Yo La Tengo (Spanish for "I've got it"; also abbreviated as YLT) is an American indie rock band formed in Hoboken, New Jersey, in 1984.

Despite achieving limited mainstream success, Yo La Tengo has been called "the quintessential critics' band" and maintains a strong cult following.

The name came from a baseball anecdote from the 1962 season, when New York Mets center fielder Richie Ashburn and shortstop Elio Chacón collided in the outfield.

He relaxed, positioned himself to catch the ball, and was run over by left fielder Frank Thomas, who understood no Spanish and had missed a team meeting that proposed using the words "Yo la tengo!"

Schramm and Lewis left the band after the album's release, with Kaplan subsequently taking on the role of lead guitar and Stephan Wichnewski joining to play bass.

"[3] The release of President Yo La Tengo in 1989 did much to establish the band's reputation among rock critics; Robert Christgau praised the "mysterioso guitar hook" of the first song, "Barnaby, Hardly Working".

Yo La Tengo reunited with Dave Schramm in 1990 to record Fakebook, an album of mostly acoustic tunes, including covers of Cat Stevens, Gene Clark, the Kinks, Daniel Johnston, among others.

[9] In 1991, with Dave Schramm in tow, Yo La Tengo collaborated with Daniel Johnston on the song "Speeding Motorcycle" which was released as a single.

The band also released a 7" single on Bar/None Records with the song "Walking Away from You" backed with a cover of Beat Happening's "Cast a Shadow."

One night after a show in Munster, I was to look after our box of merchandise while Ira and Georgia went gallovanting [sic] through the town, meeting their policemen.

Needless to say, during our soundcheck in Hamburg the next day, it suddenly dawned on me that I had left the box filled with copies of this EP back at the club in Munster.

Three of the album's eleven songs ("Swing for Life", "Out the Window" and "Five-Cornered Drone") were carried over from the That Is Yo La Tengo EP and feature Holder on bass.

The band's 1997 LP I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One synthesized the group's eclectic combination of folk, punk rock, shoegazing, long instrumental noise-jams, and electronic music into a sprawling, multi-faceted style.

"[18] Kaplan recalled a turning point in the band's musical progression:I think after Electr–O-Pura we've had a direction of trying not to worry too hard about what the next album is going to sound like.

Yo La Tengo had a cameo role as a Salvation Army band in the 1998 Hal Hartley film The Book of Life, and feature on its 1999 soundtrack release.

[21] When asked about the album's quiet nature, Kaplan stated,We made a decision at the last second just to leave the loud songs off.

[22]Yo La Tengo collaborated with Yoko Ono on the 2003 charity album Wig in a Box: Songs from and Inspired by Hedwig and the Angry Inch in support of the Harvey Milk High School.

In 2006, the band released Yo La Tengo Is Murdering the Classics, a compilation of their live impromptu cover-song performances on the New Jersey freeform radio station, WFMU.

[28] Also in 2009, Yo La Tengo contributed a cover of the song "Gentle Hour" to the AIDS benefit album, Dark Was the Night, produced by the Red Hot Organization.

Preceding their album Popular Songs, Yo La Tengo released an EP titled Here to Fall Remixes in the summer of 2010.

[29] In 2012 Yo La Tengo recorded a cover of Todd Rundgren's "I Saw the Light" for a fund raising CD titled Super Hits Of The Seventies for radio station WFMU.

[34] In 2016, the band released Murder in the Second Degree, a second compilation of their live impromptu cover-song performances on the New Jersey freeform radio station, WFMU.

[35] In 2018, Yo La Tengo released their 15th studio album, There's a Riot Going On, which Pitchfork decided 'reflects the group's greatest and most instantly recognizable strengths'.

[36] In 2020, Yo La Tengo released We Have Amnesia Sometimes which was recorded over a 10-day period from late April to early May amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The album consists of five instrumental, ambient[37] compositions which were recorded with one microphone in the room and the band spread out adhering to social distance protocols laid out by Governor Murphy of New Jersey.

[39] AllMusic describes Yo La Tengo's style as diverse, incorporating "noisy" guitar work and "dreamy" melodies that are "infused with an understated sweetness that made even their noisiest freakouts feel accessible and their extended jams compelling in their exploration".