Why Yo-La-Tengo Should Be Your Favorite Band

I've written about this before, how music has played a large part in my life (not a unique scenario, to be sure) and how I've always been on the receiving end of a speaker's offerings; always the listener and appreciator never the strummer, key tickler, axe-man or skin-beater. Teenage years, when individuals are trying to be as individual as possible by assimilating to a subsect of culture they wish to identify with, is often when a particular genre of music becomes a part of their persona, too. Thankfully, I've spent time with many different sub-cultures -- as is often the case with skateboarding there exists an umbrella under which all types of people are welcomed and through a shared love of wooden toys with wheels, new aspects of a hitherto unknown culture is known. And as I've grown older, pieces from various times, activities, friendships and workplaces, I keep the music from those times, almost as a vehicle for revisiting and getting in touch with old friends. Some of the music I take for myself, making it less of a nostalgic piece, and instead it transcends, building upon the foundation of which I first heard it and becoming something that means much more than a reminder of good times with (good, or sometimes, not so good) people. I don't really listen to much Skinny Puppy these days, but oh boy, when I do, I think of that one guy when I was fifteen, who listened to Skinny Puppy and Ministry, only, as a strict rule. And I love this aspect of music, it's ability to transport us in time, to re-introduce us to old friends.

Yo La Tengo is a band formed in 1984 in Hoboken, New Jersey. They have been making music for a long time. Ira Kaplan and Georgia Hubley have been the two mainstay members, with various bass players and producers over the years. I was introduced to their music in a tumultuous time in my early twenties and, at first, it was because of who and how I was introduced to them, that I became infatuated with the band. As the years have gone by this band has transcended way beyond anything that has to do with the initial impetus that drew me close to Yo La Tengo.

But first, let us take a step back and look more at the fascinating world of creating sounds, especially in a world before computers. What first got me thinking of writing about all of this, is an article about 'gated reverb' that I came across the other day which is quite informative (especially for those of us who have never spent a minute in the audio engineer's seat) concerning one of the most recognizable sounds that is often associated with music from the 1980's, and now, music that sounds like it is from the 1980's. Gated Reverb, in this instance was a way to change how the drum sound was recorded, and, subsequently heard on the recording. Phil Collins and Prince made much use of this sound and once you hear it, it is something you will always be able to pick out.

Another interesting article about various sounds that came to be associated with famous songs (Pixies, Beatles and Joy Division songs are discussed if that means anything to you) which, as the article notes, the sounds are often sampled due to their unique but recognizable nature. I'm surprised the article didn't tackle the most famous (that I know of) sound from modern music: John Bonham's drum intro from "When the Levee Breaks:"

While I'm sure "Rhymin and Stealin" by the Beastie Boys wasn't the first place I heard this drum sequence, I can safely speak for myself, as a child of the 80's that this is where this was seared into my brain as an iconic musical moment. Kind of a shame, but -- in the controversial (used to be) world of samples, if nothing else, hip-hop music and the ubiquitous sampling has opened my eyes to music of yesteryear that is worth paying attention to. A quick Google search of "john bonham's drum sounds" brings up many articles and videos of people trying to replicate how he initially gained his impressive sounds.

Getting back to Yo La Tengo. Below is one of my favorite songs from them. It is from 2013, so relatively new compared to most of their library but it harkens back to the Shoegazing sounds that initially had me fall in love with them.

This sound, on exhibition in the above song, so exquisitely embodies what first drew me towards Yo La Tengo. The noise. The feedback. The harmony that springs out of seething chaos. A song that sounds urgent in its character but tells us to sit down, and just enjoy the process, exposing the competing and disparate ideologies and needs of the band members is exactly what I love. A female vocalist. A male vocalist. Acoustic. Electric. Keyboards. Orchestral accompaniments. Feedback. Distortion. I'm

Yo La Tengo is nothing if not versatile and unafraid to explore new aspects of music. This one, which may be on the other side of the YLT spectrum is one that really got me hooked way back in 2000 when it was released. Tears Are In Your Eyes:

YLT is also known for their covers of a wide variety of music. While I do enjoy most of their covers, it is their original music that brings me back over and over again. I don't really know much about the members of the band -- I don't spend time reading about them in gossip columns (probably doesn't exist, anyway) or following them on tour as if I were a 'dead-head' version for YLT but songwriting that spans the decades, as theirs does, allows us to grow up with the band. Songs from the early 90's that express the heartache and pain of heroin addiction and powderkeg breakups that are most often found in the early, formative years are prevalent. So often, a band's mojo dissipates after life becomes more stable -- inspiration formed in the pits of despair that mar the landscape of a twenty-something often wanes when marriage, then a family, then the morose mid-life crisis force us to look backwards, often leading us to grasp at the last vestiges of youth with a sickening desperation.

I trust that when (assuming I haven't already!) I look into the gaping maw of mid-life-ness and see the road fade into the distance that is known (death, yes, I'm talking about dying) I will not lean on exterior facets to secure my fleeting youth, but instead put on some headphones and sink into my really nice lounge chair (the one I got instead of the sports car) and travel back in time to when I listened to Skinny Puppy, and all the other bands that function as placeholders in my life. Yo La Tengo hasn't been there the whole time, but I'm thankful for them and what they have done for me.