These days, every band seems eager to honor the anniversary of one of its landmark albums, usually in the form of a concert tour or an expanded reissue, and even Yo La Tengo have gotten into the act – a quarter century after they released their endlessly charming 1990 LP Fakebook, in which they covered a handful of their favorite songs and reworked a few of their own numbers in semi-acoustic fashion, YLT have recorded what amounts to a sequel, 2015's Stuff Like That There. Just like a sequel to a 1980s horror movie, Stuff Like That There follows the template of the original as closely as possible – there are two new songs, three remakes from the YLT back catalog, and nine covers, which range from the instantly recognizable (Hank Williams' "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry," inspired by Al Green's version) to the thoroughly obscure (unless you're a Hoboken pop obsessive or a James McNew completist, "Automatic Doom" by the Special Pillows is probably not on your hit parade).
Kathryn and Peter play the recorder by Michael Wolters proves that the recorder is much more than an “annoying instrument for children”, with 25 pieces in which the composer casts his questioning eye over music history, technical virtuosity and cultural customs. Woltersʼ relationship with the instrument began over 20 years ago when he met the extraordinary recorder duo Kathryn Bennetts and Peter Bowman. Their exceptional skills and their enthusiasm for research into undiscovered areas of sound made them ideal collaborators for Wolters, whose music so often focuses on dismantling established boundaries.