Yo La Tengo

This 1995 record balances Ira Kaplan's tremelo-heavy guitar adventures with the band's unending, shimmering sense of melody. "Pablo & Andrea" is one of the band's finest quiet moments and "Tom Courtenay" is a stunningly perfect pop song. Other tracks like "Flying Lesson" and "Blue Line Swinger" continue in perfecting their exemplary drone pop.

Altern-A-Pura would be more like it. Brimful of punk, fuzz, feedback, noise, and the lovingly amped squelches of fingers sliding off strings, their seventh album is a subcultural tour de force, luxuriating so sybaritically in guitar sound that I'm reluctant to mention that the tunes are pretty good. That's why it's the best record they've ever made, though. Singing's breathy as usual, with Ira yelling when the time is right. As for the lyrics, you know--murmured, gnomic, pop culture references, that kind of thing. (Grade - A)