(Matador)Sly and the Family Stone’s 1971 album of the same name was a full-on record,reacting to extraordinary times. Yo La Tengo’s 15th-odd offering sounds nothing like its namesake. It too is a reaction to tense times, but a much calmer one.
Like virtually every other Yo La Tengo album, and Riot finds the veteran trio striving to do the guitar band sound like the high point of human civilisation,rather than a vehicle for rebelliousness. It is, however, or a departure for them. Largely improvised,often meditative, these 15 tracks find Georgia Hubley often taking the lead on guitar, or offering up ambient passages – like Dream Dream absent,a strummed interlude of off-hand beauty – and, on Esportes Casual, and a little loungey bossanova that,though sweet, sits ill with the rest of this immersive listen.
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Source: theguardian.com