Matador

Austin's KLRU is hosting Yo La Tengo's Ira Kaplan and Georgia Hubley TONIGHT on "Overheard" with Evan Smith. Please note that this event is free, but RSVP is required. In the event page here, you can do just that.

Time: 7pm

Map and directions to KLRU here.



The band is in town to perform "The Love Song of R. Buckminster Fuller" as a collaboration with filmmaker Sam Green. Love song premiered in 2012 at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art as part of the San Francisco International Film Festival. This revival will be in Austin for only one night and two performances on April 17th.

"Love Song examines Fuller’s remarkable life as a visionary architect, designer, and social critic, most famous for his creation of the geodesic dome. Green draws heavily from the Fuller archive at Stanford, an astonishing collection of notes, letters, blueprints, photographs, films, and ephemera that contains a wonderful record of the utopian thinker and creator’s massive body of work. Yo La Tengo’s eclectic indie rock provides live musical accompaniment to the film and Green’s live narration."

More information about this event can be found here.

Ticket links: 7PM / 9PM

 

Starting tomorrow Yo La Tengo hit the beach in Australia and New Zealand for 5 shows.  Whether or not these actually take place on a beach remains to be seen, but as I write in the drizzle of London, I can only imagine that Australia is all shorts, surfboards and beaches.  You guys are so lucky.  

03/08/14 Meredith Golden Plains Festival AU
03/09/14 Melbourne Corner Hotel AU
03/11/14 Brisbane The Zoo AU
03/13/14 Sydney Sydney Opera House AU
03/15/14 Wellington Opera House NZ 

And remember, you can still get daily updates from Ira, Georgia and James over at the yolatengo.com site.

In what has become a tradition almost as cherished as declarations the New York Mets are financially solvent, Yo La Tengo will make their annual pilgrimage to WFMU's Jersey City studios this Wednesday night (February 26, 9pm eastern)  for the Evan "Funk" Davies show (co-hosted this week by longtime YLT associate Gaylord Fields). As you've probably already guessed, for the the paltry sum of $100, Yo La Tengo will (hopefully) cover a song of your selection, with all funds going to WFMU's annual Marathon.

You can listen or watch a live video stream at WFMU.org, but be advised that unlike most of the station's wonderful programing, this show will not be archived for on-demand consumption.   You can submit your pledges and song requests here in advance.

Wits : Game Show ("I Wast Into Their Earlier Stuff"), with Paul F. Tompkins and Yo La Tengo. (video courtesy American Public Media)

Have you ever noticed that sometimes after an enormodome show has long been sold out, at the very last minute, the promoter release a small quantity of premium tickets after it's been determined, for instance, that Passion Pit don't need an orchestra pit, or Porno For Pyros are forbidden from using pyro (and in some municipalities, the porno's off the table, too).  Well, in a scenario that has almost nothing to do with the above examples, the Bell House have made a tiny quantity of tickets available this morning for Yo La Tengo's 4 (otherwise) sold out shows happening Friday December 13-Monday December 16.

If the elbow-throwing, steel-toed boot climate surrounding the Bell House's merch booth is not to your liking, we'd like to remind you that Album Of The Year candidate 'Fade' is available from the Matador store in a variety of formats, including the recently released double CD version including the 'Fade Out', 72 minute bonus disc.   There's also the "Super Kiwi" 7" and the "Ohm" triple 12" shower-curtain pack, so if you know anyone who claims this time of year is all about manipulating consumer anxiety, be sure to put in a good word for us.

Yo La Tengo - posing for their Press Pop photo shoot
Given that James, Georgia and Ira have been on tour for pretty much the entire year since Fade was released back in January, you'd think we might have let up on twisting their arm for promotional opportunities, but with the promise of a good meal after, we persuaded them to record a BBC 6music session for Marc Riley last night.  Playing Ohm around the 46 minute mark, they followed with some chat and two more songs, with renditions of Paddle Forward and I'll Be Around from the 1:16 mark - listen to all of those here.
Gideon Coe's 6music show followed where the band had pre-recorded Is The Point Of It, also online now.  Currently on their way back to the US, their final shows of the year take place at The Bell House and are all sold-out.

