Indie rock vets Yo La Tengo have been heading to their home state of New Jersey to do shows on the eight days of Hanukkah for years now, and despite the ravages of Sandy, this year was no different. There were special guest (including Brooklyn’s own El-P one night), tickets for it sold out in minutes and if your friends went and you didn’t, you hated them briefly. So, same as every year. This year though, they set out to raise money for Sandy victims, through ticket sales and merchandise, including a mix made by two members of the group, that benefits Brooklyn-based Norton Records. Now even if you weren’t there, you can download the mix.
Norton Records had their warehouse flooded and destroyed during Sandy, and as a result, their stock and archives of releases including people like Jerry Lee Lewis, the Black Lips and insane party-starter King Kahn were ruined. Like everyone else in the borough, they’re trying to rebuild, and Yo La Tengo reached into their own record collections, with rare cuts from Sonic Youth and Mick Turner among others, to help.
The downloads will be available here tomorrow at noon and the sale will last until Saturday at noon, so if you wake up tomorrow and the world is still here, why not celebrate with a download?