YO LA TENGO'S And Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out begins with a sound similar to a phone line, then music – a song called "Everyday" – slowly creeps forth from the drone and buzz of electricity. The album that follows is, at times ("One Way to Fall," "Saturday"), so beautiful that it hurts to listen. (The lyric of "Tears Are in Your Eyes" attempts to cheer you up while its music makes you want to bawl.) Throughout, Ira Kaplan and Georgia Hubley half-mutter, half-whisper, and half-sing awkward confessions and richly layered stories. The first eight songs' emphasis on keyboards, rhythms, and the psychology of coupledom invites comparisons to Everything but the Girl. But however many likely and unlikely signposts they reference, Yo La Tengo ultimately paint their own music. This time, that music is both panoramic and intimate.

Credited to Lois and Brendan Canty, The Union Themes is Lois's first full-length in four years. The wait pays off: it's her most consistent and nuanced recording. Avoiding the dense semiotics of contemporary Northwest female rock for a more natural language that feels as if it were struggled toward – like wisdom – its 11 songs try for hope and compassion amid a competitive climate of despair and distrust. The largely acoustic guitar sound is like a finely woven hammock, comforting but suspended precariously in midair. And Lois's singing has grace and force; when it soars on "Being Blind" and "Best Believe," it makes a solo flight – a flight for survival. The album's most compulsively melancholy melody lures a listener into a song with the title "You Love Your Wounds": like Yo La Tengo, Lois knows the value of a good cry – if the first nine songs don't get you teary eyed, the final "Monument" will.

Lois and Yo La Tengo are indie vets who know each other. Both have songs that reference movie titles (Lois: "Hollow Reed"; Yo La Tengo: "Last Days of Disco") on their new albums. And both Lois and Yo La Tengo's Ira Kaplan have worked as music journalists. So it seemed like a good idea to get them to interview each other, à la Interview magazine. Though at times the scheme seemed doomed to re-create the title of Yo La Tengo's album, after many e-mails, it ultimately worked out.

Johnny Ray Huston

Part One: Yo La Tengo interviews Lois

Ira Kaplan: We've known each other for a few years now. Would you rather I save my difficult questions for a possibly awkward private conversation? Or do you think that the interview format provides the freedom to say things you might otherwise keep to yourself?

Lois: Oh, Ira, you know as well as anyone that my past is an open book. Choose any chapter and you'll see that I have been utterly consistent in all the most important areas: kindness to animals, sharing with others, and penmanship. Of course, the fact that I dabble in music journalism makes for a few bumps in my usually spotless moral record, and I am deeply sorry for anyone's career I have (unwittingly) destroyed.

IK: People (like me) are going to refer to The Union Themes as "the new Lois album," even though it's credited to you and Brendan Canty. This reminds me of records you've made as Courtney Love and the Lois. Do you have negative associations with the term singer-songwriter? Do you have romantic notions of the concept of the band? Or were Courtney Love and the Lois just great band names?

L: I try to avoid saying "singer-songwriter" mainly because I have a lisp and it sounds funny. But yes, it's true. I do harbor romantic notions about being in a "band." Consider these infamous phrases: "I'm with the band." "We're an American band." "Band on the run." Now substitute "singer-songwriter." Dreadful, isn't it?

IK: Please put the following radio formats in order, starting with most likely to listen to and ending with least likely to listen to. Show your work.

a. all talk

b. all sports

c. all news

d. classic rock

e. fun oldies

L: Classic rock: I didn't know anything about classic rock until I went on tour with Heather Dunn. However, by the end of our cross-country travels I learned that there are seven solos on "Year of the Cat" and could also do a very decent word-for-word rendition of "Bohemian Rhapsody" with a sock puppet.

All sports: I can't get enough of the wicked bons mots these athletes come up with. "We're just going to go out there and make it happen." Brilliant!

Fun oldies: could I substitute "soul oldies" or "dusties," as they call them in Chicago?

All news: especially "news" stations that have Paul Harvey.

All talk: this format is banned from the Lois tour van. I am not kidding – it fills me with a profound, nameless dread.

IK: The first two things I learned about the music business were in I don't remember what order: don't put a cover song on the B-side of a single, because then you don't get the songwriting royalties (that's also the first thing I forgot about the music business), and you only get paid for 10 songs per album, no matter how many you put on it. The first practical application of the latter I recall was Tom Petty's first album. Does any of the above begin to explain why you have become known far and wide for your 10-song records?

L: I always thought it was really cool that every Go-Betweens album had two ls in the title.

IK: The last time we skipped dinner was to attend the reading of a screenplay written by some of our friends (we didn't realize it would take three hours). When did you last skip dinner? Was it worth it?

L: A meal doesn't come to mind, but about 16 years ago I skipped seeing one of my all-time favorite bands, the Neats, because my Seattle host, Bruce Pavitt, wanted to stay home and watch that stupid TV movie The Day After. Missing that show has been the absolute biggest regret of my life in music.

Part Two: Lois interviews Yo La Tengo

Lois: What movie stars would play you in The Yo La Tengo Story? In my younger years, I used to think Linda Blair would be the perfect Lois, but I suppose now she'd be a little too old to do those scenes set at a Beat Happening show in the mid '80s. Who's left? Chloë Sevigny's too skinny. Can Christina Ricci do upbeat charm? Claire Danes? (Of course, if it could be anyone in history – Barbara Stanwyck, definitely!)

James McNew: Who would play me is always a toss-up between Brad Pitt, Val Kilmer, Freddie Prinze Jr., a Corey, and the comic book store guy on The Simpsons. Hey, that's casting's problem; I'm more of a craft services kind of guy. I would definitely go see the Linda Blair movie, though.

Georgia Hubley: If I had my way the "cast," or what I like to think of as the "reenactment players" of the ill-fated show Hollywood Babylon would play us, and I would happily watch it!

L: One time I was doing a show in Glasgow, and after I finished playing, a fan came up and (with extraordinarily strong beer breath) proceeded to tell me, "Yuh and Dahvid Berrrmannn are the fyut-churrr!" Which I gather meant that me and David Berman from the Silver Jews were his idea of the future. (The future of what I do not care to speculate.) Anyhow – what's the weirdest thing a fan has ever said to you?

JM: Fans usually don't approach me, because I'm big and scary-looking. But I remember one time at a show in Orlando someone told Georgia she was "half Moe Tucker, half Elvin Jones." "That's one ugly baby," she replied.

Ira Kaplan: The only difficulty in answering this question is which remark said to me in Albuquerque to pick. The first runner-up would be the guy who, eavesdropping on a conversation in which I had just told someone that being compared to Television was a great compliment, interjected: "Here's another compliment. Fakebook is so much better than your new record!" But the winner goes back to 1988. A house soundman started screaming at me that my guitar was "too fucking loud," and we parried with 45 minutes of feedback. Love was not in the air, except for one fellow who told me it was the best concert he'd ever seen, and pronounced me or us "as good as the Eagles" and "better than Ace Frehley."

L: Well I guess this would be a good opportunity to discuss your new record. As has been pointed out by all your reviewers – it is about Georgia and Ira's marriage and the '70s. (And I'm sure you all no doubt agree. Critics are uncanny, aren't they?) However, the words Tony Orlando and Disco in your song titles and the inclusion of a George McCrae number somewhat indicate more than a mild interest in the mid '70s. I'm curious – are you nostalgic for the '70s? Not me! I was in the throes of adolescence, and believe me, it wasn't pretty. (That is unless calico overalls, hair that refuses to "feather," and a passionate crush on Al Pacino after seeing Bobby Deerfield is your idea of a glamorous existence.

GH: The only thing about the '70s I'm nostalgic for is NYC in the movies. I really do miss the Pan Am building – even though I think it was considered an eyesore when it was erected. It still beats the Met Life logo that took its place.

IK: The '70s references may or may not be a coincidence. I'm certainly not nostalgic – I hope "Last Days of Disco" doesn't strike anybody as nostalgia. But I feel like you're never too old to cringe when trying to come to terms with your past.

L: A while back I asked you what movies you had seen in Nashville while you were recording, and you replied that every time the opportunity arose to see a film, you'd feel too guilty to go because you hadn't finished writing all your lyrics. Well, the movies' loss is our gain! "Let my mind go out of tune" is just about the best line I've ever heard. And "The Crying of Lot G" is so elegantly structured and perfectly true. Would you be willing to divulge any of these lyrical epiphanies? Like did any of them come to you while you were pumping gas or sitting in the dentist's chair?

JM: I didn't write too many lyrics (I just wrote all that marriage stuff). I did see Blair Witch Project, South Park, Summer of Sam, and Austin Powers 2.

IK: The only place I reliably get ideas is the shower.

L: The last question is always the hardest. You only have one chance to get all the answers you've always wanted. You want to ask Ira if he has a special "relationship" with the Converse Sneaker Co. And did the Artist ever send James a cease-and-desist notice for his cassette release of Prince covers? And after her triumphant appearances in I Shot Andy Warhol and Half Cocked, does Georgia plan to give up music for a movie career? But I guess I'll just ask the obvious one: What is it like being in a band with Homer Simpson?

IK: As Tesla said, when asked how it was to tour with David Lee Roth: Really cool. The best part was that the day we recorded The Simpsons theme was my brother's birthday, and Dan Castellaneta very generously agreed to get on the phone and offer my brother Homer's best wishes.

JM: The little fella never contacted me about the covers cassette, which was too bad, because I would have loved to chat with him on the phone. But chances are, he only would have contacted me in order to sue my pants off, so maybe it's for the best. As for Homer, we were at least as good as the B-Sharps. Lois plays with Virginia Dare and the Softies March 24, 10 p.m., Bottom of the Hill, 1233 17th St., S.F. $7. (415) 621-4455. Yo La Tengo plays with Lambchop Fri/10, 8 p.m.; Sat/11, 2 and 8 p.m.; Sun/12, 8 p.m., Great American Music Hall, 859 O'Farrell, S.F. $14. (415) 885-0750.

PHOTO OF YO LA TENGO BY CHRISTIAN LANTRY

return to top | sfbg.com