Coyote Records

Yo La Tengo

Ira Kaplan and Georgia Hubley formed the band as a couple in 1984. They chose the name "Yo La Tengo" (Spanish for "I have it", referring to a female-gender object or person). The name came from a baseball anecdote that occurred during the 1962 season, when New York Mets center fielder Richie Ashburn and shortstop Elio Chacón found themselves colliding in the outfield. When Ashburn went for a catch, he would scream, "I got it! I got it!" only to run into Chacón, a Venezuelan who spoke only Spanish. Ashburn learned to yell, "¡Yo la tengo! ¡Yo la tengo!" instead. In a later game, Ashburn happily saw Chacón backing off. He relaxed, positioned himself to catch the ball, and was instead run over by left fielder Frank Thomas, who understood no Spanish and had missed a team meeting that proposed using the words "¡Yo la tengo!" as a way to avoid outfield collisions. After getting up, Thomas asked Ashburn, "What the hell is a Yellow Tango?".

Kaplan and Hubley placed an advertisement to recruit other musicians who shared their love for bands such as the Soft BoysMission of Burma, and Arthur Lee's Love. The group's debut recording was a 7" single entitled "The River of Water" backed with a cover of Lee's "A House Is Not a Motel", released in late 1985 with Dave Schramm on lead guitar and Dave Rick on bass. After recording "Private Doberman" for inclusion on a Coyote Records compilation entitled Luxury Condos Coming to Your Neighborhood Soon, Rick left the band and was replaced by Mike Lewis, the founding bass player of Boston garage-punk bands DMZ and Lyres, who was also a member of Brooklyn garage rock band the A-Bones throughout his tenure in YLT.

In 1986, Yo La Tengo released their first LP, Ride the Tiger on Coyote Records. Produced by former Mission of Burmabassist Clint Conley who also took over bass duties on three songs, the album "marked Yo La Tengo as a band with real potential" according to reviewer Mark Deming. Kaplan was credited as "naive guitar" on the sleeve, and in the liner notes for the 1993 reissue of the album on City Slang Records, went so far as to say "Dave's guitar playing is inarguably the best thing about the record."

Schramm and Lewis left the band after the album's release, with Kaplan subsequently taking on the role of lead guitar and Stephan Wichnewski joining to play bass. The group's next album New Wave Hot Dogs (1987) sold poorly, but in the words of Mark Deming, "was a quantum leap over the sound of their debut."

The release of President Yo La Tengo in 1989 did much to establish the band's reputation among rock critics including Robert Christgau who praised the "mysterioso guitar hook" in the first song titled "Barnaby, Hardly Working". Produced by Gene Holder of The dB's, the album was the band's last release on Coyote.

- from Wikipedia


released: 17 April 1986 Coyote - TTC 8676 (LP)(Cassette)

released: 17 April 1986
Coyote - TTC 8676
(LP)(Cassette)

Yo La Tengo
Ride The Tiger

  • Ira Kaplan - Guitar, Vocals

  • Georgia Hubley - Drums

  • Mike Lewis - Bass, Guest Artist

  • Dave Schramm - Guitar, Vocals

    with

  • Clint Conley - Bass

  • Chris Nelson - Trombone

  • Dave Rick - Bass

  • David Bither - Saxophone


Produced by Clint Conley
Engineered by Ken French


released: 4 March 1987
Coyote - TTC 87104
(7” Single)

Yo La Tengo
The Asparagus Song
b/w For The Turnstiles

  • Ira Kaplan - Guitar, Vocals

  • Georgia Hubley - Drums

  • Stephan Wichnewski - Bass
    with

  • Chris Stamey

  • Dave Rick

Producer – Chris Stamey
Recorded By – James MacMillan, Robert Miller
Recorded at Water Music in Hoboken

- b/w -

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released: 4 March 1987 Coyote - TTC 87125 (LP) (Cassette)

released: 4 March 1987
Coyote - TTC 87125
(LP) (Cassette)

Yo La Tengo
New Wave Hot Dog

  • Ira Kaplan - Guitar, Vocals

  • Georgia Hubley - Drums

  • Stephan Wichnewski - Bass
    with

  • Chris Stamey

  • Dave Rick


Produced by Georgia and Ira
Engineered by James MacMillan
Mastered by Scott Hall


released: 2 February 1989 Coyote - TTC 88142 (LP) (Cassette)

released: 2 February 1989
Coyote - TTC 88142
(LP) (Cassette)

Yo La Tengo
President Yo La Tengo

  • Ira Kaplan - Guitar, Vocals

  • Georgia Hubley - Drums

  • Stephan Wichnewski - Bass

Produced by Gene Holder


released: 2 May 1989 Coyote - TTC 88153 (CD - only)

released: 2 May 1989
Coyote - TTC 88153
(CD - only)

Yo La Tengo
President Yo La Tengo/New Wave Hot Dogs

(20 Song CD made from President Yo La Tengo and New Wave Hot Dog)