{"id":41659,"date":"2016-02-15T11:41:12","date_gmt":"2016-02-15T17:41:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/?p=41659"},"modified":"2016-05-12T01:18:18","modified_gmt":"2016-05-12T06:18:18","slug":"featured-concerts-yo-la-tengo-at-the-bottleneck","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/2016\/02\/15\/featured-concerts-yo-la-tengo-at-the-bottleneck\/","title":{"rendered":"Featured Concerts: Yo La Tengo at The Bottleneck"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"KJHK\"A Yo La Tengo concert is an object lesson in contrast. The Hoboken, New Jersey band, now 30+ years\u00a0into a storied career, have always made their eclecticism seem natural, even instinctual. Their sound has\u00a0been guided by an expert sense of intuition\u2014of when to explode into a freakout jam or when to pull\u00a0back and let the audience appreciate the subtleties of their often gorgeous melodies. This contrast was\u00a0fully apparent at the group\u2019s Bottleneck show on February 3rd. The three-piece comprised of guitarist\u00a0and vocalist Ira Kaplan, drummer\/vocalist Georgia Hubley and multi-instrumentalist James McNew,\u00a0played two sets: one indulged in the band\u2019s penchant for hushed melodies and quiet, lilting folk while\u00a0the other celebrated their commitment to riotous squalls of feedback and noise. The first set, lasting a\u00a0little over and hour, featured several songs from the group\u2019s 2015 release, Stuff Like That There,\u00a0including a cover of Darlene McCrea\u2019s \u201cMy Heart\u2019s Not In It.\u201d The song\u2019s pleasant, loping guitar line\u00a0belied its staggering melancholy, a dissimilarity gorgeously expressed by Hubley\u2019s thin, expressive voice.<\/p>\n

Other highlights were \u201cRickety,\u201d sung in a barely audible whisper by Kaplan. Much of the acoustic set\u00a0was equally pleasant, if hesitant and drowsy, a feature made noticeable by the restless chatter that\u00a0distracted from the back of the room. \u201cI\u2019ll Be Around,\u201d from 2013\u2019s Fade was the obvious highlight, as\u00a0Kaplan\u2019s gently plucked acoustic guitar gave way to an extended, almost eerie, guitar solo that made no\u00a0attempt to be guided by conventional understandings of melody and timing. It was, in other words,\u00a0distinctly Yo La Tengo and an effective precursor to the band\u2019s electric second set.<\/p>\n

\"KJHK\"After a short break, the group\u2019s second set drew immediate contrast to the simplicity and\u00a0languidness of the acoustic set. McNew\u2019s persistent, rumbling bass and Hubley\u2019s elemental, nearly crude\u00a0drumming, allowed Kaplan to indulge in all manner of feedback, distortion, and noisemaking. On songs\u00a0like \u201cOhm,\u201d Kaplan\u2019s guitar was clamorous and messy, nearly becoming directionless if not for McNew\u00a0and Hubley\u2019s steady anchoring. For \u201cMoby Octopad,\u201d Kaplan pattered with seeming indiscretion on a\u00a0keyboard while McNew\u2019s bouncy bass line carried the melody. On \u201cDecora,\u201d Kaplan channeled Neil\u00a0Young with feedback-riddled bent notes, while songs like \u201cNothing to Hide\u201d and \u201cSugarcube\u201d reaffirmed\u00a0Yo La Tengo\u2019s commitment to pop songwriting.<\/p>\n

It is for these reasons the group has sustained an\u00a0audience for over three decades. Snobs and critics appreciate their adventurism and elusiveness, while\u00a0less stuffy audiences are drawn to the purposefulness of their melodies and the driving roar of Kaplan\u2019s\u00a0guitar. It is unclear what the future holds for Yo La Tengo, as Wednesday night\u2019s crowd was smaller than\u00a0expected, but it seems likely that the group\u2019s nonconformist charms are unlikely to fizzle and fade\u00a0anytime soon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Yo La Tengo concert is an object lesson in contrast. The Hoboken, New Jersey band, now 30+ years\u00a0into a storied career, have always made their eclecticism seem natural, even instinctual. Their sound has\u00a0been guided by an expert sense of intuition\u2014of when to explode into a freakout jam or when to pull\u00a0back and let the audience appreciate the subtleties of their often gorgeous melodies. This contrast was\u00a0fully apparent at the group\u2019s Bottleneck show on February 3rd. The three-piece comprised of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":41662,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,4,3268],"tags":[1251,1629,4385,4388,4386,4387,3399,3398,4389,4390],"class_list":["post-41659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured-on-kjhk","category-music","category-music-articles","tag-bottleneck","tag-fade","tag-georgia-hubley","tag-ill-be-around","tag-ira-kaplan","tag-james-mcnew","tag-stuff-like-that-there","tag-yo-la-tengo","tag-yo-la-tengo-review","tag-yo-la-tengo-tour"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/527bf44102756.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41659","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41659"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41659\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41662"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}