2/3rds of Yo La Tengo

I first heard about the Arts Center at Duck Creek when guitarist Bill Frisell played there with his trio two years back, in June 2023. Duck Creek is way out on Long Island, in East Hampton. I grew up further west on the island, toward the north shore. I mentioned the Frisell gig, which the venue uploaded to its YouTube channel, at the time, and have kept an eye on the place ever since, hoping that the concert schedule might coincide with my occasional visits back home.

All of which is how I learned about a newly uploaded, fantastic live ambient performance from June 21, 2025, by two thirds of the band Yo La Tengo, Georgia Hubley on electric guitar and Ira Kaplan on keyboards. With echoes of Robert Fripp and Laraaji, they played a quietly psychedelic set, initially gentle and then more abrasive and out there as it proceeded, with lots of warbling noises, backwards effects, and held notes on the eBow transformed through effects pedals.

While Yo La Tengo are rightfully thought of as indie rock, they venture into ambient zones on occasion, as on the track “James and Ira demonstrate mysticism and some confusion holds (Monday),” which appeared when the band first launched its Bandcamp page (it was part of the album We Have Amnesia Sometimes), and the instrumentals collection The Sounds of the Sounds of Science, which was all composed to accompany short aquatic documentary films by the late Jean Painlevé (1902-1989).

Side note: ambient, contemporary classical, new age, and guitar pedal fans will want to check out an Emily Hopkins harp performance at Duck Creek from last November: