Album Review: This Stupid World by Yo La Tengo

Sixteenth album sees New Jersey trio reverting to their signature sound, consolidating their position as alternative treasures It’s incredible to think that Yo La Tengo are approaching their 40th year of existence. It’s a milestone usually associated with acts of a more heritage nature rather than a cult indie rock act that still evades commercial success (no matter how much their music is adored and respected). They've built up a truly magnificent body of work over those four decades and 16th studio album This Stupid World sees them further consolidate their position as alternative treasures.

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Yo La Tengo's superb 17th album, This Stupid World, sees the Hoboken trio make a triumphant stylistic return to peak form. Ascending to the throne of alt-rock royalty with essentials like 1997s I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One and 2000's And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out, Ira Kaplan's crew may have never "crossed over" in the manner of a number of their contemporaries, but their ongoing attitude of playful experimentation has always kept them in the minds and hearts of critics and fans. This Stupid World is a tender, tenebrous beauty.

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You can have it all For a classic band, Yo La Tengo are a bit hard to pin down. In their '90s-early '00s heyday, their records were unwieldy fusions of sweetly mellow indie jams, shoegaze, and noisy guitar freakouts, the type of combination which didn't always result in fully coherent releases but did make them indie darlings and possessors of a passionate fan base. As someone who absolutely adores the band, I freely acknowledge that their best albums are still generally inconsistent, almost always containing a questionable decision or two.

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Yo La Tengo are back. Their 17th studio album 'This Stupid World' is a self produced, mostly recorded live, raw yet tender record that furthers their reputation as one of the most consistently fruitful bands around. Formed by Ira Kaplan and Georgia Huble in the mid 80s, Yo La Tengo took off with 93's album 'Painful' , their first made with bassist James McNew, who with Kaplan and Huble have formed the trio ever since.

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