Behind their latest and greatest, Popular Songs, Yo La Tengo are currently winding their way through nearly every European city you’re currently daydreaming about. When they’re done smelling the flowers over there, they’re planning on playing some more dates in Japan, perhaps another spot more glamorous then the desk chair to which you/we’re glued. Life is tough. And while that tour may be massive and cosmopolitan, it does overlook a cities in Middle America still thirsting to hear new Yo La Tengo songs stretched out in a live setting. So that’s where they’re going come January, at which point they’ll head off on a tour down the center of our country and, in an even more thoughtful move, play shows that’ll require no additional surcharges when you buy a ticket at local record stores of their choosing. You can get all additional info here as well as see that aforementioned stretch of European and Japanese dates here.

Yo La Tengo Tour The Heartland:

01.22 Pontiac MI @ Crofoot Ballroom
01.23 Madison, WI @ Barrymore Theatre
01.24 St Louis, MO @The Pageant
01.26 Lawrence, KS @ Granada Theatre
01.28 Houston, TX @ Warehouse Live
01.29 Austin, TX @ Antone’s
01.30 Dallas, TX @ Granada Theatre

Sometimes in our RSS-haze we forget that “indie rock” wasn’t always so fashionable. In fact, if you go back to early nineties, the style was a lack of style, and not in some “I’m going to wear this because no one would think that I would actually wear this” sort of way. (Look at you Mom jeans.) Rather, it was earnest, as if all indie rockers of the ’90s merely woke up, saw their jeans and put them on. It was honest. It was real. Often, it was pretty ugly. While the slacker style has surely come back into play by kids whose first CD was Bush Sixteen Stone, it just doesn’t feel as “authentic” as it did back then. Times have changed kids, but the classic t-shirt, Levi’s and All-Stars will never die. It just will never look as cool as it did on these dudes.

You could even be a fat dude in shorts and that was cool…even in Europe! (Fun fact, pretty sure Ira Kaplan has been swapping between the same two t-shirts since Yo La Tengo began in 1984.)

As Pavement demonstrate, your clothes did not have to “fit,” let alone be “form fitting.” Also note, white long sleeve tee. God I miss the ’90s.

Sonic Youth wear coats. Long leather jackets, black and purple nylon ski parkas and denim jackets with leather collars.

As for video fashion, Chavez may have put it all out on the table when they shot their video for “Break Up Your Band” on a trans-gender hosted talk show featuring suburban moms, stripping firemen, kimono clad rickshaw drivers, loin cloth covered dudes in bear masks, and a bevy of gigantic collars.

Something tells me Veruca Salt will opt against the floral crop tank top when they inevitably reunite. (Notice the gold microphones. Oh, Glastonbury.)

Lou Barlow in Germany in 1995 looks like my fifth grade Earth Science teacher in Germany in 1995.

On the other hand, J. Mascis looks pretty much exactly the same.

Yo La Tengo’s songs have always been popular in our hearts. Unfortunately our hearts ever so rarely translate into Soundscan numbers these days, or Japandroids would have done some Miley Cyrus numbers (they basically sing about the same stuff!). But at least now they can be popular in title too, as their upcoming Popular Songs is currently streaming in its entirety on NPR. Check it out!

(Via Stereogum via NPR)

On September 8, Yo La Tengo will release its 16th album, Popular Songs, which also marks the band’s 25th anniversary. The album is described as “cross[ing] many different styles” and was recorded in the band’s home studio in Hoboken with assistance from Roger Moutenot. The album cover was designed by Dario Robleto, and the art was made from pulverized bones and trinitite, which is glass formed as a result of the first atomic test explosion at the Trinity test site in 1945, when the heat from the blast melted the surrounding sand. Sounds appropriately intense. Yo La Tengo will tour the country in support of the album’s release from mid-September to the end of October.

Tour dates are as follows:
09.15.09 Winooski, VT @ Higher Ground
09.16.09 Boston, MA @ Wilbur Theater
09.17.09 Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
09.18.09 Durham, NC @ Carolina Theater
09.19.09 Atlanta, GA @ Variety Playhouse
09.21.09 Asheville, NC @ Orange Peel
09.22.09 Knoxville, TN @ Bijou Theater
09.23.09 Louisville, KY @ Headliners
09.24.09 Nelsonville, OH @ Stuart’s Opera House
09.25.09 New York, NY @ Roseland (NYC)
10.02.09 Montreal, QC @ Le National
10.03.09 Toronto, ON @ Opera House
10.05.09 Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Tavern
10.06.09 Chicago, IL @ The Vic
10.07.09 Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue
10.09.09 Omaha, NE @ Slowdown
10.10.09 Denver, CO @ Ogden
10.11.09 Solano Beach, CA @ Belly Up Tavern
10.12.09 Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge
10.14.09 Phoenix, AZ @ Marquee Theater
10.15.09 Los Angeles, CA @ Avalon
10.16.09 San Diego, CA @ Soma
10.17.09 Santa Cruz, CA @ Rio Theater
10.18.09 San Francisco, CA @ 100% Equal Festival
10.20.09 Portland, OR @ Crystal Ballroom
10.21.09 Vancouver, BC @ Commodore Ballroom
10.22.09 Seattle, WA @ Showbox

This guy's going to be there.

Additions to the lineup of the POP Montreal International Music Festival, the music extravaganza taking over the Canadian city from September 30 to October 4, have been announced. Performers recently added to the roster include Sufjan Stevens, Yo La Tengo, Jay Reatard, Micachu & The Shapes, Japandroids, Joel Plaskett, Kid Koala Presents: The Slew, Young Galaxy, Aids Wolf, and Ninjasonik, among others. These artists join musicians such as Fever Ray, Diamanda Galas, Butthole Surfers, Os Mutantes, Mono, Matt and Kim, and Destroyer, along with MANY other exciting bands and performers. Passes are still available for the epic event, with the Super Festival Pass available for $225 until September 30 and the regular passes for $75. An event not to be missed, for sure.