Matador Records | Yo La Tengo News

Despite the fact they'll be in Austin, Texas that very morning, Hoboken's Yo La Tengo leap through airports and time zones to be with WFMU once again for our Marathon! Ira, Georgia, James and pal Bruce again take your requests, playing any cover you can hit them with for a pledge to the station. Join hostess Tamar and co-host Gaylord Fields as they take your orders and pass them on to the band.İ

WFMU can be heard in the tri-state area at 91.1 and 90.1 FM, and all over the godforsaken planet at http://www.wfmu.org

02/25/03 — Special early ticket offer for Beacon Theatre show
Tickets for the April 25th Yo La Tengo show at the Beacon Theatre in NYC will go on sale exclusively at yolatengo.com.

Tickets will be available Saturday March 1st at 12:01 a.m on a first come, first serve basis. This is a very limited offer for YLT fans to purchase good seats for the NYC show with guests Portastatic before anyone else.

This special sale will only last one week from 3/1-3/7. Tickets will be mailed out to you the following week.

Tickets are priced at $30 including all fees and postage. Please visit the YLT site to order.

02/05/03 — New album in the can
After months of fingernail chomping we can confirm the new Yo La Tengo album is scheduled for CD/2XLP release on April 7 (April 8 for Europe). Entitled 'Summer Sun', the album's track listing is as follows :

Beach Party Tonight
Little Eyes
Nothing But You and Me
Season of the Shark
Today Is the Day
Tiny Birds
How to Make a Baby Elephant Float
Georgia Vs. Yo La Tengo
Don't Have to Be So Sad
Winter A-Go-Go
Moonrock Mambo
Let's Be Still
Take Care

The album was produced by longtime YLT associate Roger Moutenot at Nashville's Alex The Great and features guest appearances from Lambchop's Paul Niehaus, Roy Campbell Jr., Daniel Carter, Sabir Mateen, Katie Gentile (ex- Run On) and Tim Harris (Antietam) amongst others.

In other Yo La Tengo news, Georgia Hubley will be taking part in the U.S. premiere of David Thomas' rogue opera, "Mirror Man", happening at UCLA's Freud Playhouse on Saturday, February 22 (other performers featured will include David Thomas, Frank Black, Van Dyke Parks, Bob Holman and others). This is part of Pere Ubu's Disastodrome series of events that will also include the first Rocket From The Tombs performances in 27 years.

Following Yo La Tengo's SXSW appearance, the band will be jetting back to New Jersey to appear on Gaylord Fields' WFMU program, helping to raise funds for the station by performing covers for cash. The notion that WFMU has enough money to go around is a very nasty rumor (its that metal station at Seton Hall that has access to unlimited funds thanks to their pact with the devil) and even if it were true, it is easily worth $50 to hear Yo La Tengo performing Stacy Q's "Two Of Hearts" (hint, hint).

There are a handful of other YLT dates up in the tour dates section as well.

"Don't Have To Be So Sad", from the forthcoming 'Summer Sun', is available now for download.

11/13/02 — 2nd Annual Hannukah Series
(the following was swiped from http://www.yolatengo.com) :

"We are very happy to announce that we will be playing all 8 nights of Hanukkah again this year, at Maxwell's in Hoboken, NJ. Last year was the first time we did this, and it went so well we decided to do it again. The 2001 shows each featured a special opening act (Yung Wu, Lambchop, +/-, Antietam, Hypnolovewheel, Zusaan Kali Fasteau, Annie Hayden, Consonant), a special comedy act (David Greenberger, Todd Barry, Janeane Garofalo, David Cross, Jon Benjamin, Jon Glaser, The Upright Citizens Brigade, Penn Jillette w/ Gilbert Gottfried and Paul Provenza), and special guests sitting in with us during our sets (Terry Adams from NRBQ played our whole set with us opening night, Jon Spencer played guitar & sang with us for our whole set closing night; in between, Kurt Wagner sang "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You" and "Jeepster" by two of the many great Jewish songwriters we spotlighted, and Todd Barry rocked the house on drums, to name but a few). We calculate that we played close to 900 different songs over the course of those gigs. All the proceeds from each show went to a different charity, as did the money from the 2 special t-shirt designs (by Steven Hunking of Hypnolovewheel) we had made for the occasion.

