Live Review: Yo La Tengo, Dick Diver

“We noticed Yo La Tengo were doing two sets tonight, a quiet one and a louder one,” Al Montfort, Dick Diver's guitarist/singer, observes. “We've stolen enough from them in the past so we thought we'd steal that idea too.”

In acoustic mode, the four-piece open with one of their earliest songs Walk For Room, the 12-string acoustic guitar and jar of pistachios as percussion lend their songs a humbler sound. “I'm even more Tracey Chapman than Tracey Chapman!” laughs Steph Hughes, who, despite her fears, sounds like no one but Steph Hughes. Plugging in and switching instruments, the band perform crackers such as Water Damage, Lime Green Shirt, the prophetic Gap Life and New Start Again, before closing with Calendar Days. They responding to recent online labelling by describing their sound as “jobwave” or “zumba-wave”; whatever it is, it's worth catching.

Opening with Ohm, the first of many songs from last year's career high point Fade, Yo La Tengo ease comfortably into a rhythmic and spacious set. Acoustic guitar, brushed drums and throbbing bass underpin their sparse, floating melodies. From Black To Blue and Is That Enough follow and the propulsive rhythms cast their spell. Locking in and zoning out, Yo La Tengo's songs occupy strange real estate. Sublime and bewitching takes on Fog Over Frisco, Cornelia And Jane and Tom Courtenay seem to enter the brain by a sixth sense. With a near total lack of dynamic shifts, songs drift past with distant lyrics and stumbling lead guitar parts – odd for a band celebrating their 30th year in the game.

The odd magic continues with Stupid Things. A gorgeous version of Autumn Sweater and hypnotic take on Ohm aside, the band's second set comprises 'songs' that are merely suggestions for the opening minute or two before being reduced to a metronomic beat, three bass notes and guitarist (and cross between Ben Lee and Geoffrey Rush) Ira Kaplan's effects-heavy free-forming. In the hands of a more sensitive (Neil Young), smarter (Robert Fripp) or bolder (Tom Verlaine) guitarist, substituting in-album subtlety for extended jams can be mesmerising. Kaplan's lack of imagination ages fast.

Decora, Before We Run and new single Super Kiwi are all deconstructed in this ultimately disappointing way that only highlights the importance of production and editing in their recordings. Instrumental parts, vocal melodies, and lyrics are wonderful, but the fact that they are sacrificed over and over for Kaplan's aimless rambling is frustrating. Yo La Tengo close with a mammoth take on I Heard You Looking, the song's phenomenally evocative riff highlighting the strongest and laziest traits of this most obdurate of bands.