The Radar Brothers had us settle into the evening for Sunday’s Silver Lake Jubilee with their gorgeous arrangements that fit in so well with so many of their fellow current label mates on Merge Records. However, the Radar Brothers have been putting in their time since 1996 with their debut album all the way up to their most current album, Auditorium, which was released in 2008.

With a new album expected to come out in 2010, we were lucky enough to hear a well-rounded set of songs – some we were familiar with and some that were new to us.

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It was a busy week for us as we headed to the Troubadour once again for another fabulous show last Thursday. With Fuck Buttons and VV Brown helping us put electronica and pop under our belts, we were ready to get back to some rock – some great rock. With the recent release of their latest album, The Besnard Lakes Are the Roaring Night, The Besnard Lakes filled the venue with old and new fans and Los Angeles locals The Happy Hollows did a fantastic job warming us up for them.

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Even though Tuesday is often a rather dead day for shows, BeatCrave was out on the scene at the all too familiar Troubadour in West Hollywood to catch an evening of pounding fuzz provided by the British group known as Fuck Buttons.

Everyone’s ears would need to tune up to get ready for the noise that would be blasting through the amps and Long Beach native Sun Araw was the perfect intro. The soft and mellow layers of chorused guitars over looped tracks gave an underwater feel to the sound.  You could tell with the swaying of bodies that everyone was getting into the mellow vibes.

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Although we don’t like to trek too far from our usual LA spots for indie rock shows, BeatCrave was more than excited to see Los Campesinos! play Pomona’s Glass House on Monday night. After playing a packed show at the El Rey Theatre, we knew the crowd this night would be a bit more tame as Angelenos don’t like to drive further than the have to but this didn’t mean that the British band would tone down their stage antics.

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When great Canadian music makes its way to Los Angeles you know BeatCrave is going to be on the scene. We were lucky enough to get into the sold out Broken Social Scene show at the Music Box and were treated to a lovely night of music. While many were still trickling into the theater, Julie Doiron was already giving the fans that arrived early a special show. Showing off her guitar skills Julie rocked and let her hair fly through a set with only a backing drummer.

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The beginning of May started off with a glorious bang as we attended Avi Buffalo‘s record release show for their self-titled album via Sup Pop. As avid followers of this young band, we were excited to see how they would bode in the infamous Troubadour.

It turns out they inducted themselves into the long standing legacy which the venue holds quite well. The Wailing Wall from New York and VOICEsVOICEs of Los Angles provided support at the celebration this Saturday. Check our review and photos out below!

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Monday nights are the popular evenings at Los Angeles’ Spaceland mainly because of the free residencies. Packed nights still occur even after the status of the upstairs room had been changed to non-smoking. People still like to discover new music free of charge.

However, if you’ve ever gone to Spaceland during the week before it’s Friday, it can seem like a ghost town and that’s a shame because some crazy stuff went down last Thursday.

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Concert goers got their money’s worth at Seattle’s Moore Theatre show featuring Spoon with openers Micachu & the Shapes and Deerhunter. Britt Daniels, the lead singer and guitar player, swept up the audience the moment he walked on stage. He came out solo and began playing an acoustic version of “Me and the Bean,” from their first album with Merge Records, Girls can Tell. The lighting on the stage, for the moment, comprised of twinkle lights wrapped around and built into their gear. It was beautiful and unexpected.

Daniels followed the opener with a low-key version of “Mystery Zone,” from their newest album Transference with Eric Harvey on piano. The excitement could be felt as the crowd waited for more. Their gentle crescendo into a rock experience was genius. Their third song satisfied cravings for rock when the rest of the band-mates, Jim Eno on drums and Rob pope on Bass, joined the stage for “Written in Reverse.”

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Sometimes you just cant get enough of a band and BeatCrave is the same way. After checking out Metric‘s tour stop in Washington we were back on the scene in Los Angeles at the Palladium to catch the Canadian indie group along with Codeine Velvet Club and local favorites Nico Vega.

Nico Vega opened up the show just minutes after 8pm. Singer Aja Volkman came onto the stage like a prize fighter, throwing fists to the audience and pumping up her home crowd. A home crowd that would still be trickling in through their early set. The band hit the crowd with low-fi guitars that would transform into noisy bursts of destruction.

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