Yo La Tengo

"Here to Fall"

by Brian Howard

(CLICK IMAGE FOR LARGER VERSION)

Remixing YLT is not impossible. In the past, knob-twiddlers like Kevin Shields and Nobukazu Takemura took "Autumn Sweater" and "Danelectro 2" to new heights and wider expanses. The choice to remix "Here to Fall" from last year's Popular Songs is confounding; the sprawling, orchestral track, while certainly gorgeous in that turn-off-your-mind/float-downstream way, proves a challenge for De La Soul, RJD2 and Pete Rock. De La isolate the guitars, downplay the orchestrations, add a low-key hip-hop beat and trim a minute and a half. RJD2 finds a major-key sprightliness in an otherwise lugubrious track. Rock employs the heaviest hand, splicing and dicing Ira Kaplan's lyrics beneath his own appended improvisations. The three approaches are thought-provoking, but that's about it.