"This year we will be including a brand new 3-song Christmas CDEP in the ticket price. That's right, Christmas. Where are the good Hanukkah songs? For crying out loud. Anyways, we'll be at Maxwell's from Friday November 29-Saturday December 6. Tickets are officially on sale as of now (stay tuned for the full schedule of charities, opening acts, comics, and special guests, to be updated as soon as we know, ourselves). Maxwell's only holds about 200 people, so act fast. We hope to see you there. (Tickets are on sale at Other Music in NYC, Tunes in Hoboken, at Ticketmaster elsewhere, and if you're from overseas, but planning on Hanukkahing in these parts, we recommend contacting Maxwell's at www.maxwellsnj.com.)"

in slightly less joyous news, the brand new Yo La Tengo "Nuclear War" 12"/CD EP (coming November 18) received the following review from noted music historian Sarah Dempster:

"Jazz. Huh. What is it good for? Absolutely nothing, if this streak of
smug avant-wankery is anything to go by. As befits a cover of a song written by overrated jazz waster Sun Ra."

Nice to know that an entire musical genre can be so easily dismissed, not to mention such a succinct assessment of Sun Ra (admittedly his contributions don't nearly rival those of say, Bobby Gillespie or the Libertines) but hey, we're _all about_ learning.

09/05/02 — Yo La Tengo declare (nuclear) War
Coming in November, Matador will be releasing a new 12"/CD single from Yo La Tengo; several versions of Sun Ra's "Nuclear War". That is, assuming we aren't engaged in a nuclear war between now and then, in which case the knowledge that this single will not be included on Yo La Tengo's forthcoming album won't be much consolation.

06/07/02 — Live, outdoors, in Brooklyn.
following a brief trip to Barcelona where they will be performing the 'Sounds of Silence' material alongside Jean Painleve's films as part of the Sonar Festival, Yo La Tengo will return to the metropolitan area for an outdoor concert in Brooklyn's Prospect Park on July 12. Although we were told the show is free, we've also heard that there is a $3 admission fee. Either way this sounds like bargain, though one could argue that $3 is not free. By the same token, the Modest Mouse/De La Soul gig at the same venue carries a $30 ticket price, so perhaps it will cost several thousands of dollars to attend.

04/26/02 — Resurrecting the Egon label,
Launching yolatengo.com, Surviving the Onion.
Now exclusively available from yolatengo.com, ‘The Sounds of The Sounds Of Silence’ features 78 minutes of new instrumental music by Yo La Tengo. The CD contains the entire score written and performed by the band to accompany the legendary but rarely seen undersea documentary shorts by influential French avant-garde filmmaker Jean Painleve. Yo La Tengo’s score, originally debuted on stage at the San Francisco Film Festival in April 2001 with the band providing live accompaniment to the films, echoes the film’s haunting surrealist imagery, yet the music is equally evocative on its own, from the dreamy soundscapes of “Sea Urchins” and “How Some Jellyfish Are Born” to the harsher, more dissonant moods of “Liquid Crystals” and “The Love Life Of The Octopus.” In September 2001, the group went into a Nashville studio and laid down the complete score with longtime producer Roger Moutenot. The resulting CD also features vibrant color photos from the films, along with ominious and comforting illustrations by Jim Woodring and Jad Fair.

Go and download a free MP3 of “The Love Life Of The Octopus” and to find out how to order this CD.

03/26/02 — This spring, Yo La Tengo will be once again performing their set of instrumental music to accompany the scientific films by French filmmaker Jean Painlevé.

As said best by our friends at the Barbican in London: “Here the exploratory post-rock trio from Hoboken, New Jersey provide a live soundtrack for the surreal short films of French director Jean Painlevé. Painlevé, the son of a French Prime Minister and a contemporary of Man Ray and Luis Buñuel, directed black and white silent features in the 1920s but also made a series of sensual and eerie undersea and scientific documentary shorts in vivid technicolor, the last being made in 1978. Expect Painlevé¹s scenes of mating jellyfish and his time-lapse films of growing crystals to receive a suitably psychedelic accompaniment.”