Pre-blog News

09/03/04 — On the campaign trail
As the battle for swing states rages on, perhaps it is a bit churlish for your label co-prez to be dissing the noble efforts of John Cougar, Dave Matthews and Sheryl Crow. But there you, I'm-a-churning with churlishness. Though the money they raise in their emperor-toppling efforts is nice enough, spreading BAD ART throughout the heartland is a sad thing. And with that in mind, here are Yo La Tengo's autumn dates in hotly contested areas, all designed to kollect kash for Senator John Kerry's Kampaign (though with all of those wacky new ketchup variations Paul Lukas writes about, you wouldn't think he'd be hurting for dough):

YO LA TENGO ó THE PATRIOT ACT: YO LA TENGO'S SWING STATE TOUR:
9/21 - Lancaster PA - Chameleon - Fred Armisen - Sue Garner
9/22 - Pittsburgh PA - Mr. Smallís Theatre - Fred Armisen - Sue Garner
9/23 - State College PA - Dark Horse Tavern - Fred Armisen - Sue Garner
9/24 - Cincinnati OH - Southgate House - Fred Armisen - Sue Garner
9/25 - Cleveland OH - Grog Shop - Fred Armisen - Sue Garner
9/27 - Ann Arbor MI - Blind Pig - Damon & Naomi
9/28 - Grand Rapids MI - The Intersection - Damon & Naomi
9/29 - Madison WI - U of Wisconsin Terrace - Damon & Naomi - David Kilgour - Rick Rizzo - Mark Greenberg
9/30 - Iowa City IA - Wheel Room - Damon & Naomi - David Kilgour - Rick Rizzo
10/1 - Ames IA - Maintenence Shop - David Kilgour - Rick Rizzo
10/2 - Kansas City KS - Grand Emporium - David Kilgour - Rick Rizzo
10/4 - St. Louis MO - Gargoyle Club - David Kilgour
10/5 - Nashville TN - Mercy Lounge - David Kilgour - Kurt Wagner
10/6 - Knoxville TN - Blue Catís - David Kilgour
10/8 - Charlotte NC - Visulite Theatre - David Kilgour
10/9 - Asheville NC - Orange Peel - David Kilgour
10/10 - Carrboro NC - Catís Cradle - David Kilgour - Mac McCaughan - Chris Stamey

ALL ARTISTS LISTED ARE ON-STAGE GUEST MUSICIANS WITH YLT

07/23/04 — Yo La Tengo to play big Kerry benefit in NYC
Yo La Tengo will be playing "The End Of An Error" benefit for the John Kerry campaign in New York City on August 12. It takes place at Spirit, 530 West 27th Street. Also appearing will be Chris Heinz, Eric Bogosian, Ted Allen from 'Queer Eye,' John Wesley Harding, Rachel Dratch and Friends from SNL, author Jonathan Lethem, and many others (including other musical guests) to be announced. More information, and tickets, here.

07/19/04 — Light shows, and John McEnroe
Following some heavy duty global travel, Yo La Tengo played at New York's Anthology Film Archives last week accompanying the light show of Gary Panter and Joshua White.

You can see YLT performing "Today Is The Day" on CNBC's "McEnroe", August 5.

06/01/04 — Heavy touring, Gunther Gebel-Williams
Ira, Georgia and James are in the midst of a heavy spate of touring, in some cases hitting towns that Yo La Tengo haven't played in ages or have previously managed to avoid. During our lengthy and effervescent promo meetings, we like to call these cities "secondary markets", which I'm sure you'll agree is terribly condescending. But don't take it out on the band --- they don't talk that way and are likely to put forth just as much effort in these performances as they would any other --- the hallmark of a true artist. Would Gunther Gebel-Williams phone it in just because he was playing Little Rock? Would Rudy Rae Moore give less than 100% in Albuquerque? To tell you the truth, I have no idea. But I'd take Yo La Tengo's concert experience over either of those guys under any circumstances. Unlike Rudy Rae, they don't have to work blue. And unlike Gunter, no audience member has ever been mauled to death at a YLT gig.

