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Zero 7
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.
I Am Not Afraid Of You And I Will Beat Your Ass
Universal acclaim
Based on 37 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 47 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album >
Album Info
Label: Matador
Release Date: 12 September 2006
Discs: 1 disc
Genre(s): Indie, Rock
Summary
After two relatively subdued albums, Ira, Georgia and James return with a much more varied effort that at times recalls pretty much every stage of their history. Roger Moutenot again produces.
Also By This Artist: And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out Danelectro EP Summer Sun Today Is The Day [EP]
Also On The Web: Official Artist Site Official Ass-Beating Site YLT @ Matador
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Urb
A perfect album. [Sep 2006, p.143]
Entertainment Weekly
They embellish what they long ago mastered: making shaggy, dreamy, cuddly, explosive indie rock. [15 Sep 2006, p.72]
Tiny Mix Tapes
Good luck finding a better straight-up indie-pop/indie-rock record this year (save TV On The Radio) that's as uninhibited, unique, and flawlessly all-over-the-place as I Am Not Afraid Of You And I Will Beat Your Ass.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club)
This is Yo La Tengo in full 32-flavors mode, but somehow, as with similarly diverse past efforts like I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One, they make it all sound cohesive.
Read Full Review >MSN Consumer Guide (Robert Christgau)
What's most remarkable about this stylistic portmanteau is that every song is an original even though you assume several are among their shoulda-been-a-hit-but-wtf-is-it? covers.
Read Full Review >PopMatters
I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass is nothing if not dazzling.
Read Full Review >ShakingThrough.net
I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass is a delirious jumble, the rare album that holds together because of the sheer audacity of its diversity, rather than being torn asunder by it.
Read Full Review >Filter
They've trimmed away the electronic tinges and space-jazz tendencies of recent years, leaving us with a sharper, more focused Yo La Tengo. [#22, p.93]
Uncut
Sounding like a highly-evolved amalgam of their entire output--with added surprises--the beauty of this 12th album lies in its head-spinning diversity. [Oct 2006, p.134]
Blender
This trip is an easy, late-summer cruise. [Oct 2006, p.142]
Drowned In Sound
On the first spin this is a set of highly listenable light pop tunes. However, this is by no means insubstantial and some real gems begin to reveal themselves.
Read Full Review >Spin
Yo La Tengo remain true to their Velvet Underground roots. [Oct 2006, p.105]
Trouser Press
It's hard to imagine any other band with as much indie cred that could succeed with this material; it would be too audacious.
Read Full Review >Rolling Stone
Twenty years after their debut, Yo La Tengo are in full command.
Under The Radar
While I Am Not Afraid may be more sonically diverse than Summer Sun, both albums indicate that Yo La Tengo are less worried with breaking new ground than gamely exploring the territory they’ve already uncovered. [#15]
Alternative Press
This disc is actually a better recap of the Yo team's past than last year's triple-disc best-of collection. [Nov 2006, p.190]
Magnet
This return to form annotates the band's last 22 years rather nicely. [#73, p.110]
musicOMH.com
Yo La Tengo have nothing left to prove and this allows them the room and scope to simply showcase their talents, which are many and admirable as well as being both under-exposed and under-appreciated.
Read Full Review >All Music Guide
If there's a bit less childlike élan here than in the past, there's also an intelligence and joy that confirms Yo La Tengo is still one of the great treasures of American indie rock, and they haven't run out of ideas or the desire to make them flesh in the studio just yet.
Read Full Review >Paste Magazine
The indie vets consolidate their talents, channeling the eclectic scope of their live shows into a 78-minute demonstration of control, confidence and imaginative songwriting. [Sep 2006, p.72]
NOW Magazine
The goofier bits and sloppy sunshine pop moments are really what make this an interesting and complete album.
Read Full Review >BBC collective
At 77 minutes it’s no sprint, but YLT’s mellifluous serpentines are never less than involving.
Read Full Review >The Guardian
For all their playfulness, the group's melancholy weighs down their music with an emotional gravitas that is rare among anorak bands.
Read Full Review >Prefix Magazine
I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass is the statement of a band insistent on showing the world it is not quite through being relevant.
Read Full Review >Mojo
Another wonderful, intimate love letter to pop. [Sep 2006, p.94]
Delusions of Adequacy
Almost everything that YLT can do - and largely do so well - is here, alongside a sizeable smattering of new tricks and treats.
Read Full Review >cokemachineglow
A wane in consistency in its latter half keeps I Am Not from achieving the heights of Yo La Tengo’s best work, but it will unquestionably satiate their rabid fanbase awaiting a return to eclecticism while re-establishing Ira Kaplan’s status as an early fifty-something guitar god.
Read Full Review >The Phoenix
As eclectic as the disc is, it never strays from that warm sense of familiarity.
Read Full Review >Slant Magazine
I Am Not Afraid Of You And I Will Beat Your Ass is a bloated, overreaching long-player in the tradition of bloated, overreaching long-players like Sign O' The Times, Exile On Main Street, and London Calling. But it's also business as usual for Yo La Tengo.
Read Full Review >Q Magazine
Their best since '95's Electr-O-Pura. [Oct 2006, p.127]
New Musical Express
This is Yo La tengo on snug autopilot. [2 Sep 2006, p.21]
What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this album is 9.1 (out of 10) based on 47 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Robbie C gave it a9:
More totally entrancing and exciting and expectation-shattering with every song. At the same time, it's good ol' yo la tengo. Absolutely brilliant. My second favorite album from YLT, one of the greatest ever.
Robert H gave it a10:
An album as awesome as its name!
Bob C gave it a10:
Very different from prior Cds. I think it's their best work.
Kit T gave it a9:
I don't think I've heard anything so colourful and melodic recently. The range is awesome, from heavy riffings to sweet mellow poppy tunes, somehow they all fit well in the album. Nothing short of brilliant.
Nikki G gave it a10:
Very chill album to lounge around and listen to!
jeremy gave it a9:
Best since Electr-o-pura (which just happens to be a top 10 all-time album for me).
Nik gave it a9:
A very solid album, I will just leave it at that.
