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To say that it's been a good year for Avi Buffalo would be an understatement. They've managed to pull off what most teenagers only fantasize about it. Graduate high school? Check. Sign to Sub Pop? Check. Tour the country? Check. Sellout the Troubadour for their record release party? Check and check.
If the Buffalos were nervous when they took the stage last Saturday night they didn't show it. Despite the fact that the Troubadour was packed to the rafters with friends, family, and what appeared to be their entire high school class from Long Beach, these kids took the stage looking like seasoned pros. "This is like a talent show," keyboardist, Rebecca Coleman commented mid-set. Talent was one thing that these guys were not running low on. When the sugary, sweet bars of their first number "Summer Cum" floated over the crowd, Avi Buffalo reminded everyone why they've been a buzz band in Los Angeles for so long.
They've improved exponentially since the last time I saw them at Pehrspace a year ago. The drumming is tighter, the harmonies between Coleman and lead singer Avi Zahner-Isenberg are cleaner, and Zahner-Isenberg's signature intricate guitar licks are sharper than ever. The result was a whole lot of cheeky, meticulously orchestrated pop which shone brightly through the gloom of the smoke machine. The set was short and sweet (I mean, they only have ten songs). But the amount of promise that radiated from that stage will stick with the crowd a lot longer. Avi Buffalo is good now, but at the rate they're moving, in a couple years, they might be unstoppable.
Avi Buffalo Setlist
Summer Cum
Truth Sets In
Coaxed
Five Little Sluts
Jessica
Can’t I Know?
What’s In It For Me?
Where’s Your Dirty Mind?
Remember Last Time
Encore:
I’m Getting Too Old For This*
