May I Sing with Me is the oft-overlooked pivotal album in the Yo La Tengo discography: the first to be made with the lineup of husband-and-wife team Ira Kaplan (guitar, vocals) and Georgia Hubley (drums) with bassist James McNew; the first on which Kaplan emerges as a first-class guitarist; the first on which the band's interest in drone-pop combines with its rootsy-folky base; and the first on which they record a song over nine minutes long (two of 'em, in fact, and it's not a bad thing). The next three albums--Painful, Electr-o-pura, and I Can Hear the Heart Beating As One--all go further into sonic experimentation, with increasingly rewarding results, but on May I it's the dichotomy of raw power and mellow travelogues that infuses the songs. On "Mushroom Cloud of Hiss," Kaplan screams as his guitar wails like nothing this side of the MC5, but "Satellite" finds his guitar caressing Hubley's vocals. "Some Kinda Fatigue" marries the Velvet Underground to Jason & the Scorchers, while "Always Something" drops the latter. --Randy Silver
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