CONDO FUCKS
Fuckbook - (2009)

One of the seminal bands on the Connecticut punk scene, New London's Condo Fucks could match any of their peers for sheer sneering attitude on their classic (if hopelessly obscure) albums Movin' In, Straight Outta Connecticut, and For Squatters Only. But despite their fearsome reputation, the Condo Fucks faded away rather than burning out in the mid-'80s, but in 2008 the band accepted an invitation to stage a surprise reunion show for the closing of the beloved New York City venue Magnetic Field. After the success of the gig, the Condo Fucks made a welcome return to the studio, but rather than re-record old favorites like "Fucking Gary Sandy," "I Hate Nutmeg," and "Hot Rails to Hartford" or struggle to write new songs that could match their power, the Condos opted to pay homage to their roots, cutting a set of covers that would honor their influences. Fuckbook reveals that the Condo Fucks haven't lost their spark after more than two decades out of action, and...OK, joke's over — while the people involved appear to have spent at least an hour creating a back story for this album, the truth is the Condo Fucks are the not-so-secret identity of Yo La Tengo, who bash through a wide-ranging set of covers on Fuckbook with a grimy attack that makes the Mummies sound like Genesis. Anyone expecting the sort of imagination and care Yo La Tengo put into their earlier (almost) all-covers album Fakebook will either be confused or appalled with the Condo Fucks, but there's a certain amount of purpose behind all the slop. Look past the low-tech one-take recording and the vocals that display more beer-enhanced confidence than skill and you'll discover that Yo La Tengo play this stuff with plenty of fire and a shade more skill than the gig necessarily requires, and they sure sound like they're having a great time tearing through the songbooks of Slade, Richard Hell, the Electric Eels, the Flamin' Groovies, and (of course) many more. If you were to see Yo La Tengo playing a house party where they decided to swan dive into a set of covers like a semi-inept garage band after a few too many cocktails, what you'd get would be the Condo Fucks, and Fuckbook shares that show with the world. It's as much of a prank as an album, but after over 20 years as one of America's most consistently rewarding indie rock acts, Yo La Tengo are entitled to a bit of fun, and Fuckbook is a dose of sloppy thunder that's a hoot if accepted in the proper spirit, and if nothing else it sure gives the Replacements' The Shit Hits the Fans a run for its money. (allmusic.com)

http://www.mediafire.com/?ttnzbzy3jih

YO LA TENGO
Ride The Tiger - (1986)

Anyone who encountered Yo La Tengo's first album, Ride the Tiger, upon its original release in 1986 can be forgiven if they didn't immediately recognize that the band would become one of the most consistently interesting American acts of the next 15 years. Yo La Tengo's debut is a decidedly modest affair, and Ira Kaplan often sounds as if he's still finding his feet as a singer and guitarist, though Dave Schramm does more than his share to take up the slack (in his liner essay for the 1993 reissue of Ride the Tiger, Kaplan went so far as to write that "Dave's guitar playing is inarguably the best thing about the record"). However, Kaplan already knew where he was going as a songwriter, as "The Cone of Silence," "The Forest Green," and "The Pain of Pain" make clear, and if the group's bracing blend of tuneful eclecticism and creatively applied noise was still gestating, Kaplan's lovely melodic sense and the haunting blend of his reedy tenor and Georgia Hubley's slightly fragile soprano marked Yo La Tengo as a band with real potential. Clint Conley made a rare post-Mission of Burma appearance on Ride the Tiger as producer (he also takes over from bassist Mike Lewis for three cuts), and he had the smarts not to impose a Vs.-style hard guitar sound on the band, instead making the most of the band's roomy jangle and giving the sound plenty of body when it needs it. Ride the Tiger is Yo La Tengo's juvenilia, and they'd create much stronger work a few years down the line, but on its own terms, it's an intelligent and engaging set, and any band that can cover the Kinks and Pete Seeger on the same album and make them both work must be doing something right.

http://www.mediafire.com/?nzk5hyggmin