Ooh la la! The Oohlas and Los Abandoned!

Not to sound all feminista, but being a lady watching last night's performance by female-fronted bands Los Abandoned and The Oohla's made me feel full of girl power. I went into the Troubadour last night not knowing what to expect from either band. I knew that Los Abandoned were from LA, and I knew The Oohlas were on Ultragrrl's (of Vh1/Spin/NYC hipsterdom fame) label Stolen Transmission Records, but that was really all I knew.

Turns out, both bands exceeded my expectations, and I left with a smile on my face and an added dose of LA pride. I don't think there was one person in the room who wasn't smiling when Latino post-punks Los Abandoned finished their set. Dressed in a blue and gold leotard, frontgal Lady P was a mixture of Karen O and Tiffany, and although she had the crowd in the palm of her hand, you didn't feel she was "above" the rest of the audience. She was cute, energetic, and talented, and the audience and Lady P's energy fed off of one another. The show was perfectly-timed, since their debut full length, "Mixtapes", was released yesterday, and I'm sure Lady P inspired a few audience members to play the ukulele like they did for a few of their songs. Their set ended with a huge moshpit, crowdsurfing, and encore-begging -- some in Spanish, some in English.

It was obvious that most of the crowd was at the Troubadour Monday night to see Los Abandoned when more than half of the audience left after their set; the Oohlas could easily have just played for the sake of playing, but instead they shrugged it off and managed to put on a good show. At first they reminded me of the Breeders, and the more I watched them, the more I felt like they could have made a guest appearance on My So Called Life. You don't often hear bands described as "alternative" anymore, but the Oohlas is one band that I would love to classify as just that. Woah, I just found out their drummer used to be in Everclear! Okay, now it's all beginning to make sense...