REVIEW: Yo La Tengo featuring Jad Fair, Strange But True (Matador)
- Chelsea Spear
It was a fine idea at the time. Inventive indie icons Yo La Tengo were to work with Jad Fair, whose playful work with the bands the Residents and Half-Japanese had influenced legions of detuned avant-rockers to not take themselves so damn seriously. On this proposed outing, Yo La would provide a kalidescopic sonic background to support Fair's bizarre stories, with titles taken directly from the pages of the Weekly World News and other tabloids. The track "Ultra-Powerful Shortwave Radio Picks Up Music from Venus" has already become a classic on mix tapes, after being included in the odds-and-sods collection Genius + Love = Yo La Tengo.
Unfortunately, to quote the rest of Elvis Costello's famed lyric, now that Strange But True has shipped to stores, it can be regarded as a brilliant mistake. The song titles are hysterical, and Yo La's musical accompaniment provides some intriguing textures to the twisted tales with names like "Helpful Monkey Wallpapers Entire House" and "Dedicated Thespian Pulls Teeth to Play Newborn in High-School Play". However, after listening to one or two tracks, you get a general idea of what the songs are going to sound like, and after a while they start to blend together. A collaboration between Hoboken's favourite musical children and the guy behind Half-Japanese certainly suggests a musical equivalent to the two great tastes that taste great together found in every Reese's Peanut Butter Cup, but the results leave much to be desired. For best results, read the song titles in the store, or wait for someone to include a snippet or two on a mix tape. This disappointing collection is intended for completists only.
