In the world of rock cliches, a band strutting off stage to an interminable drone of squealing feedback is as irritating and irrelevant as it gets. It is typical of Yo La Tengo's contrary approach that they amble on stage and open with a huge, 15-minute song (Night Falls on Hoboken, from the yet-to-be-released album And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out), whose whisper of tender melodies, brush drums and fragile vocals drifts into the most incandescent feedback of the night.
Watching Ira Kaplan thoughtfully press his guitar towards his two amps and lay threads of wire across its frets is to comprehend the difference between feedback as egotistical over-indulgence and the considered manipulation of the unpredictable. Like a musical Jackson Pollock, Kaplan splatters sounds to create something haphazard yet structured, and surprisingly engaging. Even when technical gremlins attack, he appears able to integrate the discordant shards of noise emerging randomly from his pedals into the songs.
The tension of controlling the unstable adds to the drama of a show that is theatrically paced, alternating pulsing action with calm, reflective moments. Deeper Into Movies unfolds like a journey towards a distant storm, which explodes with thunderous drums and lightning-bolt chords of piercing clarity. (All rock bands should play in classical-music venues - the crystalline sound invariably adds a spine-tingling quality.) Blue Line Swinger is blistering, driven by Georgia Hubley's lacerating drums and an impeccable guitar hook. That the same band can produce the hushed, lustrous Hanky Panky Nohow, a perfect web of feathery harmonies and angelic singing, and softly spirited new song Madeline, is remarkable.
Or would be, if the Velvet Underground hadn't already achieved such sublime contrasts of frenzied rock and heady pop long ago. Kaplan and crew have been compared to the Velvets so often that they've given up arguing and played them in the film I Shot Andy Warhol. Lacking the bombastic attitude of their predecessors, Yo La Tengo are yet to achieve much fame, but decades from now, kids will still be hunting down their exquisite back catalogue and trying to imagine how great they must have been live.
