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Ira Kaplan

Biography

Guitarist/vocalist Ira Kaplan fronts the critically acclaimed indie rock-band Yo La Tengo. Kaplan and his wife, drummer/vocalist Georgia Hubley, founded the Hoboken, NJ, group in 1984, dealing with a revolving ensemble of music artists until the entrance of bassist Adam McNew in 1991. Kaplan was blending bands on the famous Hoboken music membership Maxwells in 1984 when he and Hubley (who was simply focusing on an cartoon film at that time) started playing cover music in their cellar. Kaplan was also a rock and roll scribe for a while, writing parts for Spin, among various other publications. (A predicament that triggers some consternation for Trouser Press creator and rock and roll critic Ira Robbins, who’s consistently recognised incorrectly as Kaplan.) Kaplan and Hubley positioned a now renowned ad within the Community Voice searching for music artists who distributed their fondness for groupings just like the Soft Guys, Objective of Burma, and Want to join up together. The group bowed in 1985 using the one “The River of Drinking water” backed by way of a cover of Love’s “A RESIDENCE ISN’T a Motel.” The band’s full-length debut, Trip the Tiger, found its way to 1986. However, associates Dave Schramm and Mike Lewis still left the group following the release from the record, forcing Kaplan into a far more prominent placement in the music group — as frontman and business lead guitarist — a job he would hardly ever relinquish. Yo La Tengo (called after a football outfielder’s Spanish cry for “I ACQUIRED It”) continued release a assorted sounding, critically acclaimed albums through the entire ’90s and in to the fresh millennium. A fascinating side notice: Kaplan befriended indie filmmaking huge Hal Hartley as the two had been in university and Hartley regularly uses Yo La Tengo music in his films.

Quick Facts


Full Name Ira Kaplan
Profession Actor, Guitarist, Singer-songwriter, Film Score Composer
Education Sarah Lawrence College
Nationality American
Spouse Georgia Hubley
Music Groups Yo La Tengo, The A-Bones
Music Songs Autumn Sweater, Our Way to Fall, You Can Have It All, My Little Corner of the World, Friday I’m in Love, Tears Are In Your Eyes, Let’s Save Tony Orlando’s House, The Cone of Silence, Nowhere Near, Moby Octopad, Deeper Into Movies, Blue Line Swinger, I'll Be Around, I Heard You Looking, Sugarcube, From a Motel 6, Big Day Coming, Yellow Sarong, Night Falls on Hoboken, My Heart’s Not in It, The Crying of Lot G, Last Days of Disco, Speeding Motorcycle, Season of the Shark, Little Eyes, Return to Hot Chicken, Mr. Tough, Barnaby, Hardly Working, More Stars Than There Are in Heaven, Automatic Doom, Tired Hippo, Farewell Adventureland
Albums Summer Sun, I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One, And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out, Fuckbook, Electr-O-Pura, I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass, Fade, President Yo La Tengo, The Sounds of the Sounds of Science, May I Sing with Me, Popular Songs, New Wave Hot Dogs, Ride the Tiger, Stuff Like That There, Painful, Fakebook, Yo La Tengo Is Murdering the Classics, Genius + Love = Yo La Tengo, They Shoot, We Score, Today Is the Day, I Was a Teenage Mummy, President Yo La Tengo / New Wave Hot Dogs
Movies The Book of Life, Junior High School, Her Grandmother’s Gift, Tall Time Tales


  • Facts
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#Fact
1 Singer/guitarist in the band Yo La Tengo.


Soundtrack

Soundtrack

TitleYearStatusCharacter
Parks and Recreation 2014 TV Series performer - 1 episode
Boyhood 2014/I writer: "I'll Be Around"
Elementary 2013 TV Series writer - 1 episode
The Power of Few 2013 writer: "Sometimes I Don't Get You"
Take Me Home Tonight 2011 writer: "Alrock's Bells"
August 2008 writer: "Everyday"
The Invisible Circus 2001 writer: "Stay Away From Heaven", "Weather Shy"
The Opportunists 2000 writer: "The Ballad of Red Buckets"
I Shot Andy Warhol 1996 writer: "Demons" - as I. Kaplan
Walking and Talking 1996 writer: "The Summer"
Amateur 1994 writer: "Shaker"
Simple Men 1992 writer: "Always Something", "Some Kinda Fatigue", "Sleeping Pill"
Surviving Desire 1992 writer: "Drug Test"
A Matter of Degrees 1990 writer: "Something to Do" - as Kaplan

Actor

Actor

TitleYearStatusCharacter
Parks and Recreation 2014 TV Series Bobby Knight Ranger Keyboardist
Gilmore Girls 2006 TV Series Hoboken Guy Troubadour
The Book of Life 1998 Salvation Army Band (as Yo La Tengo)
I Shot Andy Warhol 1996 Party Band Member
Tall Time Tales 1992 Short voice
Junior High School 1978 Short Friedman

Composer

Composer

TitleYearStatusCharacter
The Sounds of Science 2005 Documentary as Yo La Tengo
Taperaksje 2004 Short
One Self: Fish/Girl 1998 Short
Alchemy 1995 TV Movie
Her Grandmother's Gift 1995 Short
Enough 1994 Short

Music Department

Music Department

TitleYearStatusCharacter
Junebug 2005 musician

Sound Department

Sound Department

TitleYearStatusCharacter
Travis 2009 Video short guitar sounds

Thanks

Thanks

TitleYearStatusCharacter
Don't Blink - Robert Frank 2015 Documentary special thanks
I Shot Andy Warhol 1996 thanks

Self

Self

TitleYearStatusCharacter
Sex and Broadcasting 2014 Documentary Himself
Overheard 2014 TV Series Himself - interviewee
Mistaken for Strangers 2013 Documentary Himself
Yo La Tengo Interview 2009 Video documentary short Himself
Looking for a Thrill: An Anthology of Inspiration 2005 Video documentary

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