The Sounds of Science was originally produced for the 44th San Francisco International Film Festival, Music by Yo La Tengo, Films by Jean Painlevé

This show was performed for the first time last April (2001) at the San Francisco International Film Festival. Since then it has been performed in Seattle and Portland.

To quote the band: “The music is all unique to this performance, not even versions of previously played or released material. The films are sensational. To term them documentaries, while accurate, implies a dryness and a sobriety that couldn’t be more misleading. It’s somewhat similar to Microcosmos, but with a sense of humor as well. Amazing movies. It’s hard to imagine a scenario in which we’d do this show again in any city in which we’ve done it before. It’s unlike anything we’ve ever done. I don’t think anybody who shows up high will regret it.”

The program is about 90 minutes, consisting of 8 short films:
1. Hyas and Stenorhynchus
2. Sea Urchins
3. How Some Jellyfish Are Born
4. Liquid Crystals
5. The Sea Horse
6. The Love Life of the Octopus
7. Shrimp Stories
8. Acera or the Witches’ Dance

Scheduled 2002 Performances:

Lovers of late-night television will remember this is not Yo La Tengo’s first appearance on Conan. Or their first appearance on Conan’s show. The first person to write to us with the airdate of the last time Yo La Tengo were on the show, along with the song they performed, as well as the names of the other guests that night, will win 2 tickets to an upcoming Matador marketing meeting.*

(* Matador reserves the right to award an alternate prize if we don’t feel like having a meeting that day)

05/24/00
The band’s recent sold-out concert at London’s Royal Festival Hall resulted in even more acres of gushing praise, save for numerous remarks comparing one band member’s appearance to that of a popular television personality. Good thing none of these music journalists have their photos next to their bylines, or we’d a have a field day comparing their likeness to cartoon characters or famous monsters of filmland. Yo La Tengo have a bunch of U.S. dates forthcoming, and they’ve been added to the bill for “This Ain’t No Picnic,” a massive rock festival taking place on July 2nd at Irvine, CA’s Oak Canyon Ranch. Also appearing are Beck, Built To Spill, Modest Mouse, Don Cabellero and an incredibly long list of artists we’ve either never heard of or don’t like that much. Tickets are on sale now via Ticketmaster.

Matador will be offering a special version of ‘And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out’ with a free bonus CD. This package will constitute the regular ‘And Then...’ CD with a slipcase CD shrink-wrapped to the back. Said regular + bonus item superduper thing will be in stores 6/6/00 for a limited time only while supplies last:

Yo La Tengo Sampler 1993-1997 (all songs previously released):

1. “From a Motel 6”
2. “Tom Courtenay”
3. “Autumn Sweater”
4. “Little Honda”
5. “Sugarcube”
6. “Big Day Coming”
7. “Blue Line Swinger”

This might seem like a weird way of saying thank you to all the smart, loyal Yo La Tengo fans who purchased the new album when it first came out, but that’s because we’re not actually thanking them! This nutty promotional effort is designed to get a few of the fencesitters and Johnny/Joanna Comelatelies to check out a band we absolutely love to death. If we have to pander to or bribe this hypothetical unseen audience, we most certainly will do so. Anything to get the customer hooked, that’s always been our motto. Maybe that was our last job, so hard to remember. But seriously folks, while enjoying Yo La Tengo records the day they come out is a nice reward in itself, we will endeavor to come up some non-degrading scheme where some of these freebie comp. CD’s shall fall into the hands of the band’s longtime fans (i.e.. persons who already own all of the songs already). But please, no bulk e-mail campaigns, ala the Pavement tree or the JSBX box set or I swear to god, we’ll shut down the entire company and move to Jupiter (FL).

05/16/00
“Madeline” will be available for Liquid Audio download May 16 to June 15 from BarnesandNoble.com

04/24/00
Yo La Tengo Major Press Campaign Continues
Yo La Tengo's UK tour with Neil Innes, Sonic Boom and Robyn Hitchcock starts next week in Cambridge (May 3), and the band have a new European 7"/CD5 coming out later in the month featuring "You Can Have It All" backed with a Sonic Boom remix of the same song, plus a cover of the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band's "The Readymades", recorded live on the recent U.S. tour, featuring David Kilgour, Mac MacCaughn and the eight million members of Lambchop.

