
[photo courtesy of Chris La Putt and Brooklynvegan ] Condo Fucks exist as an alternative reality where Ira Kaplan, Georgia Hubley and James McNew can perform as an authentic 602s garage band playing a selection of eclectic covers without the need to actually be Yo La Tengo at any point during the evening. On Friday night at Mercury Lounge , the alter-ego of one of the favorite bands of this site delivered a blistering thirty-five minute set that left the packed crowd shaking their heads in awe. [...]

If one were to compile a canon of influential independent artists that have truly shaped the genre, Yo La Tengo would certainly have a spot on the list. At least that's what I've been told. The New Jersey trio began their debut over twenty-five years ago. Now that's something to contend with. I wasn't even born. Sunday night marked the second night performance for the band at Cats Cradle and although it didn't officially sell out (like the previous night), I still encountered parking issues and a crowded venue. I'd never seen Yo La Tengo perform, [...]

Yo La Tengo have announced that they will be heading out on a 13 date concept tour. The Hoboken trio will split their performance into two sets. The first involving spinning a wheel to see what the group will perform. The wheel includes activities such as: "Songs starting with S", "Name Game", "Sitcom Theatre" and "Condo Fucks". For an explanation of the categories and to "practice" spinning the wheel, head over to their website . The second set will be a more traditional performance. Unfortunately there is no NJ or NYC dates for this particular tour, [...]
Filed under: The Hit List There are more than 60 artists on Matador Records' 'Matador at 21' six-CD retrospective. There are 26 playing the New York indie label's birthday concerts in Las Vegas Oct. 1 through 3. When you've put out nearly a thousand records, not every band can make the cut. Every longtime Matador fan can name at least one artist that they wish was [...]

It took us a few days to recover from the festival and the whole trip. So if anyone still cares, here's our report. Oh and sorry for our amateur photos, but after this we really don't think it's such a big deal. DAY ONE: Hunting for Hipsters After a couple of days of walking around Barcelona and checking out its night life, we came to the festival dead tired. Walked through a couple of shows and sat around watching hipsters. I've never seen so many in [...]

Condo Fucks We've got a PACKED edition of Weekend Diversions for you today including the Condo Fucks at The Hideout , Local Natives at Schubas , Coltrane Motion at Subterranean and more. Coupled with the beautiful weather out - this should be an amazing weekend. Let's get to it, shall we? Friday LOCAL NATIVES Local Natives are the new [...]

Yep. You read that headline right. For those in on the joke, a number of them acted quickly and snapped up tickets to this Sunday's sold-out Eleventh Dream Day show at the Hideout . Yo La Tengo opens as its alter ego the Condo Fucks . Yo La released an album of garage covers last year called Fuckbook . (In 1990, Yo La recorded an album consisting of mostly covers called Fakebook . Too many inside jokes.) To build on the gag, a mock history of the band was invented. [...]
In an effort to somewhat merge the AD show on XMU with that of the blog proper, this is the first of what will most likely become a recurring series. After the jump, check a selection of 27 (mostly) new-ish tracks I've been spinning over the past few weeks - 1/2 of which have not [...]
Yo La Tengo have been on the go since the mid-eighties, consistently producing great albums, one after another. So consistent that they run the risk of being overlooked or taken for granted. Earlier in the year the band released a covers record under the alias Condo Fucks . In September they released Popular Songs , which is arguably the finest record they've made to date. The band kick off their European/World tour this Thursday in Dublin's Tripod. State interrupted James McNew from his packing to discuss deadlines, tour buses and crazy teen sex comedies. [...]
Directed by the good people at La BlogothequeThe second half of this two-part live session is over here. Yo La Tengo's latest album is Popular Songs. Make sure to check out Condo Fucks, too, while you're at it.MP3s:Yo La Tengo- "Periodically Double or Triple"Yo La Tengo- "Here To Fall"For more on Yo La Tengo, go to their website.