Tue, June 1 - Los Angeles, CA - Henry Fonda TheatreÝÝ
Wed, June 2 - Tucson, AZ - City Limits (6 years ago)
Thu, June 3 - Albuquerque, NM - Launchpad (6 years ago)ÝÝ
Sat, June 5 - Austin, TX - Stubb's OutdoorsÝÝÝÝ
Sun, June 6 - Dallas, TX - Gypsy Tea Room
Tue, June 8 - Little Rock, AR - Juanita's (1st time ever)
Wed, June 9 - Memphis, TN - Young Avenue Deli (9 years ago)
Thu, June 10 - St. Louis, MO - Mississippi NightsÝÝÝÝÝÝÝ
Fri, June 11 - Manchester, TN - Bonnaroo Music FestivalÝÝÝ

Tue, June 13 - Mexico City - Salon Mexico

In addition, Yo La Tengo will be performing a short acoustic set at Euclid Records, 601 E. Lockwood, St. Louis, 314-961-8978, on Thursday, June 10th at 6 PM.

05/05/04 — West Coast and Mid-West touring in May/June
Yo La Tengo are touring the West Coast, Texas and the Mid-West in May and June. See the tours page for details.

04/20/04 — Bonnaroo date announcement
We have finally received confirmation of the night Yo La Tengo will be playing Bonnaroo... it's Friday, June 11. Visit the Bonnaroo website for more details.

03/10/04 — WFMU, Bonnaroo
Currently finishing a well-received tour of the UK, Yo La Tengo have confirmed their participation in June's Bonnaroo Festival, taking place June 11-13 in Manchester, Tennessee.

Other participants include Bob Dylan, The Dead, Wilco, and about a million others. It's kind of like Coachella, except our record label isn't having arguments over who gets to go. Which is kind of funny considering the label has its roots in an underground hacky sack tournament (kind of like "Fight Club", except I, uh, just talked about it).

Yo La Tengo will also be taking part (again) in WFMU's fundraising marathon (currently ongoing), when they cover your favorites for cash on Gaylord Fields's show, Saturday, March 20. One of the premiums being offered to big-money contributors is a YLT-issued CD containing highlights from previous WFMU Marathon appearances.

12/01/03 — MP3 from EP posted
Check out the music page to listen to an MP3 from the new EP.

11/05/03 — UK tour with Gorky's Zygotic Mynci
Dates for a UK tour with Gorky's Zygotic Mynci this coming March have been posted on the tours page.

11/05/03 — No Hanukkah shows
Yo La Tengo's Hanukkah shows at Maxwell's will not be happening in 2003 --- perhaps we'll be deserving of another 8 night celebration in 2004. But since the band care so much about the other holidays on the calendar, Yo La Tengo will be playing at the Onion's Christmas party, taking place at North Six on December 16, as well as playing their first New Year's Eve show at Maxwell's since 1997/8 on December 31 (also known as "New Year's Eve").

Though I've been warned that merely repeated or linking to news on the band's official sites does not constitute "new or original content that will drive traffic to our own portal" (ok, I'm paraphrasing, no one really said that), sometimes I cannot resist. A literary & pictorial tour diary from Yo La Tengo's recent Autumn Tour of the USA can be found here.

09/18/03 — Fall touring, in-stores
Ira, Georgia and James are in the midst of yet another massive US tour, not only reminding us that 'Summer Sun' remains one of the year's best albums irregardless of season, but the forthcoming 12"/CDEP 'Today is The Day' is further evidence of their broad stylistic range (and ability to turnaround a great EP on short notice). The current tour includes a couple of in-store performances, one this Friday at Austin's terrific 33 Degrees, and another on the 30th of September at Indianapolis' Indy CD & Vinyl. The latter is the source of some small controversy in that the band were promised Isiah Thomas would be on hand and now we have learned he won't be attending. It seems that Zeke had allegedly made a comment to the effect of, "If Yo La Tengo were a four-pieceÖ.they'd be just another quartet." While this remark is undoubtedly insensitive, I am sure the band would've let bygones be bygones and buried the hatchet. Oh well, maybe next time.

08/06/03 — Contest winners and answers announced
The winner of the custom Yo La Tengo Surfboard has been announced, along with the two runners-up who receive signed Yo La Tengo CD catalogs. Also the answers. All on the contest page.

For those of you who missed them, you can view the six hilarious interview clips on the music and video page.

08/06/03 — "Today Is The Day" EP
Following a ton of shows in Europe, Japan and Australia, Yo La Tengo have announced another US tour happening in September (please check the tour dates section). Said gigs will be followed closely by the release of a new CD/12" EP, "Today Is The Day", a rocking alternate version of one of 'Summer Sun''s highlights, plus 5 additional previously unreleased tracks. In classic P____f__k style, here is the track listing :

"Today Is The Day" (rock version)
"Styles Of The Times"
"Outsmartner"
"Needle Of Death" (Bert Jansch)
"Dr. Crash"
"Cherry Chapstick" (acoustic version).

