They have been releasing great, ambitious albums for 20 years.

They have influenced countless bands, and paid proper homage to their own influences through carefully chosen covers and an appearance as The Velvet Underground in the film I Shot Andy Warhol.

They have established a reputation for unforgettable live shows, each different from the last. Almost certainly the second-greatest musical act to ever emerge from Hoboken, N.J., they have arguably been the most consistently superior artist of the past two decades.

But, for the members of Yo La Tengo, true recognition for their achievements came only last spring, when James McNew, Ira Kaplan and Georgia Hubley were invited to appear as themselves on an episode of Gilmore Girls.

"That was awesome," exclaims McNew, Yo La Tengo's resident 'new kid' (he joined the band's founders Kaplan and Hubley 15 years ago). "It was really fun. We were flown out to Hollywood, we went out onto the studio lot and people brought us down toast between shots because it was cold. Hilariously weird, but fantastic."

Hilariously weird, kinda like the concept of a band capable of shifting gears 14 times over the course of 15 songs, as Yo La Tengo characteristically does on I am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass, the recently released album that would qualify as the band's most brilliant effort in years, if only this trio was capable of releasing a less-than-brilliant effort.

"This record is a lot like our shows," McNew says. "When we play, we try to show a little bit of everything, and to have moods rise and wane.

"There's rarely, if ever, a guideline to making our records. We work slowly, but I've always been really happy with the results."

Yo La Tengo fans, who have waited three years for a new album, are similarly happy with the results on I am Not Afraid of You. True, an 11-minute opener is not for everyone, but the Yo La Tengo faithful understand.

"The people who know our group and who come to see us play will frequently come to see us more than once on a tour, because they know that every show will be different, we've never done the same show twice. I think it's a similar reaction to our records. People spend time with them and know we're not going to deliver anything that's particularly obvious."

Which brings us back to Gilmore Girls.

"We find it difficult to say no, when it's something we haven't done before," McNew states.

He's actually speaking of the band's recent forays into composing soundtracks for movies such as Junebug, Old Joy and Shortbus. ("After 20 years," McNew enthuses, "we found a brand new way of making music.")

He might as well be referring to Yo La Tengo's small-screen acting job. The first of many perhaps?

"I was really hoping for a spinoff for the new fall season, but it never came through," McNew says. "I had hoped the network would really respond to our characters on Gilmore Girls and that at least we could get a pilot out of it. Maybe next year ... or we could be a mid-season replacement."

Yo La Tengo deserves no less.