I guess it was the name I found confusing - 'Yo la tengo' is, in fact, Spanish for 'I have it' - but up until their excellent 'Painful' album a couple of years ago, I always had this lot lumped in with the African groups Peel and Kershaw often filter over the airwaves. Diblo Dibala, Remy Ongala, Yo La Tengo....
In reality Yo La Tengo are a three piece from Hoboken, NJ (Ira Kaplan, Georgia Hubley and James McNew) who have been around for the best part of a decade. Their latest, and perhaps finest, LP is 'Electr-O-Pura', released back in May to quiet acclaim for their magic mixture of finely crafted melodies and occasional sonic overload.
'Electr-O-Pura' sees Yo La Tengo hone the sound that has inspired the likes of Pavement, Unrest and Seam, etc, to its most refined yet. Single 'Tom Courtenay' is a genius slice of pop, 'Paul Is Dead' is a stoned Beach Boys 'Smile' out-take, 'Pablo and Andrea' recalls the best of Galaxie 500 and the epics 'Blue Line Swinger' and 'Flying Lesson' do that old Loop/ Spacemen 3 trick of making a good idea last a very long time indeed.
I was lucky enough to grab a few words with YLT bassist/ vocalist Georgia, and I began by asking her if she didn't feel a little bit weary, seven albums and ten years into the band's career.
'Well, our British release schedule is a little erratic to say the least, it has been really difficult to get established in this country. It's not difficult to sustain an interest in the music, that part is easy. I think playing and writing new songs actually becomes more and more interesting. I think the hard part is the touring and the treadmill of the music business.'
So what motivates you to keep going?
'I guess we're just like anyone else. I mean you have your job or whatever you do with your time, and I think that the more we do it the more it just becomes a part of us. Certainly playing and performing live, and rehearsing new material is pretty exhilarating, and when you talk to people who have to go and work in an office you feel kind of fortunate!'
Do you think the influence of Yo La Tengo has been fully recognised - for instance in the music of Pavement?
'I really don't know, you would have to ask them! I suppose some people will cite us as a band that they like, we have a lot of friends who play in bands, but I don't think that there is any specific homage being paid or anything like that. It's nice whenever you know that someone appreciates your music, especially if you like the band in question!'
So are there bands in the US that you have an affinity with? I'm thinking mostly of Seam and Versus.
'Well yeah, I really like those bands, I suppose there are similarities in sound between us and them. We've done shows with both those bands, so we know them pretty well.'
Is it annoying to get compared to bands like Spiritualized who have come along after you?
'No, I don't find it annoying. I actually really like Spiritualized and I don't think we're that alike. Certain guitar pieces or organ pieces that we do are similar, and I'm sure we have similar tastes. For me Spiritualized and Spacemen 3 are bands that I really respond to.'
Going on to the new material, why did you call the single 'Tom Courtenay'? Is it a tribute to him?
'He's a British actor, relatively well known, from the 60s. He's in 'Billy Liar', 'The Loneliness Of the Long Distance Runner', and so on. As to why we chose to write a song around him, I don't know - Ira wrote the lyrics to that one. I think the mood of the lyric fits around that sort of figure - it's more image oriented.'
What about side projects, I read you're involved with a lot of other things?
'All of us have played with Jad Fair (Half Japanese), although it's not really cos we're all from Hoboken. There's a lot of good musicians around here (Sonic Youth's Steve Shelley and Throwing Muses Kristen Hersh for a start -ed). We also play as Sleeping Pill which is the same three members but different music- very long, moody instrumental, atmospheric music, not as song based as Yo La Tengo.'

Interview by Jonathan Greer