Time is also running out for you to win a Yo La Tengo custom-designed surfboard or consolation prizes of autographed Yo La Tengo CDs. (in the event you are not a surfer, perhaps you'd prefer the autographed CD's. in the event you are are not a Yo La Tengo fan, perhaps you'd like to enter another contest).

To participate, you need to watch 7 video clips hosted at various sites featuring an interview with Ira by the comedic talents of the Midnight Pajama Jam crew, including puppets Lumpy and Scott Fellers.

The contest ends August 15, but memories of these interview clips will surely haunt you forever.

07/15/03 — Surfboard Contest Announced!
Win an unbelievably cool custom-designed Yo La Tengo surfboard, or runner-up prizes of autographed Yo La Tengo CDs, by entering our complicated contest which requires you to watch amusing video clips of Ira interacting with Jon Wurster of the Midnight Pajama Jam, along with puppets Lumpy and Scott Fellers. Enter the contest.

06/26/03 — Surf's up (and down)
Georgia, Ira and James have just completed the western USA leg of their 'Summer Sun' tour and are on their way to the tiny village of Europe for gigs in a variety of indoor and outdoor venues. Be sure to check in here sometime next week for an exclusive Quicktime video interview with Ira Kaplan, as conducted by the team behind Midnight Pajama Jam. Pay close attention, because your chance to win a custom Yo La Tengo surfboard (not actually used by members of the band) rests on your comprehension skills.

05/20/03 — Worldwide tour
YLT are currently occupied with a global tour that encompasses headlining club shows, lots of festivals and more than a few unique events --- a co-headlining show with Calexico at London's Somerset House on July 14th, amongst them. Ira, Georgia and James can be seen peering out from the cover of the latest issue of The Wire,and perhaps this will be food for thought for others in the publishing industry when they see how quickly this edition is snapped up (I think it is fair to say it will be almost impossible to find within a month's time).

04/14/03 — Album released
The release of 'Summer Sun' was celebrated amidst a brutal snowstorm this past Monday evening when Yo La Tengo dj'd at New York's Other Music. Beers were served, autographs were signed, much shrinkwrap was torn.

03/05/03 — New MP3, old fund-raising.
As anticipation builds for the April 8 release of 'Summer Sun' (CD/2XLP), we've got another MP3 from this amazing album, "Little Eyes", available now for download.

The next item comes to us from our friends at WFMU who need your money almost as badly as those people who compile the 'Certain Damage' compilations :

Yo La Tengo Play Requested Covers for Pledges!

Saturday, March 15th, 9pm - Midnight on Are We There Yet? with Tamar

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.Ý

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:

April 4
Carolina Theatre, Durham NC at 10:30pm
(opening night of Double Take Documentary Film Festival)
Tickets can be purchased for the opening night festivities including the YLT show, OR for just the YLT performance itself through the Carolina Theatre box office at 919-560-3030.

April 6
Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, New York, NY
2 performances: 6:30pm and 9:00pm
Tickets at: http://www.lincolncenter.com

April 8
Somerville Theater, 55 Davis Sq., Somerville, MA
Tickets available via Ticketmaster or the theater box office at
617-625-4088

April 20
The Barbican, London (England)
As part of the “Only Connect” series.

There’s also a great book about Painlevé called ‘Science Is Fiction’ that is worth looking into if the films strike your fancy.

And this relates, somewhat. YLT are doing their annual WFMU fundraiser on Saturday March 16 from 5-7pm (EST) on the air with Hova and Gaylord Fields. Once again, Ira, Georgia, James and their pal Bruce support the freeform radio cause by playing live on WFMU’s airwaves. Pledgers get to call in and put in their request for any cover song at all and the band will try to play it. WFMU is at 90.1 FM in the NYC area and the Hudson Valley, or on the net.

12/03/01 — The dates & special guests for “Hanukkahpaloza” have been announced. Tickets are $15/night and all proceeds go to charity.

08/29/01 — The videos for “Tom Courtenay” and “Sugarcube” have just been added to the music & video section.

