Yo La Tengo are US alt-rockers like no others. Founded in 1985 by husband-and-wife team guitarist Ira Kaplan and drummer Georgia Hubley, this acerbic art-pop trio have survived two decades as cult and critical faves while rarely poking their noses above the parapet of commercial success.
Tonight they are in London for a one-off show to promote their imminent 12th studio album, I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass, before returning for a full UK tour in November. The evening has the air of An Event: the trio are welcomed on stage with a roar suggesting untrammelled adoration.
Contemporaries of Sonic Youth and Husker Du, they began as white noise dissidents, and opening new track The Story of Yo La Tengo is a magnificent 11-minute feedback freak-out. The compelling Kaplan is a virtuoso, wringing swathes of serrated noise from his guitar like a post-rock Hendrix.
Yo La Tengo are often pinned as eclectic - a masterpiece of understatement comparable to describing Nirvana as "fed up". The piledriving Watch Out For Me Ronnie tries on Pixies surf rock for size, while I Feel Like Going Home, sung by Hubley, evokes long-forgotten 1990s spectral existentialists Mazzy Star.
Not everything works. Beanbag Chair and Mr Tough sink beneath a welter of overly-fussy jazzy time signatures, and the mumbled vocals from all three members eventually grate.
Then Kaplan roars back into life with the thunderous Pass the Hatchet, I Think I'm Goodkind, jerking across stage as if his guitar is plugged into the National Grid, and jaws drop at his ferocious wig-out. If they keep that spark alight, Yo La Tengo may have 20 more years in them yet.