03/27/00
Yo La Tengo’s U.S. tour continues this week, after the initial batch of theatre shows were played to capacity crowds and very comfy chairs. ’And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out’ has turned out to be just as big a commercial success as it was a critical fave — the album is well on pace to be the best selling album of Yo La Tengo’s career, as well as the biggest unit shifter the Matador label has had in way too long (translation: we get to keep the company yacht for another year). A European single of "You Can Have It All" is planned to coincide with overseas dates in May; the band’s English dates will feature collaborative performances with Sonic Boom (Spacemen 3, Spectrum, E.A.R.), Neil Innes (Bonzo Dog Band, the Rutles), and Robyn Hitchcock. This past Saturday, Yo La Tengo (accompanied by Bruce Bennett) played live during WFMU’s annual fund-raiser, once again taking audience requests in exchange for big piles of cash. Songs covered included:

"Rock the Boat" (George McRae?)
"American Pie" (Don McLean)
"Baseball Altamont" (The Nightmares / Ned Hayden)
"Color Me Impressed" (Replacements)
"19th Nervous Breakdown" (Rolling Stones)
"Too Many Creeps" (Bush Tetras)
"Don’t You Want Me" (Human League)
"Watching the Dectectives" (Elvis Costello)
"Tears of a Clown" (Smokey Robinson)
"Sheena is a Punk Rocker" (Ramones)
"Ring of Fire" (Johnny Cash)
"Panic in Detroit" (David Bowie)
"Roundabout" (Yes)
"Raw Power" (Stooges)
"TV Party" (Black Flag)

We’re told that WFMU successfully raised somewhere in the region of 18 billion dollars. Or maybe that was the wfmu.org IPO. Hard to remember sometimes.

Also: Yo La Tengo will be playing an instore at Let It Be in Minneapolis on Monday, April 3rd at 6:30PM (1001 Nicollet Mall, MPLS 55403, (612) 339-7439). They’ll play a 20 minute stripped down set and possibly sign some of your belongings. They’re doing this for the kids because the 1st Ave show is 21 and over.

02/25/00
Earlier this year, I composed a Yo La Tengo biography that referred to the trio as "the most critically acclaimed group of all-time." Said biography was rejected by my colleagues on the grounds that this shameful hyperbole would never be accepted by the hardened journalists who cover today's pop scene. Instead, we pronounced Yo La Tengo's new album, 'And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out,' "the most wintry and relationship-riffic album of all-time." Sure enough, the word "wintry" has appeared in almost every review of this great album, despite the recording sessions taking place during 100 degree heat. The words "marriage" or "relationship-riffic" have appeared in EVERY review of the album, despite the 3 members of Yo La Tengo residing in 3 different time zones. And "relationship-riffic" isn't even a real word. Anyway, I'm big enough to admit that I was dead wrong, but now that Yo La Tengo really are the most critically acclaimed band of all-time (look it up), there's no point in being shy about it. Newsweek, Time, US News & World Report, Pulse, NME, and countless others are unanimous in their opinion 'And Then Nothing turned Itself Inside-Out' redefines wintry relations. Taking a break from their impending U.S. tour of seated venues (once you've been to a seated venue, you'll never wanna go seatless again) Yo La Tengo will be playing live on WFMU on Saturday March 18 from 5-7pm (EST) as part of the WFMU fund drive. As many of you know, this is an annual event where the band plays requests that are phoned in by listeners, but not without those listeners paying through the nose for the privilege. Matador doesn't get any of the money, which doesn't seem fair to me, but if you'd like to participate, WFMU can be heard at 91.1 on the FM dial in the tri-state area, or at www.wfmu.org in Real Audio.

If for some insane reason you're still on the fence about the new Yo La Tengo album... maybe you should sit on a chair instead, much more comfortable. Once seated in the chair, if you are sitting near a computer, you can check out the Yo La Tengo listening party at Broadcast.com. I don't understand how this is supposed to be a party, but if Broadcast.com can supply some food, liquor and people who talk too loud and blow smoke in your face, it might be HALF as much fun as last Monday night's extravaganza at Other Music. Ira, Georgia and James spun records and "interacted" with those records, while the assembled throng interacted with tasty beverages and wondered where the bathroom was. At the stroke of midnight, 'And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out' was officially on sale, and I haven't seen so much frenzied commercial activity since the Matador Filmworks IPO. Speaking of which, our shareholders really ought to calm down; "Alien Vasectomy" is sure to be a hit, we just have to work out Eric Roberts' contractual details. He's the narrator, not the Alien.

