And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out

And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out is the ninth studio album by Yo La Tengo, an alternative rock music group from Hoboken, New Jersey. The album was released in February 2000 by Matador Records. The title of the album is likely derived from a Sun Ra quote: "...At first there was nothing...then nothing turned itself inside-out and became something." The album marked yet another creative shift in Yo La Tengo's songwriting with a greatly slower approach. The band continued to expand on their simplistic songwriting; many of the songs are soft ballads with very airy percussion and background noises; however, the guitars and bass provide a strong undertone of reverberation. And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out features an array of backing instruments such as vibraphone and drum machines, which all lend an expansion of musical textures and differentiation of timbre.

Yo La Tengo deliver more subdued art-pop songs on this album than on any other; however, their noise-rock influence is also most present on And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out, with songs like "Saturday", "Cherry Chapstick", "Tired Hippo", and the 17-minute epic "Night Falls on Hoboken".

The title "Let's Save Tony Orlando's House" comes from an episode of The Simpsons, titled "Marge on the Lam". It is the name of a telethon that actor Troy McClure previously hosted. During this period, many of their tracks were given temp-titles based on Troy McClure's filmography.^[6] The title "The Crying of Lot G" is a reference to Thomas Pynchon's novel The Crying of Lot 49.

"You Can Have It All" is a cover of the George McCrae song of the same name, originally written by Harry Wayne Casey of KC and the Sunshine Band.^[7] Yo La Tengo's take is of a distinctly different style, with a much slower tempo. A techno version of "You Can Have It All" was used as Northwest Airlines's theme song under the Now You're Flying Smart slogan. The track "Our Way to Fall" appears in an episode of Six Feet Under titled "Driving Mr. Mossback" (season 2, episode 4). Canadian folk-rock group The Olympic Symphonium covered "Saturday" on their 2007 album Chapter 1.

The album artwork is made up of photographs by surrealist photographer and Yale professor Gregory Crewdson.

And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out was well received critically, featuring on a number of best albums of the decade lists including Pitchfork's Top 200 Albums of the 2000s list at #37, Tiny Mix Tapes Favourite 100 Albums of the 2000-2009 at #83 and at #77 on a similar list for Rolling Stone.

Track listing

All songs written by Yo La Tengo except where noted.

1. "Everyday" – 6:31
2. "Our Way to Fall" – 4:18
3. "Saturday" – 4:18
4. "Let's Save Tony Orlando's House" – 4:59
5. "Last Days of Disco" – 6:28
6. "The Crying of Lot G" – 4:44
7. "You Can Have It All" (Harry Wayne Casey) – 4:36
8. "Tears Are in Your Eyes" – 4:35
9. "Cherry Chapstick" – 6:11
10. "From Black to Blue" – 4:47
11. "Madeline" – 3:36
12. "Tired Hippo" – 4:45
13. "Night Falls on Hoboken" – 17:42

References