Yo La Tengo - Here to Fall Remixes

  by Chris O'Toole

published: 4 / 7 / 2010

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Review

While the restless experimentation of Yo La Tengo is well established, less well known is their penchant for commissioning remix material of their own eclectic output. Signature track 'Autumn Sweater' won a remix EP – featuring everybody from Tortoise to Kevin Shields – in the late nineties, while album Danelectro was granted a similar treatment. The latest addition to this canon is 'Here to Fall Remixes', offering three hip hop-influenced reinterpretations of the lead track from last year’s 'Popular Songs' album. With an untreated reminder of the original out of the way, De La Soul is given the first opportunity to rearrange the building blocks of the track. With group mainstay Maseo taking the reins it is initially stripped of Ira Kaplan’s swirling guitars, placing fresh emphasis on the drumming on Georgia Hubley and the plaintive vocal line. An air of darkness pervades as Kaplan repeatedly questions the future of a seemingly doomed relationship, before the intricate drums are eventually drowned out by looming tors of bass guitar. RJD2 takes the opposite tack, opening 'Here to Fall' up to the light. Guitars are back in fashion for this reading of the source material, flashing summer colour in the background. Hubley’s drums are again at centre stage, but Kaplan’s questioning is now relaxed acceptance of the inevitable – and possibly positive – end. The stand out performance here comes as the record closes. While both the Maseo and RJD2 versions of 'Here to Fall' can be taken as polite reworkings of the original – distorted facsimiles of Yo La Tengo – Pete Rock reinvents the track in his own image. The pace is slowed to a crawl, with virtually all of the original rock elements distorted beyond recognition. A simple, hypnotic bass is carved out of the original melody and used to underscore Kaplan’s mantra-like questions. Buck adds his own rhythms – offering his thoughts on Yo La Tengo – to the mix, creating something truly new. Perhaps one for the Yo La Tengo completists, there is also enough here for remix fans to return for repeated listens; a new context for this most intriguing of bands.

Track Listing:-

1 Here To Fall (Album Version)
2 Here To Fall (De La Soul Remix)
3 Here To Fall (RJD2 Remix)
4 Here To Fall (Pete Rock Remix)

Band Links:-

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Label Links:-

http://www.matadorrecords.com/
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