Popular Songs (Yo La Tengo album)

Popular Songs is the twelfth full-length album by the American indie rock band Yo La Tengo, released digitally, on CD, and double LP on September 8, 2009 by the Matador record label.[3]

This article is about an album by Yo La Tengo. For the article about popular music in general, see Popular music. For an award involving popular songs, see Popular Song.
Popular Songs
Studio album by
Yo La Tengo
ReleasedSeptember 8, 2009
RecordedEarly 2009, Hoboken, New Jersey and Nashville, Tennessee, United States[1]
GenreIndie rock, Indie pop[2]
Length72:49
LanguageEnglish
LabelMatador
ProducerRoger Moutenot
Yo La Tengo chronology
Fuckbook
(2009)		 Popular Songs
(2009)		 Fade
(2013)
Singles from Popular Songs
  1. "Here to Fall"
    Released: 28 July 2009
  2. "Periodically Double or Triple"
    Released: 4 August 2009
  3. "Avalon or Someone Very Similar"
    Released: 11 August 2009
  4. "Nothing to Hide"
    Released: 18 August 2009
  5. "When It's Dark"
    Released: 1 September 2009

Content

Artwork

The band contacted the conceptual artist Dario Robleto.[4] He contributed three pieces for the album design:

  • At War With the Entropy of Nature / Ghost Don't Always Want to Come Back (2002) (cover)
  • A Dark Day for the Dinosaurs (Radio Edit) (2000-2001) (inlay)
  • Sometimes Billie Is All That Holds Me Together (1998-1999) (back cover)

Music videos

Four videos were made by the director John McSwain to accompany one song from the album each. In the weeks leading up to the release of the album, a new video was posted on Matador's various "partner sites" and collected on Matador's own website. The first video, for "Here to Fall", was posted on Matador's own "Matablog" on July 28, 2009.[5]

Release
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic79/100[6]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[7]
The A.V. ClubA-[8]
BBC Musicpositive[9]
Drowned in Sound8/10[10]
The Guardian[11]
musicOMH[12]
Pitchfork7.9/10[13]
PopMatters[14]
Rolling Stone[15]
Slant[16]

Popular Songs was leaked onto the Internet on July 26. In response, Matador began streaming the album to Buy Early Get Now customers on July 28, more than a week before the stream was originally advertised to begin.[17]

Popular Songs was released on September 8, 2009, by Matador. It was the eighth album to be given Matador's Buy Early Get Now treatment,[18] in which it was sold with a vinyl LP with Yo La Tengo's original score from the film Adventureland, as well as three bonus tracks as download in MP3 and FLAC. The first two of these downloads were demo versions of two album tracks and became available shortly before the release of the CD. The third download became available on December 15, 2009. The same track is also available in the iTunes Store and on the Japanese CD issue of the album.[19]

By 2012, it had sold over 43,000 copies in United States.[20]

Track listing

All songs written by Georgia Hubley, Ira Kaplan and James McNew.

No.TitleLength
1."Here to Fall"5:45
2."Avalon or Someone Very Similar"3:17
3."By Two's"4:29
4."Nothing to Hide"2:46
5."Periodically Double or Triple"3:53
6."If It's True"2:39
7."I'm on My Way"4:35
8."When It's Dark"3:54
9."All Your Secrets"4:26
10."More Stars Than There Are in Heaven"9:39
11."The Fireside"11:25
12."And the Glitter Is Gone"15:54
Bonus tracks
  1. "You've Got a Friend" (Carole King) - 4:10 (Japanese CD, Argentine CD, Buy Early Get Now & iTunes bonus track)
  2. "Nothing to Hide (Demo)" - 9:47 (Buy Early Get Now bonus track)
  3. "Periodically Double or Triple (Demo)" - 7:39 (Buy Early Get Now bonus track)

Personnel

String arrangements by Richard Evans

  • David Angel, Pamela Sixfin - violin
  • Monisa Angell, Kristin Wilkingson - viola
  • John Catchings - cello
  • recorded by John Mark Painter at IHOF in Nashville
  • Doug Wieselman - clarinet

Produced by Roger Moutenot Mastered by Greg Calbi at Sterling Sound

References
  1. "Matablog". Matador Records. 2009-06-04. Archived from the original on 2012-01-22. Retrieved 2012-03-05.
  2. "Yo La Tengo: Popular Songs Album Review". Pitchfork. Retrieved 3 October 2016.
  3. "Yo La Tengo Biography". Matador Records. Archived from the original on 2000-09-03. Retrieved 2012-03-05.
  4. "Take Cover". Pitchfork. Pitchfork Media Inc. 2009-09-02. Retrieved 2014-06-16.
  5. "Matablog". Matador Records. 2009-07-28. Archived from the original on 2012-03-05. Retrieved 2012-03-05.
  6. "Popular Songs by Yo La Tengo". Retrieved 3 October 2016.
  7. Allmusic review
  8. "Yo La Tengo: Popular Songs". The A.V. Club. 8 September 2009. Retrieved 3 October 2016.
  9. Chick, Stevie. "Review of Yo La Tengo - Popular Songs". BBC Music. Retrieved 3 October 2016.
  10. "Album Review: Yo La Tengo - Popular Songs". Retrieved 3 October 2016.
  11. Costa, Maddy (3 September 2009). "Yo La Tengo: Popular Songs". The Guardian. Retrieved 3 October 2016.
  12. "review". musicOMH.
  13. "Yo La Tengo: Popular Songs Album Review". Pitchfork. Retrieved 3 October 2016.
  14. "Yo La Tengo: Popular Songs". PopMatters. Retrieved 3 October 2016.
  15. "Album Reviews". Retrieved 3 October 2016.
  16. Slant https://web.archive.org/web/20090912160809/http://www.slantmagazine.com/music/music_review.asp?ID=1843. Archived from the original on 12 September 2009. Retrieved 3 October 2016. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  17. "Matador Records: Yo La Tengo - 'Popular Son". Twitter. 2009-07-28. Retrieved 2012-03-05.
  18. "Buy Early Get Now". Buy Early Get Now. 2009-03-22. Archived from the original on 2012-07-29. Retrieved 2012-03-05.
  19. "Yo La Tengo – Popular Songs (CD, Album)". Discogs. Retrieved 2012-03-19.
  20. "Yo La Tengo Announces New Album & Tour Dates". Billboard.
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