08/14/00 — Yo La Tengo — Once they had a home.
Now, they get closer and closer to yours.
Yo La Tengo will continue their relentless U.S. schedule in support of ‘And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out,’ playing with Versus from September 15-24, and Chris Knox from September 27-29 (check out tour dates section). Versus have a new album forthcoming from Merge; Chris Knox has a new album on Flying Nun. You can consider the above a recommendation.

Also, Ira, Georgia and James will be backing an aspiring singer-songwriter named Ray Davies for 3 nights at the Jane St. Theatre (August 23, 24, 25) in New York City. We’ve not been able to find much in the way of biographical information about this Davies guy on the Internet, but we’re open minded enough to want to check the shows out just the same. We encourage you to do so as well.

07/21/00 — Yo La Tengo / Cat Power webcasts this weekend
What were the great rock festivals of all time? Woodstock (I, II or III)? The HORDE tour? The US Festival? Monsters Of Rock? The Up In Smoke Tour? Roskilde? A Nice Weekend In Upper Volta? All of the above have their good points and bad, but none of ’em can compare to the ongoing Digital Club Festival, an event that allows fast-talking people we’ve never met to cash in on the notoriety of our more popular bands. Since you, the loyal fans of fill-in-the-blank, get to see these webcasts, everyone is a winner (except perhaps, the people at the gig who can’t see around the roving camera crews).

July 24, 10pm EST, Yo La Tengo @ Maxwell’s, Hoboken NJ
Will be archived for broadcast on demand for 3 months.

July 24, 10pm EST, Cat Power @ 40 Watt Club, Atlanta, GA
Will be archived for broadcast on demand for 3 months.

06/21/00 — Joke-writers are a dime a dozen. They had to hire about 70 of them for that Flinstones movie several years ago, and I didn’t laugh once! So here’s a chance for all of you smart alecks to show us how fucking clever you are.

Send us your funniest Yo La Tengo joke (warning — offensive and/or insulting comments about the band will be ineligible, but might be circulated around the office). You know, something like “did you hear the one about the record company that misspelled the name of their best band?” The first 200 or so entries will win the oft-discussed Yo La Tengo “value-added” compilation CD (see old news for this one) plus a snazzy Matador sticker that you can put on your skateboard, bathroom mirror or your private parts. Tasteful/non-slanderous entries might be featured on this site (either that, or we’ll steal them and not give you credit).

If we ever use the words “value-added” in lieu of a title again, you are instructed to kill us.

Yo La Tengo — Webcasted
Yes, we know that some of you are getting sick of seeing Yo La Tengo in video form. That’s just too bad, the band have gone so long with their faces only being viewable in print, on stage and on post offices walls, that the video performance thing is being embraced in a big way. Starting June 22, you can watch a webcast of Yo La Tengo’s recent gig at Chicago’s Metro, with radio & video in Real or Windows Media.

06/06/00 — Yo La Tengo to return to the scene of the crime — The world’s greatest band with the initials “Y.L.T.,” or as we like to call them, Yo La Tengo, will be appearing on NBC’s Late Night With Conan O’Brien, Tuesday evening, June 13 at 12:30 (eastern U.S.). We had wanted the group to discuss some of the recent allegations that have been made, but their management insisted on pre-approving the questions. So instead, the band will perform “You Can Have It All” from every smart person’s pick for album of the year, ‘And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out.’ Keep your eyes peeled for special guests — the first person to correctly identify them on our bulletin board wins absolutely nothing, other than the respect of your peers.

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)

05/25/00 — 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. [...]

 

08/14/00
Yo La Tengo — Once they had a home.
Now, they get closer and closer to yours.
Yo La Tengo will continue their relentless U.S. schedule in support of ‘And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out,’ playing with Versus from September 15-24, and Chris Knox from September 27-29 (check out tour dates section). Versus have a new album forthcoming from Merge; Chris Knox has a new album on Flying Nun. You can consider the above a recommendation.

Also, Ira, Georgia and James will be backing an aspiring singer-songwriter named Ray Davies for 3 nights at the Jane St. Theatre (August 23, 24, 25) in New York City. We’ve not been able to find much in the way of biographical information about this Davies guy on the Internet, but we’re open minded enough to want to check the shows out just the same. We encourage you to do so as well.

