ARTIST: Yo La Tengo 
TITLE: May I Sing With Me
YEAR RELEASED: 1992
CHART ACTION: None
SINGLES: Upside Down
OTHER SONGS YOU MAY KNOW: If you’re a fan
LINEUP: Georgia Hubley, Ira Kaplan, James McNew
WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT: Perhaps the beginning of the true Yo La Tengo cult. Ira Kaplan’s guitar flipouts define this era of the band.
SOME WORDS, PHRASES AND CLAUSES ABOUT THIS RECORD: Yo La Tengo combined their love of pop and noise with this record. “Upside Down” is one of the better non-grunge alternative rock songs of 1992, with a great hook and enough guitar noise for the rockers.
The entire album is split between the noisier blowouts “Mushroom Cloud of Hiss” and some quiet pop, a pattern they would follow the rest of their careers (sometimes alternating noisy albums with quiet ones).
It’s not always successful, as some of the tracks tend to be a bit bland, and some of the noise is just…noise. But it’s the start of Yo La Tengo’s true dichotomous period.
NOTES & MINUTIAE: The original CD inside cover featured a letter from a disgruntled fan who thought they were a band just like the Fakebook album, and was dismayed when they were loud. He ended the letter with a anti-semitic slur.
IS THERE A DELUXE VERSION: No
GRADE: B+: At times, draggy, but it’s got “Upside Down” and all of the noise you expect from YLT.
