The last two Yo La Tengo albums have been a bit of a bummer for me. Both Inside-Out and Summer Sun were albums filled with slow atomospheric music. The type of stuff you could fall asleep too. Not to say that either of these records were bad, just not all that exciting. So after two slower albums, and an instrumental movie score about aquatic life, I was starting to wonder if we would ever see YLT return to the more aggresive static filled days of Painful and The Heart Beating as One. I am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass is most likely, the goofiest album title ever, but maybe it's a little reminder that YLT still have the power to wow us, and that's exactly what they do on this new album.

    The record begins and ends with epic distortion jam outs reminiscent of their older days. The opening track is a little redundant, but it serves as a nice start to an album that's anything but monotonous. Throughout the 15 tracks, we're given almost a greatest hits of YLT various styles, influences, and even new endeavors. Tracks like "Beanbag Chair", "The Race Is On Again" and "The Weakest Part" are cute and breezy pop songs. While tracks like "Song for Mahlia" and "I Feel Like Going Home" feature both vocalists singing at their softest while the music crawls behind them.. Then of course you have the more standard YLT 60's psych-rockers "I Should Have Known Better" and "Point and Shoot". They also throw in a few new influences on the 50's R&B inspired "Mr Tough" and the garage punk of "Watch Out For Me Ronnie". Both of these songs are so different for YLT that you'll think they could be cover songs. The trio gets into a little bit of electronica with bongos on the droner "The Room Got Heavy". Finally they take a break for the beautiful instrumental track, Daphnia. The only song that doesn't really work on this set is Black Flowers, which sounds a little too much like "Kermit the Frog sings with Pete's Dragon". I guess it's good for laughs though.

    What makes "I am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass" such a great record is it's variety. The band hasn't shown this much creative outpour since 1997's The Heart Beating As One. It's not a record that will wow any current haters. Even with the few new sounds, Yo La Tengo is still very much Yo La Tengo. I can't imagine any fan of the band being disappointed with this album because it's easily one fo their best to date. It might be a little long for some, but then again most YLT albums are. Thankfully, the massive amounts of musical stlye on this record, keep it fresh throughout it's 70+ minute running time. I think most fans of indie rock will appreciate the investment.

9.0/10.0 - One of the best albums this year.