Bang on a Can

Yo La Tengo is an indie rock band based in Hoboken, New Jersey, with more than fifteen albums released over a period of more than twenty years. Formed in 1984, Yo La Tengo has had an incredible lifespan in the indie rock world. It’s been said that while the band is not a jazz combo, they think like jazz musicians, and indeed their penchant for surprise stretches beyond their work with free-jazz ensembles The band is renowned for its encyclopedic repertoire of cover songs, and every year plays live on the New Jersey freeform radio station, WFMU, as part of its annual fundraising marathon, performing impromptu cover-song requests from listeners who call in to pledge money to the station. In 2006 the band released an album compiling performances from the marathons between 1996 and 2003 titled Yo La Tengo Is Murdering the Classics. Their most recent album, “I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass,” came out on Matador Records in the fall of 2006.