietam) as the Velvet Underground in the film I Shot Andy Warhol. In 2001 they recorded an instrumental soundtrack for eight short undersea documentaries of Jean Painlevé, entitled The Sounds Of The Sounds Of Science. Yo La Tengo also provided the soundtrack for the acclaimed 2005 indie film "Junebug" and Kelly Reichardt's award-winning 2006 feature film "Old Joy."

The group collaborated with Yoko Ono as well on the 2003 album "Wig in a Box, Songs From & Inspired by Hedwig and the Angry Inch," made as a charity album to support the Harvey Milk High School.

March of 2005 saw the group release a 2-disc greatest hits package, entitled Prisoners of Love. A bonus edition included a 3rd disc of rarities and unreleased tracks.

The album "I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass" followed in September 2006.

Trivia

  • Their song "Today Is The Day" is featured on the Major League Baseball 2k6 soundtrack.
  • Yo La Tengo is referenced in Hot Chip's song "Playboy" in the lyric "20 inch rims with the chrome now, blazin' out Yo La Tengo..."
  • The band makes a cameo appearance as troubadours in the 2006 season finale of the TV show Gilmore Girls, along with Sonic Youth, Joe Pernice, Sparks, Sam Phillips, and Mary Lynn Rajskub.

Selected discography

The Matador Records web site has a detailed discography up to 1998, available [1].

Singles and EPs

  • The River of Water/A House Is Not A Motel (Egon Records, 1985)
  • The Asparagus Song/For the Turnstiles (Coyote Records, 1987)
  • That Is Yo La Tengo (City Slang, 1991)
  • Upside Down (Alias, 1992)
  • Shaker (Matador, 1993)
  • From A Motel 6 (Matador, 1994)
  • Tom Courtenay (Matador, 1995)
  • Camp Yo La Tengo (Matador, 1995)
  • Autumn Sweater (Matador, 1997)
  • Blue-Green Arrow (Earworm, 1997)
  • Little Honda (Matador, 1997)
  • Rocket #9 (Planet, 1997)
  • Sugarcube (Matador, 1997)
  • You Can Have It All (Matador, 2000)
  • Saturday (Matador, 2000)
  • Nuclear War (Matador, 2002)
  • Merry Christmas From Yo La Tengo (Egon, 2002)
  • Today is the Day (Matador, 2003)

Albums

Matador Records reissued New Wave Hot Dogs, President Yo La Tengo and The Asparagus Song on a single CD in 1996.

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