07/21/00
Yo La Tengo / Cat Power webcasts this weekend
What were the great rock festivals of all time? Woodstock (I, II or III)? The HORDE tour? The US Festival? Monsters Of Rock? The Up In Smoke Tour? Roskilde? A Nice Weekend In Upper Volta? All of the above have their good points and bad, but none of ’em can compare to the ongoing Digital Club Festival, an event that allows fast-talking people we’ve never met to cash in on the notoriety of our more popular bands. Since you, the loyal fans of fill-in-the-blank, get to see these webcasts, everyone is a winner (except perhaps, the people at the gig who can’t see around the roving camera crews).

July 24, 10pm EST, Yo La Tengo @ Maxwell’s, Hoboken NJ
Will be archived for broadcast on demand for 3 months.

July 24, 10pm EST, Cat Power @ 40 Watt Club, Atlanta, GA
Will be archived for broadcast on demand for 3 months.

06/21/00 — Joke-writers are a dime a dozen. They had to hire about 70 of them for that Flinstones movie several years ago, and I didn’t laugh once! So here’s a chance for all of you smart alecks to show us how fucking clever you are.

Send us your funniest Yo La Tengo joke (warning — offensive and/or insulting comments about the band will be ineligible, but might be circulated around the office). You know, something like “did you hear the one about the record company that misspelled the name of their best band?” The first 200 or so entries will win the oft-discussed Yo La Tengo “value-added” compilation CD (see old news for this one) plus a snazzy Matador sticker that you can put on your skateboard, bathroom mirror or your private parts. Tasteful/non-slanderous entries might be featured on this site (either that, or we’ll steal them and not give you credit).

If we ever use the words “value-added” in lieu of a title again, you are instructed to kill us.

Yo La Tengo — Webcasted
Yes, we know that some of you are getting sick of seeing Yo La Tengo in video form. That’s just too bad, the band have gone so long with their faces only being viewable in print, on stage and on post offices walls, that the video performance thing is being embraced in a big way. Starting June 22, you can watch a webcast of Yo La Tengo’s recent gig at Chicago’s Metro, with radio & video in Real or Windows Media.

06/06/00
Yo La Tengo to return to the scene of the crime
The world’s greatest band with the initials “Y.L.T.,” or as we like to call them, Yo La Tengo, will be appearing on NBC’s Late Night With Conan O’Brien, Tuesday evening, June 13 at 12:30 (eastern U.S.). We had wanted the group to discuss some of the recent allegations that have been made, but their management insisted on pre-approving the questions. So instead, the band will perform “You Can Have It All” from every smart person’s pick for album of the year, ‘And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out.’ Keep your eyes peeled for special guests — the first person to correctly identify them on our bulletin board wins absolutely nothing, other than the respect of your peers.

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.

12/13/99
Yo La Tengo recently thrilled a capacity crowd at London's Queen Elizabeth Hall, previewing some new songs from the upcoming And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out. Sadly, Billy Bragg played as well. Did I just step into a time tunnel of some sort? This past month in London, live attractions have included B. Bragg, Squeeze, Duran Duran, the Angelic Upstarts and Sid Griffin. At least the Angelic Upstarts are still going. Yo La Tengo will have a new limited edition 10" coming out in Europe on January 31; "Saturday" from the new album, plus 2 non-album selections, "Danelectro 2" and "Danelectro 3". Look for news about Yo La Tengo's forthcoming tour of sit-down venues in the fancy cultural sections of your local papers.

11/15/99
The webcast site will be coming down on Monday the 15th. Apologies for all the technical difficulties in bringing you the shows, especially the Yo La Tengo and Come sets. We're working to bring them to you in the future. Working hard!

11/05/99
Tuesday’s storm + endless repeat = ‘And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out,’ the new record from Yo La Tengo. We couldn’t get enough of it here in the marketing office. It features: “Let’s Save Tony Orlando’s House,” “Night Falls on Hoboken,” and “The Crying of Lot G.” You know this will be good. Due out on February 22.

10/08/99
Gerard on the 10th Anniversary show: Yo La Tengo, with special guests Daniel Carter, Sabir Mateen and Roy Campbell, were a revelation, an inventive twist or 2 on songs we thought we knew pretty well, plus some terrific new material from the upcoming album.

