Yo La Tengo's And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out

by Elliott Simpson

Hailed as a “quiet masterpiece”upon release, Yo La Tengo's And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out proposed a radical new future for rock music. Released at a time when the music industry was changing dramatically thanks to the rise of online file sharing, it suggested that the only way for a band to survive was to listen to themselves.

A delicate and hushed album, its songs explore the quiet battles that take place every day and the beauty that can emerge from the ordinary. In many ways, this is reflective of the story of the band that made it – self-managed for most of their career and having maintained the same line-up since 1992, Yo La Tengo almost resemble a suburbs-based nuclear family.

And Then Nothing… argues that great art does not come from suffering, but instead, steady, unglamorous work. It is an album that helped forge a new mythology for rock and one not built on sex, drugs and debauchery, but instead the quiet lives of people living in peaceful suburban homes. From the nothingness of the everyday, something incredible can emerge.

Genres: Music

128 pages, Paperback

Published February 6, 2025

Reviews

[Aaron · Rating 2 out of 5]

When this book works, it's a good, albeit 'short' biography of Yo LaTengo, the band, and due to it's recency, includes their lastest album 'this stupid world'. The BIG problem with it, is the writer doesn't focus on why 'And then nothing tuned itself Inside-out' is their masterwork. He also continually repeats himself with this wanky line that it's because they are 'modest, every day people' that that matters or some dullard conceit. Seriously, this is why all the fucking music we have these days is Christian puritanical rock' eg.. Foo fighters, Radiohead, Nick Cave, Bon Iver, Falming Lips, etc etc.. and why you have all these lousy 'Church bands'. It's rock and roll and jazz, people? It would have been better if the writer wrote more about musical influences, even the process of the making of the 'master work'. The writer completely misses talking about the 'may I sing with me' album, a key stylisitic transition point for the band, or even mentions the 'Upside Down' US Tours YLT did with the Jesus and Mary Chain and My Bloody Valentine, which were key turning points for the band from twee Hoboken College-rockers to a more formidable New York avant-rock sound. He also misses the band's myriad collaborations with New Zealand artists like the Kilgour brothers etc, or even the influence of the SunRa Arkestra, but also more importantly that they have managed to maintain a successful artistic career in the USA completely outside the mainstream establishment with a truly avant-garde form of 'Americana'. My point being, there was alot more going on than them just being a bunch of ordinary, inner-city American nebbishes.

[Pablo Magaña Fernández · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

This short, enjoyable book possesses the usual virtues and vices of the genre. The author is passionate - and knowledgeable - about the band and the album, and writes with gusto. On the other hand, however, the book is often too willing to fit everything into a single, clear narrative, where things don't progress gradually and irregularly, but steadly and on the basis of epiphanies ("after X, they discovered Y"). Luckily, the virtues outweigh the vices.

[Rich · Rating 4 out of 5]

My favorite Yo La Tengo moments include sitting on the edge of the stage when they did You Can Have It All and marveling at the synchronicity of the dance and hearing them every year play cover songs during the WFMU marathon (one year they started playing London Calling).

Always, at any time, I can put on any Yo La Tengo album and feel at home. This book is a great addition to this series.

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant study of one of the best records by Yo La Tengo. I loved the detail on each song mixed in with quotations from interviews and inside information. Simpson does a great job of placing the album in the context of the long arc of YLT's career.

[Sean R. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yet another great book in the 33 1/3 series.

[Jon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think Simpson does a really good job creating a book about an album that is relatively slippery and hard to define. Using it as a framework to view the band’s whole career works surprisingly well.

[kd · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolute masterpiece and not just because I’m YLT’s biggest fan