That's What It Sounded Like When They Started

 

While putting together this series, I realized that Interpol had never featured on these pages before. Time to change that.

In 1997, Paul Banks and Daniel Kessler, two students at New York University, formed Interpol, a band which, contrary to the conventions of the time, did not draw on garage and indie rock. Their musical influences are far more evident in the post-punk bands of the early 1980's. They were soon signed to Matator Records, which also had acts such as Pavement and Yo La Tengo on its roster. With their debut LP, Turn On The Bright Lights, they heralded a post-punk revival.

Intense, brooding melancholy hangs over the ruins of British post-punk, clinging enigmatically to the melodies, whilst an Ian Curtis lookalike sings, in a stylishly broken voice, of the tribulations of human relationships. The songs are fully arranged, feature stoic drumming and a solid bass line, whilst the guitars float above all the tracks, which nevertheless have a lo-fi sound. An album that evokes the past yet feels firmly rooted in the here and now, featuring wonderful songs – the only one that comes too close to Johnny Marr and The Smiths is Say Hello To The Angels.

Interpol - Obstacle 1

Interpol - NYC

Interpol - PDA

Interpol - Say Hello To The Angles

That's How It Sounded In The Beginning

 

This series aims to highlight bands that have been around for years and take a closer look at their early days. This time we go for Yo La Tengo, an indie band formed in 1982 in Hoboken, New Jersey by Ira Kaplan and his wife Georgia Hubley. The couple are huge baseball fans and so they took the phrase 'I've got it' from a midfielder that he will get the ball. Ever since a player shouted that and bumped into his teammate—who didn’t speak English—and had to learn it in Spanish, it’s become a baseball anecdote.

From the very beginning, Yo La Tengo were hard to pin down musically, as they had a very broad musical range. Their influences span from jangly guitar rock to noise to the raw, raw sound of the Velvet Underground. But cover songs are also a regular part of their repertoire.

Since their debut album *Ride The Tiger*, they have rarely achieved commercial success, even though they have released many excellent albums over the past 40 years. I've seen them twice live in the 90's and every concert was fantastic. Rarely have I heard such a wide variety of different influences on a debut album that is, in principle, composed solely of classical instruments—influences that have lost none of their appeal even today. 

Yo La Tengo - The Cone Of Silence

Yo La Tengo - The Forrest Green

Yo La Tengo - Alrock's Bell

Yo La Tengo - The Evil That Men Do

Today they play some of the best psychedelic-influenced indie rock.

Mantras

 

Manchester's music scene is always good for a surprise. The last band to surprise me with their sound was Shaking Hand, a trio that has developed a fascinating conglomerate from their minimalist guitar sound. I hear echoes of Yo La Tengo, Sonic Youth and Pavement at their best.

They unite unique reduced guitars with a post-punk anthem and some great hooks that I didn't listen to for a long time. I know that they are new with their first self titled album but they close the gap between new wave and 90's American independent. It is retro, fresh and full of energy and a pleasure to listen to. One of the best albums this year so far.

Falling Leaves

 

Today marks the start of October and with it the regular time between summer and winter. The leaves turn into a play of colors and finally fall, it gets cooler and rainier. The days when you could go out without a jacket are over for the time being. 

I was looking for a song for today that featured October, but couldn't find one that really fitted the bill. So I switched to autumn and came up with a song by Yo La Tengo from 1997. Autumn Sweater is from her album of the same name and is a song that divides opinion. For some, it is perhaps the only indie rock song that lasts more than five minutes without a guitar and creates a hypnotic atmosphere with organ, strong drums and tempered bass. For others, it will simply be too boring. For me, the former is true. 

Yo La Tengo - Autumn Sweater

2023 - This Year In Music Part IV

 

Robyn Hitchcock surprised me in springtime with a new album. We know him well as one of the greatest singer/songwriter from the last decades but I never expected that he will release an instrumental album. It is a little masterpiece in quiet finger picked guitar and filled with really wonderful music.

I was introduced to the music and work by our dear friend JC and Heavy Elevators was a highlight in 2021. Now he released Angel Numbers this year and it shows again his ability of creating songs. This one is not accessible as his last one and you need time to see the beauty of his songs. But when you get into this music you won't be disappointed.

Another year, another output by Steve Mason. Brothers And Sisters is another example of how flexible he is. He's still able to make an album that will stand the test of time. Not his best one but another highlight in his discography.

Kerala Dust is a band featured at this pages for several times. It is a British band now living in Berlin and they released with Violet Drive on of the highlights of this year for me. Their sound could be described as European rock because it includes elements of blues, Americana and electronic beats as well but always with great guitars alongside.

Another band I followed for long times is Yo La Tengo. Torn between folk and guitar improvisations they released with This Stupid World an album that shows every facets of their sound. Lo-Fi guitars meets great voices is their simple trademark. Thank you for making music like this.

This Stupid World

 

For those who don't know, Yo La Tengo are an American indie-rock band from Hoboken, New Jersey, and active since almost 30 years. The main figures of this band, Ira Kaplan and Georgia Hubley, made during this decades songs and albums I always like to visit them with great joy. Sadly it is a band that only got limited critical acclaim for what they have done in musical history. I can't remember any album that I couldn't listen to and saying that it didn't fulfilled my expectations. The recent weeks they released their new album This Stupid World and it is one of those I will surely play it many times this year. It is a superb mixture of many different styles that were created during the last decades and surprising with no cover versions. Yo La Tengo is a band of vibes, more than ever. Organ drones and spherical chords held in the air form the basis, fuzz guitars) classic acoustic guitars or distorted vocal tracks pierce through the meditative uniformity, are splashes of colour in the monochrome. The highlight is "Fallout" ,a beautiful shoegaze piece with a majestically opening chord progression, in which the dominantly distorted electric guitar combines fantastically with the motoric, high bass tones.

Monday's Long Song

 

A few weeks ago Yo La Tengo released Prisoners Of Love, a tripple album filled with goodies of their long going career from 1985 to 2003 plus some outtakes and different versions. I really loved this indie-rock band from Hoboken, New Jersey and the cover versions Ira Kaplan selected. Not many of my friends agreed with my choice and told me that this was just another band from across the ocean playing a guitar sound recorded directly from their exercise room. And yes, there is truth in their words but for me they were authentic and their songs often far over the average and I still listen to their very own guitar sound. I saw them live several times during the last decades and every time I saw a great gig. 

Yo La Tengo - I Heard You Looking

Monday's Long Song

 

Yo La Tengo formed in 1984 as another band from Hoboken, New Jersey, playing their own sound based on feedback and whispered vocals influenced by Love, The Soft Boys and Mission Of Burma. During the last decades they released a lot of albums (and sometimes with their own interpretation of other artists songs). In 2015 they returned surprisingly with Fade and brought us back their true sound with a superb album. I saw them live in 1991 supporting Eleventh Dream Day in a small club in Stuttgart and was fascinated how good they are on stage. A few weeks ago they released a special edition of Fade and their version of Stupid Things is what you can expect live.

Yo La Tengo - Stupid Things (Instrumental)

One More Forgotten Band

 

In 1986 New Zealand's Flying Nun was the record label that introduced me to many great and now forgotten bands with their label compilation Tuatara. A band that didn't managed to be featured on this compilation were Able Tasmans. They borrowed their name from Dutch explorer Abel Tasman and released also in 1986 their first and superb debut A Cuppa Tea And A Lie Down. I really loved their sophisticated and superb arrangements between loud guitar music and pop elements. Largely acoustic sound added with keyboards and corrosive guitars. For me it is a timeless album filled with sweet, crafty and intelligent guitar pop songs that stand in a row with The Woodentops, Belle & Sebastian or Yo La Tengo.

Able Tasmans - What Was That Thing

Able Tasmans - Evil Barbeque

Able Tasmans - Little Hearts

Able Tasmans - Rainbow

Autumn Sweater

 

Happy new year all. Another year is ahead and this blog will continue even if I struggled sometimes because I thought I had no more ideas what to post. But there are so many songs to be featured and a lot of new releases will appear. So let's start with a band I really loved in the 90's. Yo La Tengo were an American independent band from Hoboken, New Jersey. What made YLT different from other bands of this era was on the one side their talent in songwriting and their taste for making great cover versions (mostly acoustic). The music press compared them as a new kind of Velvet Underground but for me they just played a kind of adult college rock with tempered guitars in a misty mood. This one is from their third album I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One from 1997 and probably their best. Great to hear them once again after years and a good start into the year. 

Yo La Tengo - Autumn Sweater