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Too Much Fighting on the Dance Floor

Yo La Digest Volume 2, Number 7

From tim@vestek.com
Date: Mon, 2 Oct 95 09:29:26 PDT
From: Tim McGinnis 
Subject: yltv2n7

i too live in exotic hoboken, and 
they rehearse 1/2 block from me.  
sometimes i stand outside and listen.

...Molly Wright Steenson

 Hello Everyone,

 Now that I've been doing this list for a year and a half, 
 I think it's time we move from a monthly digest to
 a real live list-serv. Current readership is over the 200
 mark, and I think You/I/We/YLT/Whatever deserve better.
 If anyone has a site to donate and the time to act as list
 manager then please let me know.  Until then, I'll run the 
 list as I have been.

 Locally, I've had a hard time finding "Camp YLT". The local
 shop *sold out*, and the chain stores don't seem to 
 have it either, what gives?

 A new leg of the Electr-o-pura tour is about to start,
 hope they come to a town near you.

 ciao,

 tim



 from: Lou J Geese 

 i found a review for electr o pura in the september issue of stereo 
 review.  thought you might find it amusing:

 performance: heartfelt
 recording: murky

 for a long time yo la tengo looked like the ultimate critics' band, which 
 isn't necessarily a compliment.  led by singer/guitarist and former rock 
 scribe ira kaplan, yo la's early albums pursued a moody shade of pop with 
 some success, but there were so many musical cross-references and lyrical 
 inside jokes (one song listed hits of the group America) that the band's 
 own personality was lost in the shuffle.  that changed in 1991 with "may 
 i sing with me," where they mastered their influences--jangly garage 
 rock, folk/rock harmonies, droney psychedelia.  their 1993 follow-up, 
 "painful," was both moodier and catchier.  and the new "electr-o-pura" is 
 the darkest and most challenging of the three.
 much of "electr-o-pura" recalls neil young's "tonight's the night," not 
 so much in its theme as in its murky sound and general sense of 
 dislocation, and there's some pop reassurance between the lines.  kaplan 
 is a highly imaginative (if not technically stunning) guitarist, and he 
 knows the expressive possibilities of vibrato and fuzztone.  in fact, the 
 lengthy closing track, blue line swinger, piles up so much guitar driven 
 tension that it's a major relief when the song resolves in an uplifting 
 chorus.  you'd want to hunt the band down and strangle them if it didn't.
 - brett milano

 i thought the read was ok.  found myself quite amused at the publication 
 the review was in.  what are your thoughts?

 also, would you happen to know a location or a person that might have 
 guitar tabs for yo la tengo's stuff.  actually i'm really looking for 
 speeding motorcycle because it seems like it might be easy to play and 
 it's such a great song.  actual yo la tengo tabs would be appreciated 
 also but i'm pretty sure i don't have the skill or the finger dexterity 
 to play it since, as the reviewer so aptly noted, ira is a "technically 
 stunning" guitarist.  any help is appreciated.  


 later for now

 seogju



 from: "Jim O'Donnell" 

 Hi Tim,

 My web page is http://caifan.astroscu.unam.mx/~jim/

 I have no YLT news of any sort, being somewhat isolated here in Mexico City.
 The digest is one of my few sources of independent music news. Keep up
 the good work. Kinda frustrating to get all these live reviews of shows I can't 
 get to  though.Oh well, maybe I'll be able to catch them later this year cos 
 I'll be travelling to  Austin to visit my girlfriend as frequently as possible.

 Here's a question that just crossed my mind. Does anyone out there on the
 list play YLT songs? I play bass  and a little bit of guitar but I'm still 
 too crappy to figure out any of their songs by ear yet (except Detouring America 
 with Horns seems to begin G A C but I haven't got much beyond that.)

 Anyway, maybe we could post some chord progressions in the digest if anyone 
 has figured them out.

 I only found out a few days ago that Sterling Morrison died at the end of 
 August. Sad that the VU had such an enormous influence on music and yet
 Sterling's death seems to have been generally overlooked. 

 Jim O'Donnell

 PS Down here in D.F. (el Distrito Federal) Electropura is quite a common 
 brand of bottled water so I see the name everywhere. Quite an odd 
 coincidence.



 from: Chad Patterson 



 On the covers tip: Teenage Fanclub cover "I Heard You Looking" on the 
 b-side of their "Neil Jung" single.  It probably has'nt been released 
 stateside, so I would say you will find it on Creation.

 -Chad

 [Which makes me wonder if Cub covers Ylt's version of "Cast a Shadow",
  or are they reworking the original -tim]



 from: Daknein@aol.com

 The Scene Is Now

 I stumbled across the YLT Digest, saw a few things about their Fakebook LP
 including comments about "Yellow Sarong."  I played with The Scene Is Now for
 a number of years (Burn All Your Records thru Tonite We Ride).  Your readers
 might want to know about the forthcoming CD release on BarNone, The
 Oily Years, an anthology of Scene material which will include, inter alia,
 "Yellow Sarong." Release date is October 17th, I think.
 Please write to confirm your receipt of this message.

 D.C.



 Tour Dates
 ==========
 10/10     Cleveland, OH
 10/11     Oberlin
 10/12     Columbus, OH
 10/13     Cincinnati, OH
 10/14     St. Louis
 10/16     Boulder, CO
 10/19     Seattle
 10/20     Vancouver
 10/21     Portland
 10/23     San Francisco
 10/24    Berkeley
 10/25    San Jose
 10/26/27  Santa Monica
 10/28    Tempe
 10/29     Tucson
 10/31    Albuquerque
 11/2      Lawrence, KS
 11/3      Columbia
 11/4     Iowa City
 11/5/6  Minneapolis
 11/7    Madison
 11/8    Milwaukee
 11/10   Chicago
 11/11     Ann Arbor
 11/13    Toronto
 11/14    Ottawa
 11/15    Amherst
 11/16/17  Cambridge
 11/18   NYC

 10/10-27    with Run On
 11/10-15 with the Pastels

Love potion number
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This page modified on June 2, 1996