Pitchfork

"Pass the Hatchet, I Think I'm Goodkind" is an eleven-minute jam (alarm) that opens (alarm) Yo La Tengo's twelfth album. It's got no tune and barely one verse (alarm), but the song confidently follows through with the promise of the album title: It's not afraid of you, and it will kick your ass. Said asskicking is all in the rhythm section. Drummer Georgia Hubley accentuates unlikely notes in James McNew's bass melody, while Ira Kaplan tries to go up their down elevator, scribbling against the flow. He's a creative enough guitarist who stays interesting the whole run, but it's really McNew's five- or six-note theme (it changes slightly at the beginning, if only to let you know there's a human playing it) that makes the song. With guitar as ambience, the track moves tectonically: Kaplan singing one minute and strumming like he has oven mitts on the next, the groove blurring then tightening then blurring and by the last minute promising to run forever. Suddenly "Goodkind" comes to an abrupt, someone-unplugged-the-amp stop; Yo La Tengo have an album to get to.