... is not one of these never-served-a-day-in-their-life neocon schmucks. no, the real mr. tough is a song off of the new yo la tengo album, i am not afraid of you and i will beat your ass.
i had the pleasure of catching the middle night of a three-night run at the fillmore last month. to be honest, this show was a bit on the noisy side (a yo la tengo show always moves back and forth between gorgeous, whispery-vocal melodic tunes and full-on distorted feedback squall). but it’s impossible not to love these misfits of rock and roll. they’re omniverous music geeks and once their broad range of influences gets fed through the YLT cuisinart, the result is purée magic.
here’s the version of mr. tough from the show on october 20th, 2006:
