Albums by this artist

I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass (2006)

Summer Sun (2004)

Danelectro EP (2000)

And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out (2000)

I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One (1997)

Electr-O-Pura (1995)

Concerts

November 26, 2000
Bowery Ballroom, New York

Yo La Tengo

Danelectro EP

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» JONATHAN COHEN | SENIOR EDITOR

Yo La Tengo Danelectro EP Matador, 2000 RiYL: Velvet Underground, Directions In Music, Gastr Del Sol

Although Yo La Tengo has released plenty of music in its career that would qualify as mellow, the material found on the Danelectro EP is some of the band's most delicate in many years. Three instrumentals that didn't make the cut on 2000's And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out are augmented by one remix apiece, creating rich, atmospheric music that is ideal for a certain kind of mood.

Actually, these pieces (some of which were previously released as U.K. b-sides) tend to make me a little sad. The original instrumentals especially possess an intangible longing to them that doesn't always bubble to the forefront of Yo La Tengo's music. "Danelectro 3" is built around a repeated, plucked guitar melody as cymbals tap and what sounds like hand drums rumble in the background. The tune to "Danelectro 2" is almost of a music box quality, with sweet guitar lines intertwining and separating from measure to measure. "Danelectro 1" is nothing more than the same rhythmic bottom end, augmented by some machine noises, repeated for 75 seconds.

For its remix, the Arsonists' Q-Unique doesn't do much but add a little techno bump and twang to that figure. San Francisco-based experimentalist Kit Clayton gets a bit more creative with "Danelectro 3," messing cut-and-paste style with the sound itself until it results in some Directions In Music-ish swooshing and phasing.

But it is Thrill Jockey import Nobukazu Takemura who really gets crafty with "Danelectro 2," sliding warm electro beats beneath the primary melody, which is subjected to a variety of tonal skins. Things get gradually busier until the five-minute mark, when a repeated sequence that would make Steve Reich proud kicks in and mutates beautifully for another six minutes.

Danelectro is Yo La Tengo at its gentle best, soothing the heart's jagged edges and temporarily clearing away one's mental clutter.

JONATHAN COHEN | Jonathan Cohen co-created Nude As The News with his Indiana University mates Troy Carpenter and Ben French. When not traversing the globe for business and pleasure, he holds down the fort as a senior editor for Billboard in New York. Stop him and he just may ask, "what for lunch?"