Yo La Tengo, “Popular Songs” (Matador)

Is there anything wrong with consistency?

Yo La Tengo (Spanish for “I’ve got it”) has been releasing solid, occasionally spectacular records for nearly 25 years. The band’s ability to touch on indie rock, folk, classic R&B, Sonic Youth-style noise and nearly everything in between has always seemed effortless and garnered them legions of nerdy fans and drooling critical raves.

Through it all, painfully awesome husband-and-wife duo Ira Kaplan and Georgia Hubley have grounded the group in their affectionate interplay and solid grasp of pop fundamentals. That makes “Popular Songs” at once a welcome addition and yet another album likely to go unnoticed by the masses.

Opener “Here to Fall” begins on a spacey, vintage-synth note before tumbling into a lush tangle of strings and rolling snare hits, Kaplan’s nasal vocals guiding the song home. Gentle, atmospheric pop rears its head (“By Two’s”), as does the band’s penchant for rowdy, garage-style jams (“Nothing to Hide”).

Despite a couple of tracks busting the 10-minute mark, “Popular Songs” is largely a traditional and inviting pop album — albeit one rooted in its creators’ adventurous sense of craftsmanship. They play the Ogden Theatre on Oct. 10. — John Wenzel

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Ricardo Baca is the founder and co-editor of Reverb and an award-winning critic and journalist at The Denver Post. He is also the executive director of the Underground Music Showcase, Colorado’s premier indie music festival. Follow his whimsies at Twitter, his live music habit at Gigbot and his iTunes addictions at Last.fm.

John Wenzel is the co-editor of Reverb, editor of the Get Real Denver blog and an arts and entertainment reporter for The Denver Post. His book “Mock Stars: Indie Comedy and the Dangerously Funny” was recently published by Speck Press.

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