If you can get past the fact that there really is no such type of music as "noisepop," you might be interested to know that the Banks Tarver directed Guided By Voices docu-drama "Watch Me Jumpstart" will be screened at this year's Noisepop Festival in San Francisco, Friday, March 3 at 7:30. This opus will be preceded by the Emily Hubley short, "The Pigeon Within," featuring music by Yo La Tengo, and the entire event will be happening at Artist Television Access, 992 Valencia Street in San Francisco. Decorum dictates that we inform you that Scott Kannberg's record label, Amazing Grease, will have a showcase during this fest, featuring the talents of Oranger, Carlos and others.

02/10/00
Yo La Tengo to celebrate release of new album by watching you spend money. On Monday evening, February 21 at OTHER MUSIC (15 East 4th St., NYC), Yo La Tengo will be spinning records and playing music the old fashioned way (with their arms and legs), off and on between the hours of 11pm and 1:30am. That probably seems like a screwy time of night to be hanging around in a record shop, but this isn't just any night. When they clock strikes twelve, the new Yo La Tengo album, 'And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out' will be officially released and you can be among the first persons on earth (not counting reviewers, dj's, industry skum and eBay devotees) to obtain a copy. We wanted to drop copies of the album from the ceiling, or perhaps construct a giant CD-filled pinata, but our joy-killing attorneys have as usual, advised against it.

02/01/00
Yo La Tengo’s Georgia Hubley can be heard on the new album from Tara Key (Antietam, Babylon Dance Band) & Rick Rizzo, 'Dark Edson Tiger,' just released on the Thrill Jockey label. I'd say something like "this is one of our favorites," but I'm not aware if anyone else in the office has heard it — and hey, maybe not everyone likes it that much! But they're crazy if they don't, trust me.

Matador founder Chris Lombardi celebrated his birthday this past Thursday evening at a semi-secret Brooklyn nightspot. This gala affair was attended by Matador staff, various leading lights of the underground music world (Yo La Tengo, Jon Spencer, probably some others who nobody told me about) and of course, Matt Sweeny's entourage. We have a few pictures from this blow-out event, which may or may not appear on the web site, depending on the advice of our attorney.

"Down To You," the latest Freddie Prinze Jr. star vehicle, slipped to No. 8 at the box office this week. I'm not sure which box office, as there are quite a few of them... and if you're No. 8 at a theatre that shows fewer than 8 films, you clearly aren't doing very well. But we've heard great things about this movie, supposedly Freddie Prinze Jr. is even better in this one than he was in "She's All That." There's a Yo La Tengo song in the film, but not on the soundtrack album, leaving you with even more money to spend on the upcoming Yo La Tengo album, 'And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out' (not to be confused with the ficticious Yo La Tengo album 'And Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out,' recently advertised in an overseas publication).

01/21/00
Now that the Armageddon countdown is over, we can begin seriously counting the days until the release of the new Yo La Tengo double LP/single CD 'And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out'. If you're the impatient sort, check out an MP3 of "Saturday." If you're impatient and a completist-type, you can hear the non-album b-side "Danelectro 3" over at Matador Europe's site. We're not giving the house away, the full length album will cost you real money.

01/07/00
We don't want to do anything to distract from all the pre-release hype for Yo La Tengo's upcoming LP/CD, 'And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out,' but sometimes we have no choice. Yo La Tengo, via their Egon imprint, have just released a collaboration double 7" with Other Dimensions In Music entitled "NOW 2000." This limited edition historic item (which I have not actually heard, hint hint) is currently available from Other Music and Insound. We're also selling it to our direct shops. So go ask them about it.

12/20/99
The upcoming Yo La Tengo tour of seated venues (warning: some of these places just drag folding chairs out of the basement, check your local listings for full disclosure) will feature guest players Mac McCaughan and David Kilgour. Now that Yo La Tengo are about to tour as a quintent, perhaps all of those comparisons to the Police will stop.