Sunday, December 23, 2007
Slept 12 hours, still congested... Crossing my fingers for tomorrow...
Genius Plus Love
Music Countdown 2007: My Favorite Albums
#9 - Yo La Tengo - "I Am Not Afraid Of You, And I Will Be Your Ass"
Sound: YLT works in the alternative wings of rock, folk, and country; their trademark though are solid songs with mucho guitar, and dollops of distortion and feedback. YLT’s greatest influence was the seminal underground 60s rock band Velvet Underground.
What’s So Special: YLT’s nucleus is a very smart down-to-earth husband/wife duo based in Hoboken, Ira Kaplan and Georgia Hubley. They’ve been a critical favorite for nearly 24 years and 15 albums, with a devoted fan base but practically no radio play.
Favorite Lyrics: 1) "Sometimes I don't know you, it's like we never met / and what seems fine by me is your litany of regrets;" 2) "And we'll forget about our problems, ignore them for a little while / and leave our worries in the corner, leave them in a big, big pile"
Fun Facts: 1) YLT’s greatest influence is Velvet Underground, the seminal 60s underground band sponsored by Andy Warhol, and in the movie ‘I Shot Andy Warhol’ YLT actually played the Velvets ; 2) James McNew, YLT’s base player, also records as ‘Dump,’ and did an album of Prince covers with the unlikely title ‘You Mean That Skinny Motherfucker With The High Voice?’ 3) ‘Yo La Tengo’ sounds misleadingly Latin – it stems from Kaplan’s baseball obsession, in 1962 he heard the Mets' Latino shortstop yell ‘I got it’ in Spanish
And here’s the music:
Here are YLT at their ‘Hoboken Hannukah’ celebration earlier this month at Maxwell’s, singing their pretty ballad ‘Sometimes I Don’t Get You’
YLT’s more upbeat track, “Mr. Tough,” is very “Linus and Lucy” : - )
Cartoon du Jour:
this entry's permalink
Comments:
Post a Comment
