YO LA TENGO - Stuff Like That There

"Yo La Tengo have been in a retrospective bubble since 2013's well-received but too quickly forgotten Fade LP.  With an expanded version of 1993's sublime Painful (as Extra Painful, on Matador) and a vinyl reprint of 1990's well-loved Fakebook on vinyl (on Bar/None) both appearing last year, backwards glancing has been helpfully reminding us how special the group can be.  Now appears the tongue-twistedly-titled Stuff Like That There as an ostensible Fakebook sequel, mixing-up obscure as well as not so obscure covers, self-reworkings and a couple of new songs in less amplified settings, with even past member Dave Schramm returning as an auxiliary guest guitarist.

Yet, in a good way, Stuff Like That There isn't a straightforward second volume of Fakebook. Whilst the concept and band set-up is broadly similar, the sonic execution feels noticeably different. Instead of its quasi-prequel's more overtly rustic hoedowns and more exuberant choice of material, the new album instead frames its gathered assortment of compositions with languid electro-acoustic guitar layers, brushed and shimmery drums, prowling upright-bass lines and some gorgeous tri-part vocal interplay from the long-running core trio of Georgia Hubley, Ira Kaplan and James McNew. Such arrangements and production settings seem to re-locate the warm intimate spots previously hidden amidst the more art-rocking tracts inside two of the band's most essential albums, 1995's Electr-O-Pura and 1997's I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One. This connection is reinforced with balmy remouldings of 'The Ballad Of Red Buckets' and 'Deeper Into Movies' from those respective long-players." - Delusions Of Adequacy