If all goes well, on iTunes you’ll be able to purchase Fucked Up’s star-studded cover of Band Aid’s Do They Know It’s Christmas? All proceeds will go to benefit three organizations in Canada working to bring to end to the epidemic of missing and murdered native women.
The song is a tongue-in-cheek take on the ’80s classic written by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure, and features vocals from Yo La Tengo, GZA, Ezra Koenig (Vampire Weekend), Bob Mould (Husker Du), Tegan & Sara, Andrew W.K., Kyp Malone (TV on the Radio), David Cross (comedian) and Kevin Drew (Broken Social Scene).
Fucked Up’s frontman Damian Abraham, a.k.a. “Pink Eyes”, says “it’s hard to find a balance between the song being a fun, playful holiday classic and the reason we’re putting it out, to benefit organizations dealing with a deadly, serious issue.” Since 1980, there have been 520 known cases of missing or murdered Aboriginal women across Canada and many believe the true number to be significantly higher. If compared to the rest of the population their death and disappearance rate would be equivalent to over 18,000 Canadian women and girls missing or murdered. Approximately 50% of the murders and disappearances have occurred during or since 2000.
The recording of this track was funded in full by a portion of the $20,000 award Fucked Up received for winning the Polaris Music Prize for their recent album, The Chemistry of Common Life.
‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’ should be available from iTunes on Tuesday December 8, and will be released as a 7″ single with an unreleased Fucked Up song on the b-side in February 2010.
Fucked Up are also releasing a compilation of their many rare singles recorded between 2002 and 2009, Couple Tracks, accompanied by a two-song limited-edition 7″ and in stores on January 26.
Photo used without permission, taken from Christoph!’s photostream on Flickr
There’s a whole host of Yo La action to update you with this week. Tonight, the band will be speaking to Gideon Coe live on BBC 6 Music, show starting at 9pm. You can listen live via DAB digital radio, or log onto Gideon’s 6Music page here for a live stream. The band will be discussing Popular Songs, their career and playing some of their favourite tracks from their most loved artists.
And tomorrow, at 7pm, Yo La Tengo will be playing a rare instore show, Freewheeling style, at London’s Rough Trade East store. It’s a free show, but you’ll only get in with a wristband. WRISTBAND COLLECTION 1 HOUR PRIOR TO STAGE TIME, STRICTLY ONE PER PERSON. So get down to the store early to guarantee entry.
Rough Trade East can be found :
‘Dray Walk’
Old Truman Brewery
91 Brick Lane
London
E1 6QL
The band will also be playing this weekend’s All Tomorrow’s Parties Nightmare Before Christmas festival at Butlins, Minehead.
Yo La Tengo : Friday 4th December, 8.30pm-9.45pm
As well as YLT, you can also catch Sonic Youth and Fucked Up down at ATP. Check the ATP listings for everyone else playing.
Photo taken from turgidson’sFlickr, used without permission.
Following their largest ever UK date earlier this month at The Roundhouse, Camden; Yo La Tengo will be returning to London early next month to play a very rare instore performance at Rough Trade East in advance of their performance at ATP’s Nightmare Before Christmas.
More details to come, but what I can tell you at this time is that this will be a stripped-down ‘Freewheeling’ style set as seen on these shores earlier in the year. Wristbands to gain access to the instore will only be available on the day from the store.
December 3rd. 7pm.
Rough Trade East
‘Dray Walk’
Old Truman Brewery
91 Brick Lane
London
E1 6QL
Though Yo La Tengo have hit many of the world’s most cosmopolitan cities while touring in support of the monumentally great ‘Popular Songs’, there are a number of Mid-American locales that haven’t thrilled to Ira, Georgia and James at the height of their performing powers. Not until January, that is, at which time Yo La Tengo return to the domestic touring circuit, but this time, with a twist.
For each of the (reasonably priced) concert dates below, tickets are available with no additional surcharge from area record stores and/or directly from the venues. Yo La Tengo, their booking agency and local promoters have put a fair bit of time into these arrangements, and here’s our contribution to the effort ; a Google Map that will help you find the outlets listed individually below.
Fri., 1/22 – Pontiac MI – Crofoot Ballroom – $17
Tickets available from Stormy, 13210 Michigan Ave., Dearborn MI 48126
Wazoo, 336 1/2 State St., Ann Arbor MI 48104
Crofoot box office, 1 South Saginaw St., Pontiac MI 48342
Sat., 1/23 – Madison WI – Barrymore Theatre – $20
Tickets available from B Side, 436 State St., Madison WI 53703
Barrymore box office, 2090 Atwood Ave., Madison WI 53704)
Sun., 1/24 – St Louis MO – The Pageant – $19.50
Tickets available from Vintage Vinyl, 6610 Del Mar Ave., St. Louis MO 63130
Euclid, 601 East Lockwood, St. Louis MO 63119
Pageant box office, 6161 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis MO 63112-1200 (cash only)
TICKETS AT THE PAGEANT BOX OFFICE ONLY WILL BE 4 FOR THE PRICE OF 3 THROUGH NOV. 21
Tue., 1/26 – Lawrence KS – Granada Theatre – $17
Tickets : Love Garden, 822 Massachusetts St., Lawrence KS 66044
Granada box office, 1020 Massachusetts St., Lawrence KS 66044
With apologies to Yogi Berra for the above headline, here’s Ira, Georgia and James performing ‘Popular Songs” climactic “And The Glitter Is Gone”, just prior to play being called on account of darkness. Video shot and hosted by Pitchfork TV. Please watch responsibly!
