Yo La Tengo @ the Corner Hotel
March 6, 2007
Yo La Tengo gigs are famous for the surprise factor. As is to be expected with a band that have been releasing albums solidly since the mid-80s, the back catalogue is far too big to please everybody. There’s just so much material, and because Yo La Tengo are so wildly eclectic, with 15 minute white noise jams and shoegazing epics from their early period jostling for position alongside folk, jazz and basic indie pop, a gig can be a bit of a mixed bag if you are a fan of only some aspects of their sound.
Unfortunately for me, the start of the gig was one interminable screechy slow jam centered around one particular track I was hoping they wouldn’t play: Pass the Hatchet, I Think I’m Goodkind, their latest album’s opener. Although quite hypnotic in its recorded form, live, and 20 minutes in, the urge to scream ‘enough already!’ was virtually overpowering. It might have had something to do with the treble-heavy mix, which sent more than one punter into the street for a ciggie until the blitzkrieg was over. That might not sound very rock ‘n roll, but then, with the exception of a few fresh faces lured by the brilliantly titled latest album I’m Not Afraid Of You and I Will Beat Your Ass many of the punters were a bit more mature and creaky, and were waiting to hear early nineties favourites like Big Day Coming – and come it did, but not until the bitter end. And not until a few new tinnitus casualties had been chalked up; the feedback levels would have made Sonic Youth proud.
As expected there was some light relief. It started when they lowered the gears into the more ambient, languid The Last Days of Disco. There followed a mini set of pop-tinged and accessible songs from the most recent album. A highlight was Mr Tough, an irresistibly catchy song that almost sounds like a TV jingle, even though the falsetto vocals were a bit shaky in a live setting. Not so Georgia’s lush, girlish, country-tinged vocals which dominated songs like I Feel Like Going Home, which soothed some still-aching eardrums in the audience.
For old dudes, Yo La Tengo have tonnes of stamina, and just when you thought you had them sussed, they’d pull out another 11-minute jam. Ira had the look of a mad scientist as he shunted between keyboards and guitars, stopping for very short periods to chat with James, who nodded and tapped on the spot like a librarian possessed. But at times you felt as if they’d be doing the same thing over at their clubhouse in Hoboken for 11 hours straight without stopping, oblivious to who was there. It can be an isolating experience if you’re not up there creating the noise too.
Yo La Tengo are always impressive, but at their best they are quirky and fun, which is why it was slightly disappointing that their set was taken up with some long, humourless dirges. There was a large element of the crowd who would probably vigourously disagree with me when I say that I found parts of the gig excruciating, but then, that is the nature of a band as wide-ranging and diverse as Yo La Tengo.
Appeared in PBSfm online magazine.
The Preytells come to us on a wave of ‘next big Aussie indie’ hype, bolstered by several campus competition wins in their hometown of Perth and the radio equivalent in JJJ’s ‘Unearthed’. There’s talk out west of them following in the footsteps of Eskimo Joe and End of Fashion, which, sadly, seems to be the WA benchmark for scaling the heights of rock success. Live reviews indicate that the band look ‘shit hot’ and have the image and stage presence to take them a long way. Well, at least, out of Perth and into the national arena. Stripped of all the hype, this debut EP might just hold the key.
Over here in Melbourne there are few preconceptions. I have not yet had the chance to catch The Preytells live, so this debut EP is my first contact with this band. The cover art is a lino-print or etching of a Grecian scene. Doodly and intricate and vaguely psychedelic, it perhaps hints at the Preytells need to connect with a rich musical past. Their sound reflects this – there’s an instant ‘classic rock’ vibe about them, capturing that vast period in guitar rock between The Kinks and Radiohead. Vocal harmonising, some cheesy percussion (cowbells and the like) and the odd handclap recall reflective late sixties pop, particularly post-Beatles George Harrison. There are some apocalyptic vocals and effects to bring their sound up to date, but on the whole, the Preytells are California roadtrip music, all easy, jangly guitars and catchy melodies.
The two openers on this EP are The Preytells’ ace cards – sweetly crafted, radio friendly pop in a contemplative minor key. Don’t Leave Me Alone has a mid-nineties Brit feel to it, and a driving beat, but it’s the title track, Could I Change Your Mind, that really shines. Will Tell and Audrey Tell – their stage names, though they not only look like siblings but could be the same person – sing in harmony, like musical book ends. Tell Me Sister has an almost bossanova beat, shimmying along on the beat of that cowbell.
Strangely, the The Preytells list The Brian Jonestown Massacre, Jeff Buckley, The Dandy Warhols, The Kings of Leon, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and The Beatles as influences. Ignoring this last one, which any vaguely melodic guitar band seems to aspire to, despite a welter of era-defining sounds in the 40 years since they hit, it is hard to find traces of these bands on this EP. Will Tell betrays perhaps a smattering of Jeff Buckley in his vocal stylings, but for the most part, the bands the Preytells list as influences are a lot heavier than the Preytells themselves – on CD, at least. Given the talk of The Preytells ‘dapper image’, these influences might be more of a visual thing. Indeed, the inner sleeve photo shows Will Tell, Audrey Tell, Jaclyn Pearson and Cameron Stewart looking the picture of sleek androgyny a la the Warhols’ Courtney Taylor-Taylor. But there is something far more polite and wistful about this EP than the Warhols are likely to produce. And while there is nothing particularly ground-breaking or innovative on it, there is enough atmosphere, beauty and complexity to their sound to keep you interested for the sake of it, regardless of the way they look.
