POP MUSIC REVIEWS : Yo La Tengo Show Has Feel of Velvet

With the re-formed Velvet Underground U.S. tour now definitely off, Yo La Tengo’s cultish performance Tuesday at the Whisky was as close to a Velvets show as we’re likely to see for quite a while.

The near-absolute hush of the audience during the New Jersey group’s show was so intense at times that you felt you were in a school assembly with a teacher standing behind you, ready to slap your wrist if you talked.

Fans in trench coats and worn, baggy-knit sweaters--the same attire that could be found 25 years ago at a Velvets concert--stood almost motionless, seemingly caught up in analyzing the band’s hypnotic melodies and abrasive waves of guitar distortion.

Lulling, placid and wakeless ballads were so delicate that the muffled clamor of traffic--and occasional blaring fire engines--along Sunset Boulevard competed with the fragile musical lines.

The whole affair seemed a tad pretentious, yet there is a sense of independence about the group that commands respect. Yo La Tengo, which has been around since the mid-’80s, may be traveling a familiar path, but the band does it with integrity and style.