In lieu of the release of their 12th full-length album, Popular Songs , New Jersey indie pioneers Yo La Tengo have created (through their record label, Matador Records) a series of videos to mark the preview of select tracks from the new CD. Here's the first video of the series (featuring a mesmerizing sky-high view of skywriting planes): "Here To Fall" and "Periodically Triple or Double" are available for your listening pleasure below. No related posts.

As a nice follow-up to yesterday's Mid-2009 Round-Up post of 10 Disappointing Albums, today is a second list, this time titled 10 Surprising Albums. Similar to the way I explained the difference between "disappointing" and "worst" yesterday, let me tell you that "surprising" and "best" do not mean the same thing. The albums on this list are not (all) my favorites from the first half of the year, rather, they're just albums that surprised me in one way or another. That of course is surprised in a good way. So look at this as the positive polar opposite to yesterday's [...]

Enough of all that old stuff for a moment, it´s about time we played you something recent here again. Right? Right. Western States may be a Canadian band, but their second album Bye And Bye was fittingly recorded down in Texas. The steelguitar-drenched Time To Lose is a perfect example of their melancholic sound. Western States - Time To Lose MP3 King Creosote is the brainchild of Kenny Anderson, who comes from a big [...]

Yo La Tengo are back -- after a three-year hiatus from their brilliant 2006 return to form I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass -- with a new mp3 from an album coming out this fall (September 8, to be exact) and a corresponding tour. The Hoboken trio are calling the album Popular Songs and I expect it to be popular with this blog , at least, which raved about their previous album for months. Oh, and in case you hadn't heard it, the members of the band spent [...]

Primavera es en el aire, spring is in the air. In Spain, anyway. Considering the pilgrimage to Coachella was a bit unmanageable this year, my summer concert festival will be Barcelona's Primavera Sound 2009. The three-day tunesfest takes place may 28 to 30 (next week) and features a indie-packed international crew that will make your head spin. There are few names on the playbill that we haven't yet spun here at Ca Va Cool, (as well as some old classics) so I thought I would do the honours and throw the records in the jukebox for all to hear. And, [...]

Nate has been busy bustin it at work this week and I'm gonna try and help out with the mixtape. Here it is. Enjoy! I'm just getting it out there for starters, more songs to be added soon. The Beach Boys - Good Vibrations Condo Fucks - Shut Down El Guincho - Palmitos Park Clasixx (feat. Jeppe) - I'll Get You Vega - No Reasons
I've been going to shows since I was 11 years old. My first show was the Beastie Boys/Run DMC "Together Forever" tour. I LOVED both groups and would spend hours spinning the vinyl on my record player in my room. The show was at Cal Expo in Sacramento - an outdoor ampitheater. Not a super loud concert experience. In fact, of all the shows I've ever seen the loudest show ever was this past New Year's Eve. I had never seen Yo La Tengo before. My girlfriend had several times but didn't warn me of the sound levels [...]
Lo-fi is a recording style that has taken the blogosphere by storm. With everyone including MTV talking about it, this roughly recorded musical movement just can't be escaped. Maybe you've heard a friend playing a lo-fi song on their MP3 player, or even gone to a show where a lo-fi band was performing. Maybe you yourself are in a lo-fi band . Either way, it's important to know that bad recordings are nothing new. Back in the day , all the hottest artists were recording lo-fi: Louis Armstrong, Bing Crosby, Woody Guthrie, the [...]

Leigh Righton Vancouver fuzz-merchant duo Japandroids chose an interesting way to celebrate the release of their new album Post-Nothing and the attendant "Best New Music" laurels bestowed upon it by Pitchfork - they cancelled nearly their entire scheduled Spring tour. Okay "chose" is probably the wrong word, as singer-guitarist Brian King probably didn't decide this was the perfect time to suffer a perforated ulcer and go in for emergency surgery. But that's what happened, and so nearly a month's worth of dates were scrapped but [...]
In their three years of existence, Cleveland proto-punks The Electric Eels played all of six shows. According to the All Music Guide, each of those six shows ended in either arrest or violence, often between band members on-stage. The group's fuzzed-to-death music would go on to influence the Dead Boys, the Rubber City Rebels, and [...]