zadfrack's Full Review: And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out by Yo La...
This was a review that was written for the Dreher High BluePrint. It first appeared in print on May 26, 2000.
Yo La Tengo (which is Spanish for "I have it" is a three-piece band from Hoboken, New Jersey that consists of James McNew on bass, Ira Kaplan on guitar and Georgia Hubley on drums. They started playing in the early 1980's. "And then nothing turned itself inside-out" is their tenth album, and their eighth for New York-based indie record label Matador, which recently celebrated its tenth anniversary. The album was released on February 22, 2000. It is more relaxed and laid-back that any other works that I had heard by Yo La Tengo. This makes it a must-have for any Yo La Tengo fan. "And then nothing . . ." is not a garage rock album. As an addition which gives the album a jazz-lounge feel, vibraphones are used many different ways on songs such as "Our Way to Fall," "The Crying of Lot G," and "From Black to Blue." The CD begins with a spooky opener, "Everyday." "Saturday," the first single from the album, is sprinkled with intermittent bursts of atonal piano bangings. "Let's Save Tony Orlando's House" is a soothing song with a pleasing organ sound. "The Last Days of Disco" is a song which tells of a young man's invitation to dance because "the music was great for dancing." The album features a cover of George McRae's "You Can Have It All." The next track, "Tears are in Your Eyes," is reminiscent of old country songs. "Cherry Chapstick" is the heaviest song on the album, and also sounds the most like previous Yo La Tengo songs, a fact which should satisfy old Yo La Tengo listeners. "Madeline" is the closest thing to a pop song on the CD, with its female-name title and apparent theme of love. The mood of the instrumental "Tired Hippo" fits the title. The persistent bassline, the spaghetti-western guitar, the shrill organ, and the Inca-sounding pipes all contribute to the plodding rhythm of the song. The last track, "Night Falls on Hoboken," is a jazz-influenced song. It is the longest song on the album (almost eighteen minutes). Although one can never know for sure, to me the song sounds like a jam because it has many attributes of a jam: the different instruments taking turns playing, the extended length, and the fact that many moods and emotions are expressed in it. The cover pictures and the liner pictures give the impression of twilight, solitude, and tranquility, much like the music. Especially interesting is the front cover picture. In the corner, there is a man looking upwards at a light that seems to be coming from above and whose source we cannot see. The photograph on the back is of a door opened to the darkness of night. It implies that someone has unexpectedly left, which leaves you with much the same empty feeling that the music does.
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