Yo La Tengo - 'Today Is The Day!' (Matador)
4/5
By: Thomas Hannan
You know that 'hilarious' thing punk bands do to slow songs, covering and speeding them up for purposes of achieving maximum comedy-value (or something of the sort)? Well, Yo La Tengo are, you'd think, the last people you'd expect to be found culprits of that.
But alas, 'Today Is The Day' has been given quite something of a rock and roll dressing-up; squalling feedback and a grunge-like nonchalance to the song now replace the glimmering sheen to be found on their fantastic, current 'Summer Sun' album. And curse them, for far from being some kind of joke, somehow it still sounds absolutely flippin' gorgeous.
No matter how they treat their songs, Yo La Tengo are still going to sound like glitter. It's worth getting hold of this for the astounding, radical reworking of the title-track alone, but the rest of this mini-album/EP (call it what you like, it's six glorious tracks in 23 minutes) will be equally gratifying. They continue the return to their feedback years with a pounding 'Styles Of The Times', a song so soothing that until you pay close attention, you have absolutely no idea how fast and loud it is.
After rocking your soul, they then introduce you to the dark things in the world with a bewitching 'Outsmartener', which sounds like Sonic Youth doing every song on Love's 'Forever Changes' at once, before grabbing hold of your hand again and making everything once more alright with the beautifully sparse couplet of the less threatening than they infer 'Needle Of Death' and 'Dr. Crash', leading you through their quieter, sweeter, but none less effecting side.
And that folks, apart from an achingly touching live acoustic rendition of 'Cherry Chapstick', is it. Further proof, if any were needed, of how life without Yo La Tengo is a much colder place.
Artists in this article: Yo La Tengo
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