NYC’s venerable Roseland Ballroom’s been host to a number of historic rock shows over the years. Once, I saw a Slayer gig that featured almost a dozen women amongst the 4000 paying customers. On Friday, September 25, 2009, a new chapter in Roseland history will be written as Yo La Tengo headline their biggest hometown show to date, with support from Atlanta’s Black Lips and a lobby performance from Susquehanna Industrial Tool & Die Co.
Aside from the Yo La Tengo lineup of Ira, Georgia and James being augmented by additional strings on this evening, the staging and lighting will be a one-off presentation from Joshua White and Gary Panter. There’s talk of an MC, and while we can’t divulge any names, I am personally hoping and praying it is anyone other than this guy.
Tickets are available here. I realize the streets of NYC are safer than when I was living in Manhattan, but trust me, you don’t wanna be wandering around Hell’s Kitchen looking for a Yo La Tengo ticket the night of the show. For one thing, it might rain. For another, Yo La Tengo will not be playing their annual Hanukkah shows at Maxwell’s this December, so this is your last chance to see the band in the greater NY area this year.
Because just when we thought you couldn’t go and get any better, you go ahead and do something totally awesome like making this killer Yo La Tengo window display to celebrate today’s release of “Popular Songs.”
So if you find yourself in Bloomington, Indiana and you happen to pass by Landlocked Music be sure to stop in and tell them that we love them… very, very much.
We are letting the secret slip early, right here…. Matador Records, Brooklyn Vegan, and Other Music are proud to announce that we are combining forces to celebrate the new album Popular Songs on the date of release, next Tuesday, September 8th here in New York City. The event will be held at D’amelio Terras Gallery (located at 525 W. 22nd St) from 7-930 pm, however, get there EARLY, as the first hour will be an album signing by the band (yes, Ira, James, and Georgia will be in attendance), and the album artist (and gallery owner) Dario Robleto. Other Music will be set up at the gallery to sell you your personal copy of the new album (while you hear it) on the day of release! Goodies will be raffled like: Popular Songs LPs, autographed tour posters, and concert tickets to their upcoming New York headlining show at ROSELAND BALLROOM.
The office feels a little empty now that Popular Songs is shipping to Buy Early Get Now participants. It seems like only yesterday, Popular Songs was a just a BEGN preorder, full of promise. Today, the 2nd bonus mp3 is up for download, a demo version of “Periodically Double or Triple,” in mp3 and FLAC formats. Before you know it the album will be on your doorstep, in your hands, real. They grow up so fast…
Also, Entertainment Weekly has premiered the final video in the John McSwain series, this one for the gorgeous Popular Songs standout “When It’s Dark”:
….what John Stossel did for “Doctor D” David Schultz. OK, it’s friendlier than that. Anytime a national news program uses words like “sanctum sanctorum” and “late to the party” in relation to Yo La Tengo, we could not be more pleased.
(ADDENDUM : not to look positive media coverage in the mouth or anything, but please accept our apologies in advance for the advertisement that plays prior to the YLT/ABC clip. Blackberry Loves U2. U2 Loves The Virgin Prunes. Does Blackberry love the Virgin Prunes? You can’t presume anything.)
It’s not too late to preorder Popular Songs via Buy Early Get Now. As of today all BEGN participants can download the first of two bonus mp3s, a demo version of “Nothing To Hide.” They also get a full album stream, a poster, a bonus LP, and a copy of Popular Songs on their doorstep on release day, September 8th.
And it looks and sounds incredible. Heavy-duty gatefold sleeve printed at Stoughton. Two HQ-180 gram LPs pressed at RTI. Four custom Matador labels based on classic record labels of the distant past.
The album artwork is built around sculptures by Dario Robleto. On the front, At War With the Entropy of Nature / Ghosts Don’t Always Want to Come Back (2002) depicts a cassette made out of carved bone and bone dust from every bone in the body, trinitite (glass produced during the first atomic test explotion, from the Trinity test site in 1945, when heat from the blast melted surrounding sand), metal screws, rusty and typeset. Two other works appear on the interior gatefold and the back cover.
The album comes with an MP3 download coupon for all 12 songs – 74 minutes of music.
Click on the images for full-size shots.
If you preorder the album as part of Buy Early Get Now, you’ll get an additional vinyl LP of gorgeous, wonderful instrumental score composed and performed by Yo La Tengo for the motion picture Adventureland. This LP is exclusive to this promotion and has not been released in any form before. You’ll also get two bonus MP3s, a free poster, and other surprise extras.
You can also choose to preorder the record separately, without participating in Buy Early Get Now.
Preorder from Other Music (Buy Early Get Now version)
The Institute of Contemporary Art and Harborwalk Shuffle are hosting two events the next two Thursdays for new Matador releases from 6-830pm.
This week: Yo La Tengo Popular Songson August 20 – come celebrate & check out the new album + enter to win a pair of tickets to the Wibur Theatre YLT show on 9/16/09 !
Next Week: Hosted by NEWBURY COMICS on August 27 – Listen & celebrate Mission of Burma’s new album The Sound The Speed The Light – First 50 people to arrive receive a FREE 7″ with a VERY SPECIAL surprise inside you don’t want to miss!!
It’s all love at Matador, all the time, and today is no exception. Two of our finest purveyors of rock and roll have teamed up (Times New Viking – along with directors Pelham Johnston and Brandon Reichard – took the driver’s seat on this one, with Yo La Tengo supplying the tunage and the inspiration) for a video that immediately takes its rightful place in the pantheon of Matador and Yo La Tengo classics.
Our friends at AOL Spinner bring us the “Nothing to Hide” collabo, a celebration of the upcoming full-length releases from both bands: “Nothing to Hide” can be found on Yo La Tengo’s Popular Songs, out September 8th (pre-order action), and Times New Viking unveil Born Again Revisited September 22nd (you will need to OWN THIS ALBUM, it’s a stone-cold sucker-punch, best-of-their-career stylez). Pre-order Born Again Revisited from the Matastore and receive TWO free TNV 7″s and a free poster. Yeah, I hyper-linked it twice. Born Again Revisited is that essential.
Buy Early Get Now #8 has officially launched in the UK. It offers the same tasty treats of an instant stream of the entire album, the Adventureland score on LP, bonus MP3s, a poster and your choice of Popular Songs on LP or CD.
For any of you Brits looking to save a little on shipping, just go to the special BEGN-UK page and order it now.
So we just got the bonus LPs in and guess what… they’re awesome!!
These ultra-limited badboys feature Yo La Tengo’s exclusive score for the film ‘Adventureland.’
So what’s that mean?
That means in addition to the ‘Popular Songs’ CD or double LP, early stream of the album, two bonus MP3s and exclusive poster you get an entire vinyl LP of never-before-released instrumental tracks by Yo La Tengo… that is, of course, if you’re a Buy Early Get Now customer.
You can sign up for Buy Early Get Now here or find your local participating retailer here.
As promised, another week another Yo La Tengo video clip from their upcoming album Popular Songs. This week director John McSwain makes sure you’re getting your daily allowance of fruits – a key food group and an unlikely comedic/visual tool – as he gives us his take on YLT’s new song Periodically Double or Triple.
Please check out the latest and greatest in the Yo La Tengo video series:
Also don’t forget that Yo La Tengo’s new album is out on Sept 8th. Click here to pre-order Popular Songs or visit Buy Early Get Now for the unstoppable deluxe package.
Today brings us the first clip in a series of five from the upcoming Yo La Tengo album, “Popular Songs”.
“Here to Fall” kicks off director John McSwain’s multi-song visual accompaniment to the diverse and arresting sounds of YLT’s exceptional new album. Each video will debut with a unique partner site (well, the Matablog is kicking it off), one per week leading up to the September 8th release of “Popular Songs”. The videos will be collected here, so check back!
Click here to pre-order “Popular Songs”, or visit Buy Early Get Now for the unstoppable deluxe package. In a related note, the advance stream of ‘Popular Songs’ is available for BEGN customers starting today.
As we gear up for the release of the incredible Popular Songs, we have launched a Buy Early Get Now program for the album, and we now announce the second MP3.
As mentioned on the Matablog last June 4, The new Yo La Tengo CD/2XLP/digital album ‘Popular Songs” (OLE 856-1,2) is hitting record shops & e-tailers on September 8. However, as we’ve hinted previously, you can start listening to ‘Popular Songs’ on August 4 via Matador’s award-winning Buy Early Get Now scheme.
Now in it’s 8th incarnation, this version of BEGN features the following for advance purchasers of ‘Popular Songs’ on double LP or compact disc ;
- one of the above configurations, available for collection at a trusted physical retailer on September 8.
- the full album stream starting August 4, with exclusive bonus MP3s to follow.
- a vinyl LP featuring Yo La Tengo’s Orginal Score from the Motion Picture “Adventureland”
- a poster (design TBD, but trust us, you’ll be pleased).
We’re also happy to announce the following North American tour dates, with several additional shows still to be confirmed later this week. Support for this jaunt is still being confirmed, however we can tell you The Black Lips are on the September 25 bill at New York City’s Roseland Ballroom. Shows marked * are on sale today.
9/15 – Burlington, VT at Higher Ground
9/16 – Boston at Wilbur Theater*
9/17 – DC at 9:30 Club
9/18 – Durham at Carolina Theater
9/19 – Atlanta at Variety*
9/21 – Asheville at Orange Peel
9/25 – NYC at Roseland
10/2 – Montreal at Le National
10/3 – Toronto at Opera House*
10/5 – Cleveland at Beachland Ballroom*
10/6 – Chicago at the Vic Theatre *
10/7 – Minneapolis at First Ave*
10/9 – Omaha at Slowdown
10/10 – Denver at Ogden *
10/11 – Aspen at Belly Up
10/12 – Salt Lake City at Urban Lounge
10/14 – Phoenix at Marquee
10/15 – Los Angeles at Avalon
10/16 – San Diego at Soma
10/17 – Santa Cruz at Rio Theater*
10/18 – San Francisco at Treasure Island Festival (tickets on sale)
10/20 – Portland at Crystal Ballroom*
10/21 – Vancouver at Commodore Ballroom*
10/22 – Seattle at Showbox SoDo *
They may be New Jersey’s finest, but Yo La Tengo will be serenading the the citizens of the Second City with their debut on-air appearance for WGN AM 720 on The Greg Jarrett Morning Show. Tune in around 8:15AM to hear them wow their about-to-be-new-found fans. Then, if you’re in the Chicago area, make sure to check out their kick ass set at the Pitchfork Festival this evening.
Today on Joe Belock’s Three Chord Monte, hear the Primavera set from Yo La Tengo, recorded live in Barcelona but never broadcast…until now! This is as good a way as any to keep yourself sane while you wait for the new album, Popular Songs.
Tune in to WFMU today from 12 to 3pm Eastern time!
Thu 5 Nov IRELAND, DUBLIN – TRIPOD
Fri 6 Nov SCOTLAND, GLASGOW – ABC
Sat 7 Nov UK, MANCHESTER – ACADEMY 2
Sun 8 Nov UK, LONDON – THE ROUNDHOUSE
Tue 10 Nov GERMANY, BIELEFELD – FORUM
Wed 11 Nov BELGIUM, LEUVEN – HET DEPOT
Thu 12 Nov HOLLAND, AMSTERDAM – MELKWEG
Sat 14 Nov DENMARK, COPENHAGEN – Grå Hal (Gray Hall)
Sun 15 Nov NORWAY, OSLO – COSMOPOLITE
Tue 17 Nov SWEDEN, STOCKHOLM – KAGELBANAN
Wed 18 Nov SWEDEN, LUND – MEJERIET
Thu 19 Nov GERMANY, HAMBURG – MARKTHALLE
Fri 20 Nov HOLLAND, DEN HAGUE – CROSSING BORDER FESTIVAL
Sun 22 Nov GERMANY, DUSSELDORF – ZAKK
Mon 23 Nov GERMANY, BERLIN – POSTBAHNHOF
Wed 25 Nov POLAND, KATOWICE – HIPNOZA CLUB
Thu 26 Nov AUSTRIA, VIENNA – ARENA
Mon 30 Nov FRANCE, PARIS – BATACLAN
The Freewheeling Yo La Tengo show rolls into London town tonight, for Ornette Coleman’s Meltdown. A first for us Brits, in the band’s own words, The Freewheeling Show is something of an interactive experience :
“No set list; instead the audience is encouraged (if not required) to interact with the band, leading we’re never quite sure where.” So get your questions at the ready.
And the band will be back in the UK in November, no Freewheeling this time, it’s back to the good old fashioned rock n roll show. Dates below :
We have an old saying at Matador HQ, “the only thing predictable about Yo La Tengo albums is their high level of excellence and crazy amount of musical ground covered”. Trouble is, even if you believe we really have an old saying that unwieldly, it doesn’t really do justice in this instance. The new Yo La Tengo CD/2XLP/digital album ‘Popular Songs” (OLE 856-1,2) could be the bravest musical statement to date in a career full of ‘em. Recorded in Hoboken and Nashville in early 2009 with longtime associate Roger Mountenot, ‘Popular Songs’ finds the trio of Georgia Hubley, Ira Kaplan and James McNew at the height of their creative powers, fashioning an epic work that’s cooly confident as it is wildly adventurous.
Even for longtime followers of Yo La Tengo, the stylistic range encompassed on ‘Popular Songs’ is startling ; the band aren’t merely conversant with rock & pop subgenres stretching into the double digits, but their unselfconscious mastery of such is simply uncanny. Without absolving you of the sacred responsibility of listening to this album from start to finish (with no commercial interruptions!) , we can say with full confidence there are portions of ‘Popular Songs’ where a cursory needle drop reveals a band that doesn’t sound instantly like Yo La Tengo — or at least how you recognized them prior to now. In the words of Mike Wolf, “Yo La Tengo is not afraid. They walk confidently forward, into the unknown, hand in hand. And 12 (or 14) albums in, they may just be hitting their stride.”
