Yo La Tengo / Gorky's Zygotic Mynci, Shepherd's Bush Empire, London

While the singer serenaded the crowd from the photographers' pit, his bassist and drummer were front and centre, singing backing vocals and performing a perfect Supremes-style dance routine.

Not what you would expect from one of the States' most studious bands - though Yo La Tengo rarely perform to type, even during their starkest love song. "Nothing But You And Me" came from last year's Summer Sun, the trio's follow-up to 2000's And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out, something of a breakthrough album as they dropped their usual hazy guitars for an esoteric mix of post-rock, jazz and bossa nova. The band that started out as suburban Hoboken, New Jersey's answer to the Velvet Underground, had emerged as a polite version of Sonic Youth.

Their current tour sees them paired with just about their only British peers. For while Gorky's Zygotic Mynci were inspired by Soft Machine's pastoral jazz, the two groups met in their rabid invention and love of the psychedelic West Coast pop of Love and, later, Beach Boys. Gorky's set took in Celtic melancholy, forceful boogie and Krautrock's mesmerising beats. Each musical flight of fancy was underpinned by bright tunes and magical harmonies, held together by the vibrant frontman Euros Childs, forever stamping his feet and shaking his black mane as he moved from guitar to keyboard. A ponderous new number with Childs behind a wheezy organ hinted at more invention to come.

Constant revolution has also been an enduring theme for Yo La Tengo, an achievement for a band on their 12th album. While Summer Sun saw them collaborate with stars from New York's free-jazz scene, here the trio pared things down to reveal songs of exquisite beauty, helped by them all being skilled musicians. This was first achieved with frontman Ira Kaplan on keyboards, before he moved to guitar to conjure up a quiet storm, his body contorting as he forced out ever- stranger sounds. Meanwhile, gentle giant James McNew provided sinuous basslines, and Kaplan's wife and co-vocalist Georgia Hubley displayed an awesome range of rhythms, from metronomic Krautrock (again) to mambo-inflected jazz riffs. Only Child's sister and fellow-Gorky, Megan was invited to play her delicate violin.

Yo La Tengo can befuddle their audience with mammoth instrumentals. On Monday, these were off the menu, and only once did an awkward intro spoil the intensity. At the end, Kaplan thanked the crowd profusely for attending, since Love were playing across town. So, the band closed with a passionate take on his "This House Is Not A Motel".

Gorky's and Yo La Tengo were brought together by Music Beyond The Mainstream, a consortium of venues working to improve the quality of bands that play beyond the arts-centre or student-hall circuit. Thus, Yo La Tengo continue to break new ground.