I Am Not Afraid of You & I Will Beat Your Ass

Yo La Tengo | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 12, 2006)
• Original Release Date: 2006
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Matador Records
• ASIN: B000GUK0HM
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (34 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #49,743 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

It's no surprise that a group named after something said during a baseball game would title an album after something said during a basketball match. It is a bit of a surprise that this band remains so incredibly good, and capable of surprising even longtime listeners. This one's so diverse and such a mixture of different styles, it's reminiscent of the group's all-request on-air shows they play annually to support New Jersey-based radio station WFMU. Book-ended by two long, droney tunes, you've got garage-rock rave-ups, country-pop, horn-driven R&B, little gorgeous atmospheric songs, some brilliant falsetto singing, and... this list could go on and on. Who else would think to pair conga-style percussion to a Suicide-esque synth drone? Or even to work with longtime Dylan collaborator and strings arranger and violinist David Mansfield and have genius illustrator Gary Panter do the artwork at the same time? It's the little things that matter, especially when you mastered the big ones twenty-plus years ago. --Mike McGonigal

Product Description

This bold, eclectic, 80-minute album is the pinnacle of the band's twenty-year career. From eleven-minute guitar jams to gorgeous ballads to winsome horn-drenched pop songs, this album is all over the map, in a very good way. Features the talents of longtime Nashville producer Roger Moutenot, violinist Dave Mansfield of Dylan's Rolling Thunder Review, and the jacket artistry of Gary Panter (Raw, Jimbo).

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars They are not afraid of you, September 12, 2006

By 

E. A Solinas "ea_solinas" (MD USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: I Am Not Afraid of You & I Will Beat Your Ass (Audio CD)

With a title like "I Am Not Afraid Of You And I Will Beat Your Ass," it seems like an understatement to say that veteran indie-rock band Yo La Tengo are feeling confident.

And Yo La Tengo stick to what works after twenty years of indie-rocking, with a Velvet Underground vibe, solid pop tunes, noisy rockers and some wildly engaging jazzy experimentals. They know what they do well, and they do it as well as ever in their tenth album.

They take a bit of a risk in the opening number, "Pass the Hatchet, I Think I'm Goodkind," a sprawling eleven-minute track that noodles through jazzy drums and fuzzy guitars. It sounds like the Velvet Underground having a lazy jam session, until the point where the cycling guitars erupt into a giant riff snarl.

The experimentation diddles around through the rest of the album, but never so strongly as it does in "Pass the Hatchet." They dabble in various other kinds of pop music, sprinkled with country, blippy electropop, retro-sixties, freestyle jazz and sweeping, dreamier numbers, like the ones from their last original album.

The highlight is "Beanbag Chair," which is one of those instantly lovable pop songs -- jaunty piano, blasts of horn, mischievous lyrics, and daydreaming vocals. If you ever heard Yo La Tengo on the radio, this would be their big, big single.

Yo La Tengo have diddled around with all kinds of sounds for the past two decades, usually with lots of success. Just so long as they don't try freestyle harmonica or classical bagpipes, there's no reason to think that they won't continue to succeed at their experimentation.

But they give their music some fresh new twists this time around -- they include silky string arrangements by David Mansfield, lots more piano, and more horns than they were using in "Summer Sun," courtesy of drummer Georgia Hubley. It feels peppy, fun and energized, like these guys were enjoying themselves just making every song.

Frontman Ira Kaplan shows his range in these songs, crooning "You can never sleep enough/and your alarm is going off/you wake up and you can't pretend/the dream is just a dream again," in a smooth voice. He's joined by bassist James McNew's falsetto in "Mr. Tough," which is a bit of a shock for awhile, but which works out all right.

Yo La Tengo are not afraid of you, but you don't need to be afraid of their latest effort either -- "We Are Not Afraid of you and We Will Beat Your Ass" is an all-around solid little album. Nice work!

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars terrific indie record that runs a little long, September 26, 2006

By 

Joseph Geni (Evanston, Illinois United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: I Am Not Afraid of You & I Will Beat Your Ass (Audio CD)

Before I talk about how good this album is, I want to get my major gripe out of the way. This album is too long. 15 tracks, 77 minutes long, and it demonstrates that it is very hard, if not impossible, for a record that length to maintain any cohesion.

On the other hand, if you want cohesion, I don't think Yo La Tengo is your sort of band. After all, they once released a 40-somethin' minute "single" of covers of Sun Ra's "Nuclear War." This album is similarly eclectic. The opening track rocks out with heavy guitars over a 1-bar bass riff for fully ten minutes and it is brilliant. Following up is the piano-and-sax indie track Beanbag Chair, then the gentle "I Feel Like Going Home," then the romping "Mr. Tough" and its ridiculous indie-disco lyrics. The first part of the album builds up to "Daphnia," which is a gorgeous instrumental drifter that you should listen to right before going to sleep at 1am or later to get the proper effect.

And the album could well have ended right there. There's nothing wrong with the six tracks that follow, they're quite nice, I'm sure I'll listen to them more fully later and appreciate them better. There are just too many of them for it to be as an effective album as it would have with a shorter running length.

The ultimate point, however, is that this is quality music. Go get it.

40 of 54 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Stunner, September 12, 2006

By 

H. L. Morris (North Carolina) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: I Am Not Afraid of You & I Will Beat Your Ass (Audio CD)

WOW. Maybe the best record of the year. Maybe the best record of the 21st century. Incredible. All over the place, loose yet focused, sort of like THE WHITE ALBUM or WOWEE ZOWEE or EXILE ON MAIN ST. Easy to initially sort of write off (see the first basically unenthusiatic three-and-a-half star review). But it's really a grower, the more you listen the bigger it sounds. I can't decide if it tops I CAN HEAR THE HEART BEATING yet, but this one has an incredible pulse for sure. Messy, manic, melodic etc.

An important record, a great record, a ridiculously funny record (just like THE WHITE ABLUM and WOWEE ZOWEE).

Yo La Tengo = Best Band in the U.S.?