There's a Riot Going On is an exceptional addition to Yo La Tengo's legacy, a timeless classic.
For the most part, There’s A Riot Going On succeeds in finding strength in the stillness.
There’s a Riot Going On is their fifteenth album and, like most of their discography, it carries itself with an unassuming (but powerful) air of quiet confidence. On this record – on the last three or four records perhaps – Yo La Tengo sound like they have existed forever.
Given the source material, There’s A Riot Going On was never going to be the sonic revolution that Sly & The Family Stone-referencing title might suggest, but it is an invitingly disparate sound collage that will seduce fanboys and newbies alike.
Full of intertextual layering and referencing, this album is a rich and cohesive piece.
There are flickers of the old fire on There’s a Riot Going on.
There’s a lush, other-worldly feel to all fifteen tracks, and at times they sound positively heavenly.
This is no call to arms, nor is it rife with political statements. It's a celebration of the small changes that we can make in our own worlds, and which YLT continue to make with each record.
There's a Riot Going On is perhaps the band's most self-reflexive—something the band have spent more than enough time doing already—and dreamy.
There's a Riot... was never meant to be this bold political statement. And why would it be? There's a dime a dozen of those right now. Instead, Yo La Tengo wants us to absorb their calm serenity, and that it's okay to sit down and distance ourselves from the negativity we encounter from time to time.
There’s A Riot Going On takes longer to reveal its treasures, but ends up being an enduring and rewarding listen, their best since 2009’s Popular Songs.
On Riot, Yo La Tengo sound more brooding than ever, which is saying something coming from the band that gave the world the 77-minute tone-poem, 2000’s And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out.
On their dense, careworn new LP (their fifteenth studio effort), indie stalwarts/college rock heavyweights Yo La Tengo have shown that can still bring fresh ideas to the table, despite the album being fifteen tracks long, and it being over thirty years since their first album.
There's a Riot Going On is, in its own subtle way, Yo La Tengo at their most uncompromised; it's an album that's likely to separate their most hardcore fans from more casual admirers, though if you loved "Night Falls on Hoboken" from And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out, you'll likely savor it.
There’s a Riot Going On ... is textured quite nicely here and there, in amongst all the soft dreamy shuffly-ness that subsumes the words in the mix more than on the last few YLT albums.
The album often feels like it can’t decide what it wants to be, and makes one wonder exactly what the band was going for.
There’s a Riot Going On’s theory doesn’t quite match up to its execution, and its parts are greater than the whole. So, is it more beautiful, or is it more boring? The problem is that it’s often too difficult to tell the difference.
Like virtually every other Yo La Tengo album, Riot finds the veteran trio striving to make the guitar band sound like the high point of human civilisation, rather than a vehicle for rebelliousness. It is, however, a departure for them.
On this album, the band go the furthest I've heard them go with calmness and ambience yet. It's a group of beautiful and richly textured tunes with the classic vocal harmonies and sweet love songs. They take it even higher with the two purely ambient/drone tracks about halfway through. There's some really beautiful stuff here, and could be the highlight of their 2010s output.
Favourites: You Are Here, Forever
This riot made me realize:
1- I really like this band no matter what...
2- It's impossible for this band to release a bad album
3- Any of its albums can play the role of the challenging rapporteur in the fascinating indieland
On this album, the band go the furthest I've heard them go with calmness and ambience yet. It's a group of beautiful and richly textured tunes with the classic vocal harmonies and sweet love songs. They take it even higher with the two purely ambient/drone tracks about halfway through. There's some really beautiful stuff here, and could be the highlight of their 2010s output.
Favourites: You Are Here, Forever
This riot made me realize:
1- I really like this band no matter what...
2- It's impossible for this band to release a bad album
3- Any of its albums can play the role of the challenging rapporteur in the fascinating indieland
1 | You Are Here 5:43 | 67 |
2 | Shades of Blue 2:51 | 63 |
3 | She May, She Might 5:22 | 63 |
4 | For You Too 4:13 | 75 |
5 | Ashes 3:32 | 62 |
6 | Polynesia #1 2:25 | 62 |
7 | Dream Dream Away 5:49 | 73 |
8 | Shortwave 5:44 | 72 |
9 | Above the Sound 5:41 | 70 |
10 | Let's Do It Wrong 3:33 | 67 |
11 | What Chance Have I Got 3:05 | 70 |
12 | Esportes Casual 1:25 | 57 |
13 | Forever 4:19 | 58 |
14 | Out of the Pool 2:46 | 67 |
15 | Here You Are 6:55 | 62 |
#4 | / | Norman Records |
#5 | / | Uncut |
#14 | / | Drift |
#22 | / | FLOOD |
#30 | / | Thrillist |
#37 | / | Fopp |
#41 | / | The Wire |
#44 | / | MOJO |
#47 | / | Under the Radar |
#48 | / | Treble |