“Here To Fall” from the staggeringly great ‘Popular Songs’ LP/CD/digital album, as filmed and posted by PF TV. Nice view of the Empire State Building behind Georgia, too. More rooftop Yo La Tengo to come later this week.
Following a busy weekend in Northern California, with a show in Santa Cruz on Saturday night, a brunch style in-store at Aquarius in San Francisco on Sunday, and a festival appearance at the Treasure Island Music Festival, Yo La Tengo are continuing to bring their music and insight to the people of Northern California and beyond by appearing live on KQED.
Sunday afternoons, there are just nothing like them. Get a little brunch, listen to some music, and simply relax, forgetting about the worries of your previous week. Well this Sunday should be no different, except well if you’re in San Francisco because then you can also spend it with Yo La Tengo. Yep you read that right, drop by Aquarius Records this Sunday for an intimate, brunch-style in-store appearance by Yo La Tengo. Aquarius Records have been long time supporters of the band, look no further than their recent Record of the Week review (below) of Popular Songs as evidence. Yo La Tengo have equally supported independent record stores throughout the years too. So to us this really sounds like a perfect match, the likes of a bagel and cream cheese or a donut and coffee, and from what we hear, arrive early enough and you’ll have dibs on both. Most important you’ll also get a chance to see Yo La Tengo perform a special, intimate set at Aquarius, and well we can’t imagine anything better than that on a Sunday afternoon!
Aquarius Records
1055 Valencia St, SF 94110
Sun, Oct 18 / 1-2pm
Aquarius Records / Record of the Week
They never ever disappoint, in fact more often than not, they totally blow us away. And with Popular Songs, Yo La Tengo remind us once again why they are one of the best bands of the last quarter century. From start to finish this is an album with so many different sounds, styles, moods and motifs, yet it’s all so deliciously Yo La Tengo! Like their best albums, the first time you hear this record you know it’s going to be an album that you’ll listen to for the rest of your life. And in this day and age of disposable culture it’s so incredibly refreshing to have YLT, whose music has such a timeless element, and sounds so personal and passionate, and will undoubtedly stand the test of time. YLT never aspired to be the hippest or trendiest or coolest band around. Simply stated, slow and steady wins the race! They’ve definitely won, and continue to win, and in turn so have we. They’ve made their indelible mark by just being themselves, and when it comes to pure substance it just doesn’t get more richly rewarding than YLT.
Popular Songs is like an album that represent the best friend we all wish we could have. Someone you can turn to when it’s time to get deep or vent some bittersweet sadness, someone you can also have fun sleepover parties with and let loose and experience total joy together. These are a set of songs that really do hit at almost the entire spectrum of emotion, and the pacing/sequencing of the album just couldn’t be more perfect. Whether being melted away by one of Georgia Hubley’s beautifully aching drift-away numbers or being swept up in a Motown like fury or rocked by a straight ahead burner, there is such immaculate skill in the crafting of each song.
The album features wonderfully lush string arrangements provided by Richard Evans, the legendary soul pioneer who contributed so much to the amazing ’60s Chicago/Cadet soul scene, who many of you might know and love for his work on the great Afro-Harping album by Dorothy Ashby. So awesome, and yet after taking so many wonderful twist and turns, it is the ending of the album that really leaves us so stunned and in awe.
The last two tracks are very long and mostly instrumental. “The Fireside” is eleven minutes of total shoegaze bliss, that puts most actual ‘shoegaze’ bands to shame, letting the listener get lost in a slow glowing haze. And then the album’s closer “And The Glitter Is Gone”, an almost sixteen minute sonic smolder brimming with a droning and triumphant psychedelic spirit that we could listen to forever.
One of those rare records that is all ‘favorite songs’, every listen, a new song gets stuck in your head and fills your heart, only to be supplanted by another the next time, and on it goes, favorite after favorite after favorite. We think it’s fair to say this is a total masterpiece from one of our favorite groups!
Citizens of the Twin Cities and environs are blessed with not one but two opportunities for live Yo La Tengo today. In addition to going to their show tonight at First Avenue (which you surely already planned on doing), you can catch an interview and live performance by Ira, Georgia & James on 89.3 The Current. Those of you not in the area only get the one live experience, and it can be had by clicking here to listen online. The fun starts at 6 PM EDT/5 PM CDT.
You may have noticed that we’ve been going on a bit about tonight’s epic Yo La Tengo show at Roseland in New York City, and well, what can I say? We’re excited. Other excited parties, and human beings in general, should tune in to WFMU at 3:00 this afternoon, when Yo La Tengo’s always entertaining bassist James McNew will chat by phone with David Suisman on his Inner Ear Detour show. Also, I do believe David will be playing some music from the new album Popular Songs, which as I’m sure you can imagine is a favorite around these parts.
You can engage with WFMU on the radio dial at 91.1 FM (NYC/East Central NJ) and on WMFU, 90.1 FM (Hudson Valley, Lower Catskills, Western NJ). If those parenthetical locations don’t work for you, there’s always online listening at wfmu.org.
TGIF with YLT. That’s right, this Friday (Sept 25th), should you find yourself in New York City with nothing to do, fear not. Yo La Tengo return home (or very very close to home) to play a show celebrating their brand new album Popular Songs.
The event is being hosted by the Daily Show’s John Oliver. Second the Black Lips are opening up for YLT and well those guys never let you down live. And finally Yo La Tengo. Their set sounds like one for the ages, as they’ll be accompanied by both a string section and a very special, one night only light show by Joshua White & Gary Panter.
And since there are no plans for Hanukkah shows this year, this is your last chance to see YLT in the NYC area this year. Tickets are still available!
