“Sorrow is nothing but worn-out joy…”

For the first time on vinyl, Yo La Tengo’s understated, lonesome score to Kelly Reichardt’s classic 'Old Joy'.

Recorded in a single afternoon at YLT’s studio in Hoboken, 'Old Joy' is a drifting, improvisatory journey, born out of years-long friendship between the band and the film’s director.

The six instrumental tracks, created in collaboration with legendary guitarist Smokey Hormel, carry that unmistakable YLT sound, but delivered in service of another great work of art. The music, like so much of Reichardt’s film work, is low-key yet arresting, stripped down to the essentials, warm and unpretentious. The record includes two variations on the beloved “Leaving Home” theme, released for the first time on vinyl after years traveling in YLT fan circles.

This music is a balm, remarkably full of emotion despite (or maybe because of) its restraint and minimalism.

Originally released on 'They Shoot, We Score', a CD compiling several of the band’s soundtracks, 'Old Joy' stands as a cohesive whole here, blooming and rewarding repeat listens.

Sliding reverbed guitars, muted piano and percussion, the hum of an old amp - the blurry memory of an afternoon in the studio, or a short-lived road trip through the backwoods of Oregon.

TRACK LISTING

1. Leaving Home
2. Getting Lost
3. Path To Springs
4. Driving Home
5. End Credits
6. Leaving Home - Alternate Version

Hailed as a “quiet masterpiece”upon release, Yo La Tengo's And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out proposed a radical new future for rock music. Released at a time when the music industry was changing dramatically thanks to the rise of online file sharing, it suggested that the only way for a band to survive was to listen to themselves.

A delicate and hushed album, its songs explore the quiet battles that take place every day and the beauty that can emerge from the ordinary. In many ways, this is reflective of the story of the band that made it – self-managed for most of their career and having maintained the same line-up since 1992, Yo La Tengo almost resemble a suburbs-based nuclear family.

And Then Nothing… argues that great art does not come from suffering, but instead, steady, unglamorous work. It is an album that helped forge a new mythology for rock and roll: one not built on sex, drugs and debauchery, but instead the quiet lives of people living in peaceful suburban homes. From the nothingness of the everyday, something incredible can emerge.

Table of Contents

Back in print for the first time in over 20 years, the compilation assembles more than two hours of hard to find and unreleased Yo La Tengo music from 1988 – 1995.

TRACK LISTING

1. Evanescent Psychic Pez Drop
2. Demons
3. Fog Over Frisco
4. Too Late
5. Hanky Panky Nohow
6. Something To Do
7. Ultra-Powerful Short Wave Radio Picks Up Music From Venus
8. Up To You
9. Somebody's Baby
10. Walking Away From You
11. Artificial Heart
12. Cast A Shadow
13. I'm Set Free
14. Barnaby, Hardly Working
15. Some Kinda Fatigue
16. Speeding Motorcycle
17. Nutricia
18. Her Grandmother's Gift
19. From A Motel 6 # 2
20. Gooseneck Problem
21. Surfin' With The Shah
22. Ecstasy Blues
23. Too Much, Part 1
24. Blitzkrieg Bop
25. One Self: Fish Girl
26. Enough
27. Drum Solo
28. From A Motel 6 # 1
29. Too Much, Part 2
30. Sunsquashed

The most live-sounding Yo La Tengo album in years. Times have changed for Yo La Tengo as much as they have for everyone else. In the past, the band has often worked with outside producers and mixers. In their latest effort, the first full-length in five years, This Stupid World was created all by themselves. And their time-tested judgment is both sturdy enough to keep things to the band’s high standards, and nimble enough to make things new. At the base of nearly every track is the trio playing all at once, giving everything a right-now feel. There’s an immediacy to the music, as if the distance between the first pass and the final product has become more direct.

Available on standard black vinyl, CD and on limited blue vinyl.

STAFF COMMENTS

Martin says: Yo La Tengo's newest outing takes all of their famous melodicism and folky melancholy and refines it perfectly into a distillation of everything that's made the band so great over the years. Brittle in parts, but retaining the intensity of their more driven excursions and wall of sound art-rock they do so well.

