Yo La Tengo's Fearless Latest

Fresh Air | By Ken Tucker

Published November 2, 2006 at 11:00 AM EST

For more than 20 years, the husband-and-wife team of Ira Kaplan and Georgia Hubley have led their band Yo La Tengo through the indie-rock scene with ever-shifting sounds, styles, subject matter, and group members.

The current Yo La Tengo consists of Kaplan on guitar, Hubley on drums, and James McNew on bass. In recent years, the trio has written the scores for the movies Junebug and Old Joy.

They've just released an album called I Am Not Afraid Of You And I Will Beat your A**, and rock critic Ken Tucker says it's less a summing-up than a move forward in the evolution of the band's sound.

Ken Tucker

Ken Tucker reviews rock, country, hip-hop and pop music for Fresh Air. He is a cultural critic who has been the editor-at-large at Entertainment Weekly, and a film critic for New York Magazine. His work has won two National Magazine Awards and two ASCAP-Deems Taylor Awards. He has written book reviews for The New York Times Book Review and other publications.

See stories by Ken Tucker

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