TEAM RNS PRESENTS

ARTIST: Yo La Tengo

TITLE: Today Is The Day

RIPPER: Team RNS

0hr 23min total- 33.7mb

RELEASE DATE: 2003-10-20
RIP DATE: 2003-09-19

01 Today Is The Day               4:28
02 Styles Of The Times            4:21

04 Needle Of Death                3:20

06 Cherry Chapstick               5:32

Yo La Tengo was in many respects the
quintessential critic's band: in
addition to their adventurous eclecticism,
defiant independence and restless
creative ambition  three qualities
which virtually guarantee music press
acclaim  the group's frontman, Ira
Kaplan, even tenured as a rock scribe
prior to finding success as a performer.
So frequently compared to the Velvet
Underground that they even portrayed
the legendary group in the 1996 film I
Shot Andy Warhol, the Hoboken, New
Jersey-based unit explored the extremes
of feedback-driven noise-rock and
sweetly melodic pop, shading their
work with equal parts scholarly
composure and fannish enthusiasm;
prolific and mercurial, Yo La Tengo
ultimately transcended its myriad
influences to ensconce itself as a
beloved institution of the indie

The core of Yo La Tengo (Spanish for the
outfielder's cry of "I've got it!")
comprised singer/guitarist Kaplan and
his wife, drummer/vocalist Georgia
Hubley; after forming the band in 1984,
they placed an advertisement seeking
other musicians to round out the lineup,
requesting applicants who shared their
fondness for the Soft Boys, Mission of
Burma and Arthur Lee's Love. A number of
bassists and lead guitarists passed
through the band's roster during their
formative years, but after bowing in
late 1985 with the single "The River of
Water," backed by a cover of Love's "A
House Is Not a Motel," Yo La Tengo's
membership appeared to stabilize with
the additions of guitarist Dave Schramm
and bassist Mike Lewis prior to the
sessions for 1986's full-length roots-pop
debut Ride the Tiger, produced by former
Mission of Burma bassist Clint Conley.

However, both Schramm and Lewis exited
in the wake of the record's release,
leaving Kaplan to assume lead guitar
duties. Bassist Stephen Wichnewski
signed on for 1987's New Wave Hot Dogs,
a more assured outing which brought the
fore the group's Velvet Underground
obsession via a cover of the early VU
composition "It's Alright (The Way That
You Live); " not only did Kaplan's
introverted, half-spoken vocals and
buzzing guitar work closely recall Lou
Reed, but Hubley's rock-steady drumming
and breathy backing turns simultaneously
conjured memories of vintage Maureen
Tucker. Even better was 1989's President
Yo La Tengo, recorded with producer and
guest bassist Gene Holder; opening with
the droning squalls of the stunning
"Barnaby, Hardly Working," the record
spotlighted the group's sonic
schizophrenia by including two
Jekyll-and-Hyde versions of the track
"The Evil That Men Do"  one a gorgeous
instrumental, the other a blistering

Schramm returned to the fold for 1990's
Fakebook, a remarkable acoustic
folk-pop journey through Kaplan's
record collection and a virtual family
tree of Yo La Tengo reference points. A
wonderfully low-key collection of covers
ranging from forgotten nuggets (the
Kinks' "Oklahoma U.S.A.," the Flamin'
Groovies' "You Tore Me Down," Gene
Clark's "Tried So Hard") to absolute
obscurities (Rex Garvin and the Mighty
Cravers' "Emulsified," the Escorts'
"The One to Cry," the Scene Is Now's
"Yellow Sarong"), Fakebook also
included a handful of outstanding new
originals as well as luminous re-takes of
the previous record's "Barnaby, Hardly
Working" and New Wave Hot Dogs' "Did I
Tell You?" The superb That Is Yo La
Tengo EP previewed 1992's May I Sing With
Me, the first effort to feature
permanent bassist James McNew (formerly
of Christmas); a return to noise
typified by the hotwired nine-minute
feedback saga "Mushroom Cloud of Hiss,"
the record balanced out its extemist
tendencies with the occasional sidestep
into melodic beauty ("Detouring America
With Horns") and infectious indie-pop

A move to the Matador label predated
the release of 1993's Painful, another
winner informed by the atmospherics of
shoegazer drones and dream-pop;
bookended by radically opposed renditions
of the track "Big Day Coming"  the first
an organ-driven mood piece, the other
an edgy guitar outing  the record pushed
Yo La Tengo in a multitude of new
directions, significantly expanding the
trio's palette of sounds and textures.
1995's Electr-o-Pura continued the
progression, zig-zagging from dead-on
British Invasion recreations (the
sparkling "Tom Courtenay") to shimmering
folk (the Hubley-sung "Pablo and
Andrea") to bracing sonic
experimentation ("Decora"). After 1996's
Genius + Love Equals Yo La Tengo, a
two-disc compendium of B-sides,
compilation tracks, rare singles and
unreleased material, the trio
resurfaced in the spring of 1997 with I
Can Hear the Heart Beating As One; And
Then the World Turned Itself Inside Out
followed in early 2000. The group also
performed a three-night stint as the
backing band for Ray Davies on his 2000
US tour, and in 2002 released The Sounds
of the Sounds of Science, their
soundtrack to the undersea
documentaries of French filmmaker Jean
Painleve. That fall, they released the
Nuclear War single, which featured
several versions of Sun Ra's epic, and
that winter performed their second
annual Hanukkahpalooza, an eight-night
musical festival at Hoboken, NJ's
Maxwell's, which also featured a special
limited-edition EP of Christmas songs.
Yo La Tengo released Summer Sun in
spring 2003, and that year Georgia
Hubley performed in "Mirror Man," an
avant-garde rock opera by Pere Ubu's