Yo La Tengo/Condo Fucks

Metro Chicago

("Yo La Tango" and "Lamb Chop.")............................(They got "Yo La Tengo" correct the second time, but RICK Brown wasn't so fortunate.)



Yo La Tengo are the absolute jam. Their creative restlessness, their balancing act of wearing their hearts on their sleeves without being wimpy, their ability to cross genres without flinching, and their willingness to cover any band they well choose...these are all exactly the things I want in a band. They don't bother with image, other than being nice, honest, creative music dorks. The music has always come first, baseball a close second. I'm a little surprised it's taken me this long to talk about them.

So when I heard that Yo La Tengo were putting out a garage covers record under the name "Condo Fucks," well, I couldn't have been more fucking condo-ning. For one thing, it means new Yo La Tengo. For another, it means they're still having fun trying something new, which, if I'm to infer correctly, means no end in sight. It also means we'll get Yo La Tengo pretending to be a raucous garage band covering The Small Faces, Slade, and The Troggs. Win win win.

There's a new video, err, photo montage of a bunch of Connecticrap, where "Condo Fucks" are supposedly from. I really like that in the press release for the new album, they didn't even bother coming up with an alias for James McNew. Georgia Condo, Kid Condo, and James McNew. Yeah, he's just kind of there, hanging out, playing bass. You know, whatever.

Check it:


Loud and obnoxious and gritty and awesome.

And for kicks, here're the two Dylan covers they contributed to the "I'm Not There" soundtrack.

Yo La Tengo - Fourth Time Around (Bob Dylan)
Yo La Tengo - I Wanna Be Your Lover (Bob Dylan)