Do some indie rock bands like Yo La Tengo put out way too much music?

Question

Everytime I turn around they have new singles, albums, collections, etc......Perhaps this only de-values the quality of their music if they are releasing absolutley everything they practice/play/record. Must be ego when some bands do this. The best albums seem to be those that are released once every 1 or more years. I wanna hear quality not just some " hey lets record our drunk practicing jam session and put it out as an e.p.
Please don't respond if you have never heard of this band. Thanks

Answer 1

Yeah, I tend to stay away from bands like this. There's nothing wrong with having too much material. Its just it often confuses me. Alot of indie bands release every possible song they've ever recorded, which puts me off a bit. You have to say, it takes a very serious band to release so much music. Some bands release a CD every 3 years! I'm not sure if its ego or just loving to play music. I think that these kind of bands should release less music. If they did, they might have more fans.

Answer 2

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Answer 3

Yo La Tengo does not appeal to the masses. They have reached a "cult" level status to the listeners who are devoted to them. They are very serious, intelligent, and affect music from the songwriting, instrumentation and recording. They have delved into every aspect of the production of their music. Yes, I think they are a great band.



However, I can see your point about the discontinuing of releasing full album releases and doling out their ep's with 4 or 5 songs. It's a certainly the fan base they have won over more or less wait for these droppings of music and buy them eagerly. In packaging the music in these portions allows a revered band like Yo La Tengo to maximize the most revenue from a controled minimal production.



Not sure who makes the call here. The record company or Yo La Tengo or both. In fairness, the attention to their music in releasing 4 quality songs on an ep is most times equal to 4 quality songs on a 9 song lp in most other bands/groups.



Radiohead, Stereolab and Morrissey and a few others, have both done the same of of music distribution.



As fas as putting out too much music, there is no real answer to the question. It's a matter of opinion. Certainly your opinion is valid as well. It could be true they have become complacent with their music, recently.



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Hi Professor, I have a couple of GBV albums. Did not realize they were so prolific with music releases. :-)



Still, my favorite ep is a Grandaddy ep "Signal to Snow Ratio." :-)



http://www.imeem.com/people/PQ6EQkc/blogs/2008/07/08/UTQdl5Im/grandaddy_protected_from_the_rain



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Prof, I am sure your comment about GBV was right on. Never in your previous posts have I found you to "exagerate."



Some great suggestions on ep's. Yeah, I got the 3 disk set form Belle And Sebastian. "Dog on Wheels", "Lazy LIne Painter Jane", and "3...6...9...seconds of Light" those are definitely three classics. A must have for people who like Belle and Sebastian. Yeah, "Signal to Snow Ratio", a real sleeper, a real keeper, found it one day pushed aside in the cd store. The decal on the cd was of a 50's tv. Great music, cool cd cover, Oh yeah and I had it. Until one day when stumbling from my bed to the bathroom at 200am I heard something crack. Ugh :-( I had smashed it. I picked up all the pieces and call all the Kings men put could not put it back together again.



Thanks for the Pavement and GBV recommendations. I will check them out!



I have one Okkervil River song, a freebie, they are an interesting group. Need to check out more of them.



Hope the Professor is doing well. Hope your non-smoking lifestyle is going well.

Answer 4

Interesting question. Threre are certainly those who do, but I've never really noticed Yo La Tengo as one of them (as much as I love Matador, I suppose I haven't paid THAT close of attention though). There is a group that kills me in that capacity though. Guided By Voices would be one of my favorite bands if it wasn't for the fact that for some reason Robert Pollard seems to feel the need to release every damned song he writes.



Without fail he will put his name on like 2 or 3 records every year and those records will contain 1/3 very good material that would make great album songs. Maybe 1/3 or a little less, good B-Side calibur tunes that they stretch to the album and about 1/3 stuff that really doesn't need to see the light of day. He has no filter, or maybe he does and imagine the crap that must be on those hard drives.



I think a lot of it is the "low-fi artist mentality." I agree there is some of it, and it's been a source of real frustration, but I haven't found it in too many groups.



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I just realized that I didn't answer the direct question:

In GBV's case (for example) it definitely does deflate the value of the music. I honestly decided a while back that I would not purchase any more of their records unless word of mouth told me that it was some sort of a "must own." They had about 2 records left to release at that point, and I think Robert Pollard is still putting out records, but I will gladly give up a few great tunes here and there to spare myself the massive frustration and disappointment. They were never the band that they had the potential to be because they didn't know when to cut a track or 5. To put off the release of a record until they had more good material.



Hey Mr. Bernstein.

Hows it goin? Good to see you. Been a while.

I may have been overstating the GBV thing, partially because a buddy of mine and I were just joking about it the other day. And to his credit, I think Pollard has slowed significantly since GBV broke up. He is at the front of a lot of projects that are happening in parallel though, and from what I can gather the dude hasn't met a song he won't release. They're definitely a cult group though and I certainly know a few hard core fans who eat even his most thoughtless stuff (at least by my estimation) up and ask for more. They just see something in it. I don't get it personally.



Anyhoo. I'm sure I have exaggerated, but that's the way I've seen it. For the best EP (at least ones that aren't singles which is a whole new ball game), that's tough. Signal to Snow Ratio is definitely very good... I think Watery Domestic (Pavement) has to be on the list, Dog On Wheels and This Is Just a Modern Rock Song (Belle and Sebastian), the Black Sheep Boy Appendix (Okkervil River, which if you haven't heard the appendix I think you would like it. I like it better than the record itself, and I think it would be up your alley.), and maybe surprisingly the Jurassic 5 e.p. is a monster release.



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Thanks Mr. Bernstein.

So far so good. It's become less of an issue and I'm still on the smoking equivalent of the wagon after 2 months + so... So far so good at least. One tough thing is having dreams where I'm smoking that feel very real. Those always make for a rough morning.

Anyways. That totally sucks. I've never had one, at least one that I liked, totally break like that. Sucks. I got pissed off recently because I was feeling like listening to Bakesale (Sebadoh) and found out that half of it was completely irreparably scratched. Doh!

I think you'd like Okkervil. I think the Black Sheep Boy Appendix is a good start, but it's kind of tough. The Black Sheep Boy record is very good, as are Down the River of Golden Dreams and Stage Names. Any of those are good, and they have different vibes. My wife and I are pretty psyched because we're going to see them in September.



Oh well. Good to see you man. Hope you're doing great.