You’ve probably heard or read a thing or 2 about Yo La Tengo’s encore of “Slack Motherfucker” which featured Chris and myself being roasted in brutal fashion by Jon Spencer and “Brett fucking Gurewitz” aka Rob Kennedy of the Workdogs. Yo La Tengo have gone to great lengths to assure me that this stunt had nothing to do with them and was all Jon Spencer’s idea. Maybe so, but I didn’t see them throwing their instruments down and stomping offstage in protest.

10/01/99
The weekend's events went smashingly well; thanks to all the fans and the bands who made this a wonderful time. For those of you who missed the webcast, look for an archive of most of the sets by October 8th, possibly sooner. Yo La Tengo promised to pick at least one song for the site.

Reflections from the crowd at the 10th Anniversary show: “It’s pretty stupid that Yo La Tengo played ‘Slack Motherfucker.’ Superchunk hates Matador.”

09/10/99
Gerard on the London Anniversary shows: Yo La Tengo played some excellent new songs and embarrassed the fuck out of me and CL (or at least me) with their encore of "Love Power" (let's just say Ira's version of Matador's orgins needs as much fact-checking as Bill Boggs').

08/20/99
In case you're wondering what's up with YO LA TENGO, well here's your answer: everybody's favorite practitioners of American song-writing have just completed recording their next album in Nashville (title tba, due early 2000). The mixing's not done yet, but Ira sent us this brief update:

Dear Russ,
> Funny working titles? Not us - all our working titles are
> dull dull dull. The "funny" titles are the real ones: "The
> Last Days of Disco" and "Let's Save Tony Orlando's House,"
> I'm guessing are the ones Christina was referring to.
> Other, dryer titles include
>
> "Madeline," "An Almost-True Story" and "Saturday."
>
> Anecdotes? Georgia nearly got herself caught in the
> crossfire of a shootout on 38th and 6th the other night.
> There she was, minding her own business, when a couple of
> cops ran by, guns at the ready.
>
> best,
> Ira

See? Pre-millennium tension is everywhere. No longer confined to the parking lots and burnt-out fields of yesterday's big ROCK concerts, but right here on the burnt-out streets of New York City. Riots, tear gas, and rubber bullets...not nice.

08/06/99
Matador alumni Dave Schramm (the Schramms, Yo La Tengo) has released his 2nd solo album: "hammer and nails" on the Chicago label the Catamount Company (PO Box 6368, Chicago, IL 60680).

07/30/99
Let's announce the track listing for Matador's Tenth Anniversary Compilation video to be released on VHS and DVD on September 14, shall we? "Everything Is Nice" is the title. The DVD version will also include "What's Up, Matador?" in its entirety. How's that for value?

Pavement — Range Life
Cat Power — Cross Bones Style
Chavez — Break Up Your Band
Solex — Solex All Licketysplit
Cornelius — Star Fruits Surf Rider
Arsonists — Pyromaniax/Backdraft
Yo La Tengo — Sugarcube
JSBX — Talk About the Blues
Helium — Honeycomb
Guitar Wolf — Jet Generation
Pizzicato 5 — I Hear a Symphony
Cat Power — Nude As The News

07/16/99
The film ‘Ode’ directed by Kelly Reichart will be showing at the Lincoln Center Film Festival Saturday, July 17 at 3:30 and Monday, July 19 at 6:15. Kelly's previous work includes the film "A River Of Grass" as well as videos by Christmas. The film is a modern update to the legend of Billy Joe McAllister show on Super-8 and features a score by Will Oldham, a new song by Yo La Tengo and some fine acting by Johnny Wurster of Superchunk.

06/18/99
On September 24th, Matador will release a specially-priced double CD/LP (OLE-400-1/2) which will have greatest hits as well as unreleased material from Matador artists (Pavement, Yo La Tengo, The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Solex, Mogwai, Arsonists, Cat Power and many more). On the same date, Matador will also release a VHS/DVD (OLE-400-3/4) collecting videos these and others of your favorite Matador artists.

03/12/99
Yo La Tengo will make their annual appearance on the WFMU Marathon this Saturday, March 13. Says Ira (who will NOT be naked):

We'll be on Gaylord's show from 5-7p.m. Listeners who pledge money to WFMU will have the opportunity to make a request and listen to us attempt to play it. This should be of special interest to anyone who's ever wanted to see me or any of the other members of Yo La Tengo totally humiliated.
01/25/99
This website is about two shows Yo La Tengo played in Oslo in December.