Music

Yo La Tengo's Ira Kaplan Offers a Different Take on His Band's Sound

This time through town, Yo La Tengo is going all acoustic

By Darryl Smyers 

Ira Kaplan, leader of the indie rock institution Yo La Tengo, isn't afraid to mix things up. Just look at his band's upcoming venue booking: Yo La Tengo's Dallas gig this week will be an all-acoustic effort housed within the Dallas Museum of Art.

That's a far cry from the band's performance last Easter at the Granada when a barrage of feedback and distortion shredded the crowd's ears.

Known for the ability to seamlessly blend quiet and loud moments—sometimes during the same song—Yo La Tengo's last area appearance was a merciless representation of the band's boisterous side.

This next performance, Kaplan promises, will be quite different.

"We're good listeners and reactors," says Kaplan, who, along with drummer (and wife) Georgia Hubley, has kept some form of the band going for over 20 years. "We love unusual venues, and the odd show allows us to accept the challenge of playing in different styles."

Kaplan and crew are hardly strangers to unconventional locales. Kaplan recalled a show in Dallas during the '90s at Club Clearview where the band moved its performance to the parking lot in order to avoid the disco thud of another group playing a different area of the club.

"We moved outside, and it was louder out there," Kaplan says, laughing. "But we like to make things different, and the variety makes it all richer."

Yo La Tengo's move at Clearview was one of several interesting concert memories the band's members have here in Dallas. Besides the deafening volume at the Granada, previous shows at the Gypsy Tearoom and Trees were fraught with frigid temperatures and temperamental sound guys.

"We always had trouble connecting with the audience in Dallas," Kaplan says. "Maybe the struggles in Deep Ellum will, in a way, be good for us as people have to make the effort to find us at an art museum."

Not only is Kaplan very familiar with the area's ever-evolving club scene, he actually sounds like a well-versed booking agent.

"Traditionally, Dallas has been a difficult city for a lot of acts," he says. "We went years skipping Dallas, but I think we are finally breaking through."

Indeed, Yo La Tengo's last few local appearances have featured growing crowds and fascinatingly diverse demographics. Seems local nerds both young and old are finally catching on to the captivating sounds of this trio from New Jersey. Although the band is not currently working on a new effort (last year's I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass is still drilling holes in listeners' heads), they continue to score a number of films and television documentaries.

And the music for this next performance should also find the band uncharacteristically somber.

"Playing acoustically really inspires me and the rest of the group," Kaplan says. "You have a less formal relationship with the audience where you can be slapdash and spontaneous."