Yo
La Tengo, Lambchop
Aladdin Theater 3017 SE Milwaukie Ave., 233-1994
8 pm Wednesday, March 8 $12.50; SOLD OUT
Founders Ira
Kaplan and Georgia Hubley (also husband and wife) went through
a number of bassists before James McNew permanently anchored
the trio in 1991.
Yo La Tengo named
themselves after a Spanish phrase a former New York Mets
infielder used to holler when calling fly balls: "I've got
it."
Yo La Tengo's
Full-Length Album Discography:
Ride the Tiger (1986)
New Wave Hot Dogs (1987)
President Yo La Tengo (1989)
Fakebook (1990)
May I Sing With Me (1992)
Painful (1993)
Electr-O-Pura (1995)
Genius + Love = Yo La Tengo (1996)
I Can Hear the Heart Beating As One (1997)
And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out (2000)
Fifteen years and 10 albums later, the Hoboken, N.J., trio
Yo La Tengo has become a prototypical indie-rock institution.
Long before "alternative" rock became mainstream, the defiantly
independent and creatively restless band--rock critic turned
vocalist-lead guitarist Ira Kaplan, drummer Georgia Hubley
and bassist James McNew--was pumping out eccentric, dense
collages of pop experimentation that have earned it the unsavory
title of "quintessential critics' band."
Yes, thanks to eclectic albums ranging from the early Velvet
Underground-inspired albums to the droney Painful
to the Neil Young-infused wails of May I Sing With
Me, critics do love Yo La Tengo. But the band also has
an adoring audience of people who don't write about bands
for a living. When you see Yo La Tengo live, it's impossible
not to notice the screams of recognition that spring up
at the opening notes of practically every song the band
plays. Yet, despite the success of its last album, 1997's
I Can Hear the Heart Beating As One, the trio's noisy
blend of pop, art rock and arcane lyricism makes it one
of those highly respected and noted bands that more people
have read or heard about than actually seen or heard.
The members of Yo La Tengo pride themselves on variation,
so it should come as no surprise to fans that their latest
record, the gorgeous And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out,
finds the band heading in a new direction. That direction,
however, may at first come as a bit of a shock. Outside
of the traditional sonic blitzkrieg of "Cherry Chapstick,"
the 77-minute album is soft, exquisitely layered, whispering
and, well, slow. It's the type of quiet disc you'd put on
at 2 am to wind down a party, culminating with the intimate
17-minute nodathon finale, "Night Falls on Hoboken." Kaplan
spoke recently by phone about the band's latest work, its
inspiration, and the upcoming sit-down tour that will bring
it to Portland on March 8.
Willamette Week: It's been three years since
I Can Hear the Heart Beating As One. What have you
been doing?
Ira Kaplan: Well, we've been working quite
a bit. A lot of what we call practicing went into this record.
There were a lot of shows, and we went off on a few tangents.
We actually played a number of friends' weddings. The most
amazing one was when we were actually the music playing
in the church. We did this gentle surf version of "Here
Comes the Bride," with Georgia on pipe organ, James playing
the bass, and me playing guitar. And we also played all
the music as people arrived in the church and we did all
these very pretty songs that, if anybody was to listen to
carefully enough, would find out weren't quite the songs
they thought they were. We did a moving, very tender version
of "The Joker" and "Kung Fu Fighting." [Massive laughter]
It was a blast.
Is And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out
a conscious decision to move in a new direction? This is
really slow and gentle, compared with the mixture of textures
on the last couple of records.
No. I feel like our records
have always been different from one another, and we're aware
of that. At some point, I know that we were talking about
it, and said, "You know, if we ever did a record that wasn't
different, then that would be a difference."
Was what came out something that surprised you? Was
it a heavier record when you started recording it?
Oh,
no, no. It shocked us during the writing process when we
kinda realized, "Hey, a trend seems to be developing."
Was there an emotional space that you were in while
writing it? It's got such a melancholy tone to it.
It's
very hard for me to...that seems like such an overview that
many people have that the three of us really don't have.
One thing that I haven't talked about...was that I was
having a great deal of difficulty singing. Sometimes
I would open my mouth and nothing would come out. I was
having trouble singing complete lines. At first I thought
it was the nature of singing so quietly, but I think there
were (and it sounds so cornball) emotional issues that I
probably wasn't thinking specifically about but that were
coming out anyway.
Well, the record seems to work on a subconscious level.
Some moments or melodies will hit me in a strong way, and
I'm not sure why that is...
Uh-huh. I think that this
whole thing about sub-conscious or unconscious is something
that we're interested in...and a lot of times I prefer not
to know how it happens because...[Trails off.] You know--if
you do know, then you start thinking, 'Oh, we need a sad
song here, so maybe we should all touch our heads three
times and twirl around in a circle; that worked last time!'
To not know the process keeps it from sounding calculated.
This time around, the lyrics seem more concrete, about
something, naked--for example, a song like "The Crying of
Lot G."
Absolutely. In that sense, I'd say there was
a conscious desire... [Trails off.] I think that's part
of a process, in that there are probably more naked lyrics
on I Can Hear the Heart Beating As One than albums
before that. Here I was intentionally trying to push that,
both in the words I wrote and the words others wrote.
Let's talk about the upcoming shows. They're being billed
as "An Unusually Quiet Evening with Yo La Tengo."
Yeah,
that phrase came from us. We don't quite know what form
the show will take yet. We will do some loud songs; not
as many as people have seen us do in the past. It won't
be quiet all the time, but definitely quieter than normal.
We're currently rehearsing and figuring it out.
You added two members for the shows: Mac McCaughan from
Superchunk and David Kilgour from the Clean. What prompted
you to do this, and why these guys?
At first, we thought
we wouldn't be able to play the songs, period, as a trio,
which is a fairly common fear we have after making a record.
I have to say that it proved as groundless a fear this time
as it had in the past. By the time the guys got here, we
already had arrangements we were comfortable playing. That
said, we're thrilled to have them play with us. We enjoy
them both as musicians and as people, and the opportunity
to try something new is great.
Any final thoughts for the fans attending the show,
like should they bring lighters?
[Laughs] Oh my. I don't
know. Lighters...I'm not sure I'll be able to top that one....
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Willamette Week | originally
published March 1,
2000
|
