Popular Songs

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Popular Songs
Popularsongs.jpg
Studio album by
Yo La Tengo
ReleasedSeptember 8, 2009
RecordedEarly 2009, Hoboken, New Jersey and Nashville, Tennessee, United States [1]
Genre Indie rock, indie pop [2]
Length72:49
LanguageEnglish
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 full-length 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]

Contents

Content

Artwork

The band contacted the conceptual artist Dario Robleto. [4] He contributed three pieces for the album design:

Music videos

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

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic 79/100 [6]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [7]
The A.V. Club A− [8]
BBC Music positive [9]
Drowned in Sound 8/10 [10]
The Guardian Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [11]
musicOMH Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [12]
Pitchfork 7.9/10 [13]
PopMatters Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [14]
Rolling Stone Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svg [15]
Slant Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [16]

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. [17]

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, [18] 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. [19]

By 2012, it had sold over 43,000 copies in United States. [20]

Track listing

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

No.TitleLength
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
  1. "You've Got a Friend" (Carole King) - 4:10 (Japanese CD, Argentine CD, Buy Early Get Now & iTunes bonus track)
  2. "Nothing to Hide (Demo)" - 9:47 (Buy Early Get Now bonus track)
  3. "Periodically Double or Triple (Demo)" - 7:39 (Buy Early Get Now bonus track)

Personnel

String arrangements by Richard Evans

Produced by Roger Moutenot Mastered by Greg Calbi at Sterling Sound

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References

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