Yo La Tengo
Pitchfork Music Festival
Day Two
7/30/6
Chicago, Illinois
Yo La Tengo is one of the many bands I have spent the last few years growing up a bit with. I started getting into them in high school and my love for them continued into my college years and beyond. With a history and output of albums that spans two decades, Yo La Tengo have consistently put out great songs and will be putting out a new album in another month as well. It’s inspiring to know that bands like this can make it and continue and these are the bands I wish more people did listen to instead of the transient ones that last for one quick album and leave (although, there are those gems to be had there too.) One thing that’s also struck me is that Yo La Tengo has never gone through any radical “We need to re-invent ourselves!” period or “Let’s make something radio friendly and mainstream!” period as some other bands with such staying power have done. It’s a good sound they have going and instead of changing it, they’ve merely built on it and refined it, making their songwriting even better. I had seen Yo La Tengo once a couple of years ago performing with New Zealand band The Clean at The Vic and the sound wasn’t as good as it was outside at Pitchfork. At the Vic, they had sounded a bit washed out and it was difficult to decipher Ira Kaplan’s vocals but outside at the festival I thought the sound was mixed perfectly.
The only downfall of the set was that most of the songs came from their upcoming album, including
“Pass the Hatchet” “I Should’ve Known Better,” “Mr. Tough,” “The Weakest Part,” and “Watch Out For Me Ronnie.” The songs were long and stretched into one another but felt familiar and comforting and were consistent with their best output. I look forward to this and many releases to follow!
Hear new songs by visiting Yo La Tengo’s Myspace page
Read about Yo La Tengo’s contributions to musical history here
more pictures…
