Popular Songs

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.

2009 studio album by Yo La Tengo

Popular Songs

Studio album by

Yo La Tengo

Released| September 8, 2009
Recorded| Early 2009, Hoboken, New Jersey and Nashville, Tennessee, United States[1]
Genre| Indie rock, indie pop[2]
Length| 72:49
Language| English
Label| Matador
Producer| Roger 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

Popular Songs is the twelfth studio 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]

## Content

[edit]

### Artwork

[edit]

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

[edit]

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

[edit]

Professional ratingsAggregate scores

Source| Rating
Metacritic| 79/100[6]
Review scores
Source| Rating
AllMusic| [7]
The A.V. Club| A−[8]
BBC Music| positive[9]
Drowned in Sound| 8/10[10]
The Guardian| [11]
musicOMH| [12]
Pitchfork| 7.9/10[2]
PopMatters| [13]
Rolling Stone| [14]
Slant| [15]

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.[16]

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,[17] 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.[18]

By 2012, it had sold over 43,000 copies in United States.[19]

## Track listing

[edit]

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

No.| Title| Length

|
|

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

13. "You've Got a Friend" (Carole King) - 4:10 (Japanese CD, Argentine CD, Buy Early Get Now & iTunes bonus track)
14. "Nothing to Hide (Demo)" - 9:47 (Buy Early Get Now bonus track)
15. "Periodically Double or Triple (Demo)" - 7:39 (Buy Early Get Now bonus track)

## Personnel

[edit]

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

[edit]

1. ^ "Matablog". Matador Records. 4 June 2009. Archived from the original on 22 January 2012. Retrieved 5 March 2012.
2. ^ a b "Yo La Tengo: Popular Songs Album Review". Pitchfork. Retrieved 3 October 2016.
3. ^ "Yo La Tengo Biography". Matador Records. Archived from the original on 3 September 2000. Retrieved 5 March 2012.
4. ^ "Take Cover". Pitchfork. Pitchfork Media Inc. 2 September 2009. Retrieved 16 June 2014.
5. ^ "Matablog". Matador Records. 28 July 2009. Archived from the original on 5 March 2012. Retrieved 5 March 2012.
6. ^ "Popular Songs by Yo La Tengo". Metacritic. 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". Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. 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". PopMatters. Retrieved 3 October 2016.
14. ^ "Album Reviews". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 12 September 2009. Retrieved 3 October 2016.
15. ^ Popular Songs. Slant. Archived from the original on 12 September 2009. Retrieved 3 October 2016.
16. ^ "Matador Records: Yo La Tengo - 'Popular Son". Twitter. 28 July 2009. Retrieved 5 March 2012.
17. ^ "Buy Early Get Now". Buy Early Get Now. 22 March 2009. Archived from the original on 29 July 2012. Retrieved 5 March 2012.
18. ^ "Yo La Tengo – Popular Songs (CD, Album)". Discogs. Retrieved 19 March 2012.
19. ^ "Yo La Tengo Announces New Album & Tour Dates". Billboard.

## External links

[edit]

* Popular Songs at Discogs (list of releases)

* v
* t
* e

Yo La Tengo

* Georgia Hubley
* Ira Kaplan
* James McNew

* Dave Schramm
* Dave Rick

Studio albums|

* Ride the Tiger
* New Wave Hot Dogs
* President Yo La Tengo
* Fakebook
* May I Sing with Me
* Painful
* Electr-O-Pura
* I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One
* And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out
* Summer Sun
* I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass
* Popular Songs
* Fade
* Stuff Like That There
* There's a Riot Going On
* We Have Amnesia Sometimes
* This Stupid World

EPs|

* Today Is the Day!

Compilation albums|

* Genius + Love = Yo La Tengo
* Prisoners of Love
* Yo La Tengo Is Murdering the Classics
* They Shoot, We Score
* Murder in the Second Degree

Other albums|

* Strange but True (with Jad Fair)
* The Sounds of the Sounds of Science
* Fuckbook

Singles|

* "You Can Have It All"
* "Saturday"
* "Periodically Double or Triple"
* "Stupid Things"

Related articles|

* Discography
* This Stupid World tour
* Dump

Authority control databases |

* MusicBrainz release group

|

*[No.]: Number
*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template