TRACK LISTING

1. Sinatra Drive Breakdown
2. Fallout
3. Tonight’s Episode
4. Aselestine
5. Until It Happens
6. Apology Letter
7. Brain Capers
8. This Stupid World
9. Miles Away

Fakebook is the fourth studio album by American indie rock band Yo La Tengo, released in 1990 by record label Bar None. A collection of mainly cover songs that lean toward the idiosyncratic (e.g., Peter Stampfel, Daniel Johnston, Jad Fair), Fakebook is warm, low-key, and lovely, with heartfelt singing and playing that never flags after hundreds of replays. It's impossible to imagine playing this record and not smiling and singing along. A big bonus is a great version of the Flamin' Groovies' "You Tore Me Down." When Yo La Tengo released Fakebook, their fourth full-length, the band was only a twosome, as future YLT bassist James McNew was presumably still playing in various bands and moonlighting as a parking lot attendant, having yet to join up with the Hoboken-bred crew. According to Ira Kaplan (vocals and guitar, with Georgia Hubley on vocals and drums rounding out the modern trio), the record itself was mostly an excuse to screw around in the studio with YLT’s first lead guitarist, Dave Schramm. While Fakebook is primarily a compilation of covers, like its eventual offspring, the YLT (as “Condo Fucks”) record Fuckbook and 2006’s Yo La Tengo is Murdering the Classics, it also includes five originals. Setting aside their noisier proclivities and the rawer elements of their former work in favor of a more stripped-down, breezily folkish approach, the album was, in its time, a novel approach for the band. Today, more than 20 years on, Fakebook remains a testament to Yo La Tengo’s versatility and early promise, as well as being the first full glimpse into the group’s almost frightfully encyclopedic familiarity with what must be hundreds of radio hits and older cuts.

TRACK LISTING

A1 Can't Forget
A2 Griselda
A3 Here Comes My Baby
A4 Barnaby, Hardly Working
A5 Yellow Sarong
A6 You Tore Me Down
A7 Emulsified
A8 Speeding Motorcycle

B1 Tried So Hard
B2 The Summer
B3 Oklahoma, U.S.A.
B4 What Comes Next
B5 The One To Cry
B6 Andalucia
B7 Did I Tell You
B8 What Can I Say

Continuing with their ever-expanding Revisionist History series, Matador Records announce a 25th anniversary reissue of Yo La Tengo’s 1995 album Electr-o-pura. Now in a gatefold sleeve and cut from the original 58-minute master, the new reissue is pressed for the first time on two LPs to ensure the highest quality of audio the album has had on vinyl to date.

On their seventh studio album, Yo La Tengo would further expand on the venturous songwriting established on their previous album Painful with stunning craft and a deepened exploration of contrasting textures, moods and atmospherics. Chock full with moments of pop gold like “Tom Courtenay,”melancholic ballads such as the heartbreaking “Pablo And Andrea,” and sweeping, feedback-laden jams like the show-stopping “Blue Line Swinger”, Electr-o-pura is a thrilling document of one of America’s most beloved bands hitting their creative stride and remains one of the most sublime records the band has released in their uninterrupted 36-year career.

TRACK LISTING

Decora
Flying Lesson (Hot Chicken #1)
The Hour Grows Late
Tom Courtenay
False Ending
Pablo And Andrea
Paul Is Dead
False Alarm
The Ballad Of Red Buckets
Don't Say A Word (Hot Chicken #2)
(Straight Down To The) Bitter End
My Heart's Reflection
Attack On Love
Blue Line Swinger

Sixty five plus minutes of breath-taking material recorded under smooth circumstances in lovely Nashville, TN. This one will without a doubt appeal to long time Yo La Tengo fans, considering the fact that this is their very best one yet. The really good thing, though, is that a lot of people who will buy this record will do so without knowing that it probably is the only TRULY GREAT record they will buy in their lives. Until the next one comes out, of course!!

There's a riot going on. You don't need me, or Yo La Tengo, to tell you that. These are dark times, in our heads as much as in the streets. It's easy to lose contact with the ground, flying through endless banks of storm clouds day after day. Confusion and anxiety intrude into daily life and cause you to lose your compass. There are times that call for anthems, something to lift you out of your slump and put fire in your feet. And then there are times when what is indicated is a balm, a sound that will wrap around you and work out the knots in your neck.

While there's a riot going on, Yo La Tengo will remind you what it's like to dream. The sound burbles and washes and flows and billows. If records were dedicated to the cardinal elements, this one would be water. There are shimmery hazes, spectral rumbles, a flash of backward masking, ghostly flamingos calling "shoo-bop shoo-bop." You are there. And even if your mind is not unclouded--shaken, misdirected, out of words and out of time--you can still float, ride the waves of an ocean deeper than your worries, above the sound and above the Sound.

For Yo La Tengo this is a slow-motion action painting, and Georgia Hubley, Ira Kaplan, and James McNew did it all themselves, in their rehearsal studio, with no outside engineer (John McEntire later did the mix). They did not rehearse or jam together beforehand; they turned on the recorder and let things coalesce. Songs came together over long stretches, sometimes as much as a year going by between parts. You'd never guess this, since the layers are finessed with such a liquid brush. You'd imagine most of the songs had sprung forth whole, since they will enter your head that way. Within two listens you will be powerless to resist the magnetic draw of "Shades of Blue," will involuntarily hear "She May, She Might" on your internal jukebox first thing in the morning and "Let's Do It Wrong" late at night. While there's a riot going on you will feel capable of bobbing through like a cork.

In 1971, when the nation appeared to be on the brink of violently coming apart, Sly and the Family Stone released There's a Riot Goin’ On, an album of dark, brooding energy. Now, under similar circumstances, Yo La Tengo have issued a record with the same name but with a different force, an album that proposes an alternative to anger and despair. Their first proper full-length since 2013’s Fade, There's a Riot Goin’ On is an expression of freedom and sanity and emotional expansion, a declaration of common humanity as liberating as it is soft-spoken. 

TRACK LISTING

You Are Here
Shades Of Blue
She May, She Might
For You Too
Ashes
Polynesia #1
Dream Dream Away
Shortwave
Above The Sound
Let's Do It Wrong
What Chance Have I Got
Esportes Casual
Forever
Out Of The Pool
Here You Are

Fresh from celebrating their 30th anniversary as one of the most beloved and adventurous bands in rock history, Yo La Tengo announce the release of ‘Stuff Like That There’ via Matador Records as well as a world tour. They will head to Europe, starting in Spain at Tibidao Live Festival before playing in the UK.

The trio of Ira Kaplan, Georgia Hubley and James McNew now return as a quartet, reuniting with former member Dave Schramm on electric guitar as they revisit the original concept of their beloved ‘Fakebook’ (a mix of cover songs, ‘covers’ of Yo La Tengo songs and brand new originals) on its 25th anniversary.

This unprecedented live set-up - Ira on acoustic guitar, Georgia up-front on a small kit and James on upright bass - marks the first occasion of this particular Yo La Tengo incarnation touring together (and since it took them 31 years to get around to doing so, could very well also be the last).

“‘Stuff Like That There’ may well be a 25th anniversary sequel to the idea of ‘Fakebook’ but to my ears it makes a case for simply returning to what moved Yo La Tengo to make things in the first place: embracing the people who they still hold close and making a spirited noise about it.” - Kurt Wagner (Lambchop)

TRACK LISTING

My Heart’s Not In It (Darlene McCrea)
Rickety
I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry (Hank Williams)
All Your Secrets (remake of Track From ‘Popular Songs’)
The Ballad Of Red Buckets (remake Of Track from ‘Electr-o-pura’)
Friday I’m In Love (The Cure)
Before We Stopped To Think (Great Plains)
Butchie’s Tune (The Lovin’ Spoonful)
Automatic Doom (Special Pillow)
Awhileaway
I Can Feel The Ice Melting (The Parliaments)
Naples (Antietam)
Deeper Into Movies (remake Of Track From ‘I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One’)
Somebody’s In Love (The Cosmic Rays With Le Sun Ra And Arkestra)

‘Fade’ is the most direct, personal and cohesive album of Yo La Tengo’s career. Recorded with John McEntire at Soma Studios in Chicago, it recalls the sonic innovation and lush cohesion of career high points like 1997’s ‘I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One’ and 2000’s ‘…And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out’. ‘Fade’ is a tapestry of fine melody and elegant noise, rhythmic shadow play and shy-eyed orchestral beauty, songfulness and experimentation.

