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Jul 13, 2020 By Samantha Small Yo La Tengo

Despite being one of the biggest names in indie rock, Yo La Tengo have finally launched their own Bandcamp page. With it, they’ve shared a five-minute instrumental track “James and Ira demonstrate mysticism and some confusion holds (Monday)” that was recorded in their rehearsal space. Listen to it below.

Along with the track vocalist Ira Kaplan shared this statement:

“If you’ve spent any time hanging out with us at our rehearsal space in Hoboken—that pretty much covers none of you—you’ve heard us playing formlessly (he said, trying to sidestep the word ‘improvising’). Most of the songs we’ve written in the last 25 years have begun that way, but often we do it for no other reason than to push away the outside world.

“In late April, with the outside world weighing on everybody, we determined that the three of us could assemble in Hoboken without disobeying the rules laid out by Governor Murphy, and resumed… ‘practicing’ hardly describes it, because we’ve done no practicing per se, and anyway what would we be practicing for… playing. James set up one microphone in the middle of the room in case we stumbled on something useful for the future. Instead we decided to release something we did right now.”

This confusing, but beautiful, release follows Yo La Tengo’s latest album, 2018’s There’s a Riot Going On. Come September, their 1995 album Eclectr-o-pura turns 25 and will be reissued for Matador’s Revisionist History.

Read our 2018 interview with the band.

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