EXTREME BEAUTY
- ️Thu Jul 13 1995
Yo La Tengo
Electr-o-pura (Matador) (star) (star) (star) 1/2
Yo La Tengo find the melody in noise, the chaos in pop orderliness; their brilliance is in the way they blend light and dark in unexpected ways. Insidious melodies emerge out of noisy chasms and droning riffs. At times the music seems to float in stillness, and even the most insistent grooves are cyclical, hypnotic. Although the surging dreaminess of “Decora” and “Blue Line Swinger” suggest My Bloody Valentine, in general Yo La Tengo sound like no one but themselves. Over the years the New Jersey trio has learned how to create beautiful music out of extremes, Ira Kaplan’s cranky guitar and organ pitted against wordless “ooh-ooh” choruses and talking-in-my-sleep vocals, prickly yet pretty, lush yet dirty, seductive yet disturbing.
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Ratings: Excellent (Star) (Star) (Star) (Star) Good (Star) (Star) (Star) Fair (Star) (Star) Poor (Star)
Originally Published: July 13, 1995 at 1:00 AM CDT