Yo La Tengo is probably better than your band, and they will beat your ass.   Full text...

I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass is a delirious jumble, the rare album that holds together because of the sheer audacity of its diversity, rather than being torn asunder by it.  Full text...

Really, this kind of committed and sincere musical sampler is the most natural place in the world for Yo La Tengo to be, but it wasn't clear if they'd ever find their way back.  Full text...

After 20 glorious years of teetering between New York art rock obscurity and the mainstream success they rightly deserve, Yo La Tengo are back with another collection of uncompromising underground classics.  Full text...

For all their playfulness, the group's melancholy weighs down their music with an emotional gravitas that is rare among anorak bands. They are a beloved cult with good reason.  Full text...

It’s good.  Full text...

If this sounds a bit all over the place, then that's because it is. Each track is a virtual polar opposite of that which preceded it, but somehow the whole album hangs together.  Full text...

If you like avant-garde rock, it’s here; then again, if you like melodic-pop rock, it’s here too. Most bands just don’t possess the gravitas to effectively put the two together.   Full text...

For most of this record, the band is intent on trying on an assortment of hats, both new and old.  Full text...

Because YLT is arguably the only outfit in existence that can convincingly do the jukebox thing without sounding like anyone other than themselves, it would be far less accurate to call I Am Not a retread than -- and I know, so hoary cliché alert -- a return to vintage form.   Full text...

The best stuff is still the foggy, horizon-chasing psychedelia that they’ve been playing for years.  Full text...

I Am Not Afraid Of You And I Will Beat Your Ass is a bloated, overreaching long-player in the tradition of bloated, overreaching long-players like Sign O' The Times, Exile On Main Street, and London Calling. But it's also business as usual for Yo La Tengo.   Full text...

I Am Not Afraid Of You is a one-stop jukebox, covering everything from blue-eyed, country-bred soul ("Sometimes I Don't Get You"), blistering rockabilly ("Watch Out For Me Ronnie"), and points in between.  Full text...

The virtues of Yo La Tengo's stubborn diversity are pleasingly arrayed on I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass, an album that plays fast and loose with all manner of indie-rock sounds.  Full text...