Genius + Love = Yo La Tengo

I've been a fan of Yo La Tengo for I think 9—10 years now and I've bought every single album (that's using real money in exchange for a physical product). It's really hard to describe what their music is like; you really need to listen to them (you can tell already that this post is going to be a short one). And even then, it's hard to recommend exactly which album to start off with because each album is distinctly Yo La Tengo but yet completely different from its predecessor at the same time.

But with I Am Not Afraid Of You And I Will Beat Your Ass, it is now possible to experience what Yo La Tengo is really about. When I first heard it, I thought it rather uneven but in many ways, IANAOYAIWBYA encapsulates the entire YLT oeuvre. They go from completely quiet and folksy in one track and Sonic Youth-reverb-like in another. I have to admit to being biased here because I just kept playing the album over and over and it grew on me more and more. Be it some other band, I really may not have tried that hard. There are many adjectives out there that try and describe what YLT is like and it can be confusing and even contradictory at times but to me it just means that they will never ever be boring.

AND!! And I think it is 99% confirmed that YLT will be coming down to Singapore for Esplanade's Mosaic festival and when I read that on pitchfork, i think i almost choked on my coffee and the first friend I called couldn't even make out what I was saying cos I was rambling incoherently in excitement. Let's just hope that for the sake of everyone who is coming with me, or whom I've forced to go, that my first-row magic finger still works when I get us the tickets!!

[mp3] Yo La Tengo - Pass The Hatchet, I Think I'm Goodkind, and Beanbag Chair