It is something of an oddity to find a band that share almost 30 years of history together, only to find that same group are still together.
It is of an even greater rarity that said band can still consistently produce fresh music revered by both fans and critics alike. But hey, that’s just the charm of original indie rock loyalty, Yo La Tengo.
Having returned for one of Australia’s favourite weekends, that being, Golden Plains Festival in Meredith, Yo La Tengo have extended their Australian tour to stretch through the East Coast in promotion of the band’s 13th studio LP, the critically acclaimed Fade.
The band graced Australian shores for a special one-off performance entitled An Evening With Yo La Tengo in October of 2013 a part of Melbourne Festival, which was met with an expected wave of gratitude from those lucky enough to snag a ticket (and dazzled our own Tone Deaf reviewer).
In support of that 2013 performance, we were lucky enough to share some time with the ever-so generous bassist-extraordinaire James McNew who shed some light on the band’s some 30-year history, the aforementioned stellar 2013 LP release, Fade, as well as the art of not selling out.
Upon returning to Australia in 2014, the brilliant McNew graciously shared some more of his time to have a chat about the five records that have profoundly changed him and the influence they’ve bestowed on his professional music career.
“I gave it a little thought, I’m not sure if I was able to finish the thought, but I have enough to begin,” the bassist chuckles at the challenge; “this will be fun!”
There’s no over-arching consistent sound that pertains to McNew’s five album selections, instead rampantly bouncing from genre to genre, rather akin to the artist’s own creative output with Yo La Tengo since is his induction in 1992. Without further ado…
Black Flag – Damaged
1981, SST
“This record changed my life as a kid. I think even now, I’ve never heard anything as good. I think it’s the perfect record in a lot of ways. I mean, of course it’s the perfect record for a teenager because that’s when I heard it. If there were a way that for every child’s 14th birthday they could be given a copy of Damaged, I think the world we be a better place.
I think it’s amazing. I think it’s one of the most brutal, powerful records I’ve ever heard as far as playing; even the engineering is brutal and powerful. I think it’s a masterpiece.
I never got see what most people would consider the ‘classic lineup’. I did see a group named Flag recently, which is many of the former members playing the older songs; I thought that was pretty spectacular.
The bass player, Chuck Dukowski, is one of my very few all time favourite bass players. I am completely in awe of his abilities and his sound is just one of the most… it just stops me dead. It’s the greatest.”
Serge Gainsbourg – Histoire de Melody Nelson
1971, Philips
“I came to Gainsbourg kind of late. He became enormously popular, at least in New York City in the late 1990s. I guess his records were beginning to get reissued and people were going crazy in a kind of feeding frenzy.
I think I’m the kind of person who will then not participate in something like that. And then I felt like an asshole! And then I was like THIS is the most amazing record I’ve ever heard in my life!
There’s just so much to love about it! It’s super freaky and dark with the string arrangements yet really minimal. It’s a super psychedelic record that didn’t really position itself as such, especially with the language barrier, in a way that makes it more psychedelic. It sounds depraved and filthy, it’s almost nightmarish – it’s spectacular!
The thing that really blew me away with this record is the band. The bass player in particular, this is another heavy bass player record for me.
I guess I dreamed of a style that was somewhere between Black Flag and Serge Gainsbourg as far as bass playing goes. I thought that was the Holy Grail.”
Boredoms – Super Roots 9
2007, Commmons/Thrill Jockey
“This is a live record, it is a document of a concert, a presentation that we had seen them do a few times in 2006/07.
It’s this flying piece of music that propels itself forward and grows more energetic as [its] 75 minutes rolls along. It makes me really think how much I love this group and how much inspiration I think I’ve taken from them over the years, if not stylistically then spiritually.
Boredoms have been together as long as we have, if not a little longer, still with basically the same core members and just a really uncompromising vision of art and of how much they believe in what they do is so inspiring.
Each member of the group has their own group and those groups are amazing. Yoshimi, one of the drummers, is also a fashion designer. Eye, their leader, is also an acclaimed painter and collage artist. They can do anything! They’ve dedicated every second of their lives to their art and it’s just beautiful, it’s overwhelming. Super Roots 9: it is one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen and heard.”
Mayo Thompson – Corky’s Debt To His Father
1970, Texas Revolution/Glass Records/Drag City
“I heard this for the first time when I was on tour many, many years ago. I was in the Netherlands at a friend’s house and he played me this record.
Mayo Thompson was in a band in the 1960s called The Red Crayola, kind of a psychedelic band from Texas. But just a really, *phew*, really different kind of vibe to that group, kind of inscrutable, they split up and Mayo made a long series of solo records. This one is really my favourite.
It’s a kind of nervous sounding folky record, but not really folky? It’s funny and great! It’s like a kind of record you hear something that you didn’t notice before every time you listen to it. I feel like I’ve been listening to this record for 20 years and every time I hear it I hear a line or a crazy drum part that I never noticed before. It’s just fantastic!
The songs are really great, they stick in your head and they don’t go away. I wish I knew more about this record, I’ve never been able to find much information on how it was made or what went into the process of writing songs. I’ve really never heard another record like it, not even any of his other solo records really match the kind of singular mood of this record. It’s oddly comforting. It’s beautiful and it’s really worth looking for.”
El-P – Fantastic Damage
2002, Definitive Jux
“I loved hip-hop when I was a kid. I grew up in Virginia so I grew up kind of close to the DC go-go and hip-hop music [scene].
I was tuned in pretty good to the mid-1980s early 1990s the second ‘Golden Age’ of hip-hop and then I just kind of went another way for a long time. But this record got me back in a really big way.
It’s a record that has the spirit and respect of the classic hip-hop stuff yet it was brand new. I thought I had heard all the sounds at that point in my life, I thought I had heard everything. This record taught me that there’s a whole other world.
Fantastic Damage really blew my mind. He did all of the production himself as well as all the song writing and all the rapping. It really made me think in a way of guys that make records on their own, on a 4-track cassette machine or something. I could relate to it from my world to see what he was doing, he was just one guy with a vision doing everything himself and putting this record together.
El-P makes sounds that I still can’t identify, and I just thought it was smart, funny, tough and vulnerable. I think it’s a very emotional record. I still think it sounds really cool.”
Yo La Tengo Australian Tour 2014
Tickets on sale now
Tuesday 11th March: Brisbane, The Zoo
zoo.oztix.com.au, phone 3854 1381
Thursday 13th March: Sydney Opera House Concert Hall
sydneyoperahouse.com or phone 9250 7777
