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Rating: Choosing a Yo La Tengo album is not easy. One of the very few bands, alongside Fugazi and even more than Sonic Youth, to have maintained a huge qualitative standard throughout their career, adhering to a simple precept: expressive freedom. Nothing more, nothing less. That Ira Kaplan manages to give great uniformity to the material covered in his compositions is undeniable: every Yo La Tengo track breathes psychedelic melancholy; but it's a band that can be supposed to have embraced practically every musical genre, without exaggeration. And not only.
Yo La Tengo are an institution, born in 1984, they have maintained the legendary status of one of the first true American indie bands, more influential than many better-known groups. But that's not enough. The true greatness of this band lies in that unique atmosphere they manage to convey. Each of their pieces has the scent and climate of a journey... in this regard, without exaggerating, Yo La Tengo much more than many celebrated singer-songwriters, first in music than in lyrics embody the legacy of the American folk tradition, that of Woody Guthrie, of whom they fully reflect certainly not so much the form but certainly the artistic intentions.
"I Can Hear the Heart Beating As One", at this point needs no particular in-depth analysis, because it is the album that most conveys the aforementioned elements... a real summary, created however from unreleased songs, of the career of the New York trio; perhaps for this reason less compact and experimental compared to other albums, but certainly more exemplary. Just the beginning of "Moby Octopus" is enough to get a taste of the greatness of Yo La Tengo... psychedelic tremors, hypnotic pace, and halfway through the song a minimalist piano comes in to outline dissonant scales on the piece:
Genius + Love = Yo La Tengo.
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
03 Sugarcube (03:21)
Whatever you want from me, whatever you want I'll do
Try to squeeze a drop of blood from a sugarcube
Try to be more assured, try to be more right there
Try to be less uptight, try to be more aware
Whatever you want from me, is what I want to do for you
Sweeter than a drop of blood from a sugarcube
And though I like to act the part of being tough
I crumble like a sugarcube for you
Whatever you want from me, whatever you want I'll do
I will try
04 Damage (04:39)
Not much Friday night, pinball, Lower East Side
Walked halfway past and into the bar
I used to think about you all the time
I would think about you all the time
Now it just feels weird, that there you are
The damage is done
Feeling like a kid again, my eyes are glued to the floor
I hope I mumbled goodbye as you walked out the door
The damage is done
05 Deeper Into Movies (05:23)
I may have been gazing out too late at night
I see a deeper window into my eyes
Every day they screech outside my window,
The crashing cars never seem to collide
Sometimes when I'm staring out my window
To catch the stars, I watch as they go by
I've been getting messages from outer space
They expire light in the window in the sky
There goes my mind
If we dare walk onto my window
I could hear them if I open my eyes
Sometimes flashing lights seem soulful in the window
You may have seen them circle me at night
I keep sending signals into outer space
They expire by your window in the sky
There goes my mind
Every day when restlessness takes over me
I can't see it as I'm closing my eyes
I keep sending signals into outer space
They expire light in the window in the sky
Sometimes when I'm staring out my window
To catch the stars, I watch as they go by
I've been getting messages from outer space
They expire light in the window in the sky
By your window in the sky
06 Shadows (02:26)
Scold me, that's all you've got to say
Coldly hurt me and turn away
You say I'm not sorry that
I'm resolved to what is next
I head for the shadows
Hold me, taking it back in tears
You've told me, slowly confessed your fears
But I've got myself to protect
It's too soon for me to forget
I wait in the shadows
In the shadows, where I end up loved
They help me see that I've finally won
We wait in your heart
So until I truly believe
That your words convey what you mean
I wait in the shadows
I wait in the shadows
I don't mind the shadows
07 Stockholm Syndrome (02:51)
What's the matter, why don't you answer
What's the matter with me
Cause it's so hard to be
Free and easy, we'll disappear completely
Hardly as I've known it's glad
You're heart is broken, and the doors are open
As you're hoping to be
There's brighter places to see
Hands need warming, early in the morning
Hardly as I've known a surprise
No, don't warn me I know it's wrong
But I swear it won't take long
And I know, you know it makes me sigh
I do believe in love
Another season, but the same old feelings
Another reason to be
I'm tired of aching, summer's what you make it
But I'll believe what I want to believe
08 Autumn Sweater (05:18)
When I heard the knock on the door
I couldn't catch my breath
Is it too late to call this off
We could slip away, wouldn't that be better
Me with nothing to say, and you in your autumn sweater
I tried my best to hide
In a crowded room, it's nearly possible
I wait for you, oh, most patiently
So I looked for your eyes
And the waves looked like they'd pour right out of them
I'll try hard, I'll try always
But it's a waste of time
It's a waste of time if I can't smile easily
Like in the beginning
In the beginning...
13 Center of Gravity (02:42)
In crowded bars, at subway cars
Whenever you are next to me,
center of gravity,
can't feel both feet on the ground
Walking home after dark, past the softball park
It's clear to me, according to a rule I learned one day in school
Basic geometry: two halves of a circle, you and me
It's a familial song we've known so long
Your clever cuts into me
as long as you're next to me
I can't feel both feet on the ground
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