“Periodically Double Or Triple” is the first MP3 from ‘Popular Songs’. In the days to follow, we’ll have further announcements regarding a Buy Early Get Now campaign for the album, along with Yo La Tengo’s autumn tour plans.
Tomorrow will see the start of this year’s Primavera Sound festival, in Barcelona Spain. Set on the sea front on the edge of Barcelona, the festival has stages curated by Pitchfork, ATP and Vice amongst others.
This year Matador has a total of 6 bands in attendance at the festival. Surely a record? If you’re attending, be sure to Sharpie these times on your hand now:
(in alphabetical order)
Dead Meadow – ATP Stage – Thursday 28th May 00:15
Fucked Up – Ray Ban-Vice Stage – Friday 29th May 00:30
Jay Reatard – Ray Ban-Vice Stage – Thursday 28th May 00:30
Shearwater – Pitchfork Stage – Saturday 30th May 18:15
Sonic Youth – Estrella Damm Stage – Saturday 30th May 01:00
Yo La Tengo – Estrella Damm Stage – Thursday 28th May 21:45
A prize will be awarded to anyone that manages to get a photo of all of the above in the same place at the same time.
Following the wildly successful Freewheeling Yo La Tengo U.S. dates of 2007 and 2008, Ira, Georgia and James are bringing what was previously billed as “an almost-acoustic set” of career-spanning material & covers to other parts of the whole wide world.
Sunday, May 31- Ferrera, Italy – Sala Estense- Doors are at 8:00 pm. Tickets are €20, and are available here.
Thursday, June 4 -Paris, France- L’Alhambra – Tickets are €25, and are available here.
Sunday, June 7 -Hamburg, Germany – Imperial Theater – Doors are at 8:00 pm. Tickets are €16/21, and areavailable here.
Monday, June 8 – Berlin, Germany- Babylon – Doors are at 7:00 pm. Tickets are €16/21, and are available here.
Thursday, June 11 – Amsterdam, Holland – Bimhuis – Tickets are €16, and are available here.
Friday, June 12- Brussels, Belgium – Botanic, Orangerie – Tickets are available here.
Monday, June 15 – London, England – Southbank Centre, Queen Elizabeth Hall Part of the Ornette Coleman’s Meltdown line-up. Tickets are available here.
In addition, Yo La Tengo will revert to more amplified fashion at the following outdoor events ;
Thursday, May 28 – Primavera Sound Festival, Barcelona, Spain (tickets)
Monday, July 13 – Keyspan Park, Coney Island, Brooklyn, NY (supporting Wilco) (tickets)
Friday, July 17 – Pitchfork Music Festival, Union Park, Chicago, IL (with Built To Spill, Tortoise) (tickets)
Many years ago, I used to answer telephones at WMBR. Never would I have imagined during the station’s oh-so-cool early ’80’s they would one day see fit to recognize a bunch of talented musicians from Connecticut. But enough about Death Threat, it seems the Condo Fucks are playing an WMBR-related event in the near future.
WMBR DJ Jon Bernhardt will celebrate his 25th anniversary with the morning Breakfast of Champions radio program on June 26, from 8-10 a.m. To mark this auspicious occasion, he has convinced the bands that have been played the most on his program to perform at a pair of benefit concerts at two Boston area clubs. UK legend Bevis Frond will play in his only U.S. appearance on Sunday, June 21 at TT the Bear’s along with the Condo Fucks and Sleepyhead. Versus reunites to play Church with Rebecca Gates (The Spinanes) and more guests TBA, on Saturday, June 27. Proceeds will benefit WMBR. Tickets for both shows are on sale now.
Sunday, June 21, TT the Bear’s, 10 Brookline St., Cambridge
The Bevis Frond – #1 on Bernhardt’s career playlist – makes a rare appearance, having last played the United States in 2002. Matador recording artists the Condo Fucks feature all three members of Bernhardt’s #2 band, Yo La Tengo. Sleepyhead, who released a song that tied for #1 on the list, opens.
Saturday, June 27, Church, 69 Kilmarnock St., Boston
Versus, who haven’t played in Boston since 2003, and are the #4 band on the list, reunite especially for the occasion. Also appearing is Rebecca Gates, whose band The Spinanes, released the other song tied for #1. More artists TBA.
They may be New Jersey’s finest, but Yo La Tengo will be serenading the the citizens of the Second City with their debut on-air appearance for WGN AM 720 on The Greg Jarrett Morning Show. 
