Yo La Tengo: Stuff Like That There

Emily Zemler on August 31, 2015

Stuff Like That There, an album that combines original material, covers and remakes of some of their classic tracks, arrives over 30 years into Yo La Tengo’s prolific career. In its eclectic selection of songs, the album reveals each notable facet of the band, reminding fans of their talent for crafting intimately wrought numbers with powerful emotional heft. The trio pair a delicate cover of Hank Williams’ “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry” with “All Your Secrets,” a track from 2009’s Popular Songs, and both somehow contain the same introspective tone and quiet-handed instrumentation. Their version of The Cure’s “Friday I’m in Love” is interesting but not game changing, especially when juxtaposed with a strikingly lovely and carefully stripped-down rendition of “Before We Stopped to Think” by Great Plains. Yo La Tengo’s power, as evidenced on their prior releases, is in the band’s ability to leave a lingering emotional effect in each note—and that’s on great display here. They have nothing to prove at this point, but Stuff Like That There still verifies what you already knew about Yo La Tengo’s legacy.

Artist: Yo La Tengo
Album: Stuff Like That There
Label: Matador