‘Fade’ attains a lyrical universality and hard-won sense of grandeur that’s rare even for this band. It weaves themes of aging, personal tragedy and emotional bonds into a fully-realized whole that recalls career-defining statements like ‘Blood On The Tracks’, ‘I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight’ or Al Green’s ‘Call Me’.

“Nothing ever stays the same / Nothing’s explained”, the band sing in unison on the reflective opening track ‘Ohm’. “We try not to lose our hearts / Not to lose our minds” - a straightforward sentiment for a band that prefer private intimation to forceful expression, making the song’s resistance to resignation feel that much more earned.

This is the first time Yo La Tengo have collaborated with producer John McEntire, best known for his work in post-rock band Tortoise as well as his work with such artists as Bright Eyes, Stereolab and Teenage Fanclub. He has helped the band hone a set of songs as multifaceted as they are seamless, flowing from the low key shimmy of ‘Well You Better’ to the muted motorik kick of ‘Stupid Things’, to the cozy distortion of ‘Paddle Forward’ and right through to the cagey groove, horns and strings of the gorgeous album closer, ‘Before We Run’, in which the band’s Georgia Hubley and Ira Kaplan sing “Take me to your distant lonely place / Take me out beyond mistrust.”

‘Fade’s emotional core sits at its very centre with two songs, one sung by Kaplan and one by Hubley. The tender, raw, Kaplan-sung ballad ‘I’ll Be Around’ pivots around a circular guitar figure set against James McNew’s calm, pulsating bassline. The song’s simplicity and starkness stand like a beacon against the emptiness.

‘Cornelia And Jane’ features Hubley gently singing “I hear them whispering, they analyse, but nobody knows what’s lost in your eyes / Sending the message that doesn’t get to you, how can we care for you?”, supported by whispering cushions of horns and delicate vocal harmonies. The effect is both heartbreaking and reassuring.

“In the best possible sense, Yo La Tengocan feel less like a band and more like a beloved national trust” - Stereogum

STAFF COMMENTS

Andy says: Modern-day Velvets do it again.

‘I Am Not Afraid Of You And I Will Beat Your Ass’ is the eleventh full-length album by Hobokonbased alternative indie band Yo La Tengo, originally released on September 12, 2006. It is their sixth album released on Matador.

The title of the album is rumoured to be a (paraphrased) quote by NBA player Tim Thomas. Sitting on the bench together during a game, Thomas was caught on tape by the MSG Network in a profane exchange with another player: “Everyone in this organization is afraid of you, but I’m not, and I will beat your ass.”

While their colossal sonic achievements are well-documented, Yo La Tengo's ninth album is more "In A Silent Way" than "Interstellar Space": a quietly intense melange of pulsing beats, acoustic guitar strum, ringing vibraphone and organ washes. Add electric guitar buzzing underneath dreamy, nearly whispered vocals, and "ATNTIIO" is more mood swing than song cycle. Yo La Tengo have stripped away layers of electric guitar chaos from their sound. Is it so we can hear their voices? So they can hear each other? Whatever the reason, Georgia and Ira's most audible and distinctive vocal performances to date are genuinely intimate and affecting. The quieter settings allow other subtle details to emerge: guest Susie Ibarra's percussion on the first single, "Saturday," high close harmonies swelling in from nowhere, Hubley's delicate brushwork, the gorgeous shimmer of vibes and mellotron. Such are the gifts of Yo La Tengo. They are a pop band, but don't just write pop songs; they write what can only be described as Yo La Tengo songs. By not rocking out, Ira, Georgia and James have made a record which shows how tight-knit a musical unit the trio have become. They are like a three-cornered atom harnessing its energy to the point where blinding explosions are no longer necessary to emanate power.

Once again moving the bar for 'what can be done in just one record', no two songs sound the same. There's everything from epic soundscapes to jaunty popsongs, to gorgeous love songs with a few rock'n'roll numbers thrown in. All delivered with humour, a smattering of falsetto and a huge dose of that unique Yo La Tengo charm.

"Prisoners Of Love" is a sprawling, enthralling summation of the career-to-date (as of 2005) of Yo La Tengo. The CDs cram together previously released highlights from YLT's pre-Matador tenure, along with the most sizzling moments from their second decade in show biz.