Category: News

Get a glimpse of Yo La Tengo’s practice space as ABC World News weekend anchor Dan Harris interviews the band on “Amplified.”

Dario Robleto, on a visit to the Nasher Museum, March 2009
photo credit: Dr. J. Caldwell

Find out more about Texas-based artist Dario Robleto, whose work can be found on the upcoming release Popular Songs. Some of his work on the album cover is also in an upcoming exhibition, “The Record,” at the Nasher Museum of Art in Durham, NC.

photo credit: Hiroko Masuike for The New York Times

Ira & Georgia put together a list of some of their favorite bands for the August 23rd print edition of the New York Times. You can also read it online right here.

Caveat Cineaste: We’ll leave the debate over how Junior High School (released in 1978) could have influenced Grease (released in 1978) to others. Instead, we’ll state unequivocally that “Ira Kaplan (front man of Yo La Tengo)” has nothing to do with this movie (and has never seen it, so we’re not ruling out the possibility that he wishes he did). Maybe it’s the Ira Kaplan who somehow was on the same flight as Ira to Boston 2005.

(thanks to Robert for alerting us to this)

Check out another track from the upcoming release Popular Songs (out September 8th on Matador Records): “Nothing To Hide,” performed last month on French TV show “Ce Soir (Ou Jamais)”. Is that reaction to Ira’s guitar solo “sacre bleu” or “ooh-la-la”? Watch and judge for yourself.

A happy daylight savings time to you all,

First of all, this Friday, March 13, the Yo La Tengo will once again take part in the WFMU marathon (that’s 14 years in a row, if you’re counting — although come to think of it, if you’re counting you already know it’s 14 years in a row). From 8 pm – 11 pm (eastern DAYLIGHT time), we will join host Pseu Braun and co-host Gaylord Fields. If you make a pledge to WFMU, you get to make a request and we will do our best to honor it. If you’ve heard the broadcast before, you know the results are frequently noteworthy, and occasionally musical. As ever, we will be accompanied by Mr. Bruce Bennett on guitar. And although supporting WFMU is truly its own reward, we are also optimistic that for the first time in the last three years, Georgia, James, Bruce and I will all be there. Should make the show extra … something. 91.1 on your greater Jersey City radio dial, 90.1 if you’re in the vicinity of Mt. Hope NY, and www.wfmu.org everywhere else. Please listen and please pledge to WFMU.

And speaking of the WFMU marathon, this would be a good time to mention that our good friends Dump have recorded a version of “Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey” that is only available to those who pledge to FMU. It’s part of The Best Show on WFMU’s premium (although it’s available to those who pledge on Pseu’s show too, or any other).

Other friends in the news include the Condo Fucks. Their new record Fuckbook comes out on March 24 on Matador.

On April 21, the Criterion Collection will release Science Is Fiction: 23 Films by Jean Painlevé, which will feature our performance The Sounds of Science. More info can be found here.

While we work on our next record, which we’re hoping will be out in the autumn, we’ve got a few live shows planned. You can check out those dates on our schedule page.

And finally, a correspondent recently inquired: “How come no talk about Dark Was the Night? Is there something we should be concerned about?” Not at all — I mean, it’s not like we’ve been talking about much else and ignoring Dark Was the Night. Nevertheless we’re sorry for the belated heads-up that we’ve contributed a version of Snapper’s “Gentle Hour” to Dark Was the Night and you can read all about it here.

OK, that’s it. Hope to hear from you this Friday,

Ira