YO LA TENGO- I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One (1997)

This is a record I have listened to so many times in the last, say, 10 years I almost know it off by heart. Yo La Tengo (whose name comes from baseball slang or so I was led to believe) are one of the most inventive and essential alternative rock bands to come out of the US (Sonic Youth and Pavement also come to mind). They met and formed around Hoboken in New Jersey and since the early 90's the line up consists of Ira Kaplan (guitars, vocals), Georgia Hubley (drums, vocals), and James McNew (bass, vocals). This double LP is a collection of mostly melodic songs with a pop sensibility. The album kicks in with instrumental tune Return To Hot Chicken which sets the mood for side one. It's quickly followed by Moby Octopad, a killer track based on a bass riff with harmony vocal from Georgia Hubley. Then tunes come thick and fast, most of them classics: Autumn Sweater, Little Honda, Sugarcube (insane shoegaze anthem), Stockholm Syndrome, One PM again...YLT are still making awesome records these days but they'll be hard-pressed to make a better record than this. They're a superb live outfit too.


Here's YLT doing what they do best.