While I never feverishly anticipate everything this Hoboken trio releases I do enjoy their music for the most part. When Matador gave the opening track away, the killer 10+ minute "Pass the Hatchet, I Think I'm Goodkind," I was excited for an album that could live up such a promising track. Unfortunately, what follows is a deluge of mediocrity.
While "Pass the Hatchet,..." isn't reminiscent of Krautrock, I do feel a similar affinity to a good Neu jam: it's got a great hook, a chugging rhythm, and feels comfortable and right at being long for a rock song. Vocals are raw and low in the mix, creating an enjoyable conflict with the instruments while wailing guitar solo action provides ample fill for when there's no words. Its counterpart, the long closer "The Story of Yo La Tengo" is almost as promising, and while I do appreciate the build it's almost too Sonic Youth worshipping and doesn't have the same hook or appeal as the opener did. It, like the 13 songs that separate each suffer from a lack of as much drive or energy as the opener and are full of blaise chord progressions and boring vocals.
"Beanbag Chair" feels like a trite indie rock cliche, "Mr. Tough" creepily strikes me as the only rhythm any stuffy NPR host will groove to this year, the post-exotica organ-heavy "The Room Got Heavy" has been done better by Stereolab numerous times over, and "Watch Out For Me Ronnie" is just a sort of insincere punk tribute with embarassingly painful guitar riffs. I actually don't have much of a problem with the ballads like "Black Flowers," or the Georgia-sung "I Feel Like Going Home," as they're far more compelling listens than the upbeat songs, creating enough of a conflict with the rocking tunes. The ballads like "The Weakest Part" and "Song for Mahlia," however, easily put me to sleep.
Yo La Tengo are good songwriters and have come up with some of my favorite tunes, but I have yet to be won over by any of their albums as a while. I do feel that they often fail at quality control: nurturing 8-9 songs into something great on the is always worth more for my tastes than throwing together 15 songs of mixed quality.
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