The Troubadour in West Hollywood has a long history as being one of Los Angeles’ premiere music venues and has served as a launching point for many famous artists including Neil Young, Elton John and James Taylor. It’s a big deal to sell out that venue, and local indie rockers Avi Buffalo did just that, all before embarking on a nation-wide tour and before turning 21. Last Saturday, the Long Beach-natives and a packed house of friends, family and buzz-band seeking fans celebrated the group’s highly anticipated debut release for renowned Seattle indie label Sub Pop Records.

It was evident from the beginning of the show, just why this band is receiving so much mainstream press and has been signed to one of the most respected labels in the industry: they can flat out play. I mean, lead singer Avigdor Zahner-Isenberg (Avi for short) has been playing guitar with the best of the best in Southern California for years now. Only just a couple years removed from high school, the music is that of talented, experienced musicians and not like a thrown-together, dreadful emo band that you might expect from a group of kids all under 21. While Zahner-Isenberg’s riffs are complex and methodically delivered, backup vocalist and keyboardist Rebecca Coleman contributes playful keyboard licks and sweet melodies, and drummer Sheridan Riley and bassist Arin Fazio bring home the understated rhythm. It works magnificently.

When trying to break down the group and define them, you can’t help but to see the comparisons to tremendous artists follow in the description. Their music style has a strong Shins vibe, but also you can’t help but to compare Avi to Wilco’s Nels Cline with his sophisticated guitar solos on nearly every song. Midway through the group’s set, Zahner-Isenberg even thanked his friend Jesse for introducing Wilco to him at summer camp right before breaking off into a certainly Wilco-influenced song, “Jessica”. His high-pitch, and full-of-tension sounding voice often draws comparisons to early Modest Mouse or Neil Young. Sure, it is somewhat an acquired taste, but the strained, child-like vocals coincide perfectly with the twee-pop feel of a few songs, and puts off a heartbreaking innocence on some of the slower ballads. No matter the vocals however, Zahner-Isenberg’s handcrafted songs feature some of the most interesting wordplays in the lyrics, all the while containing some of the most intricate and skilled guitar solos that I have seen or heard. This is certainly not something just any 19-year old can do. He is truly a musical protégé and showed it Saturday night.

With only a ten-song album under their belt, the quartet winded through most of the album, making for a perfect record release show. From the beginning, on the lyrically quirky song “Summer Cum” Avi set the stage for what the rest of the night would be. He had very strong delivery of the lyrics and none of the four seemed to be overly-phased by the packed venue. They seemed like naturals up there. [By the way, they did once upon a time open for Vampire Weekend] Not very tall in stature, Avi danced on his tiptoes as he sang into the microphone, reminding viewers of just how young they really are as a group. But then before you could think too much longer, Avi would burst into an incredible guitar solo. The coolest part about the entire gig was the fact that the entire band seemed to be enjoying themselves the whole time. They thanked the audience for everyone’s continuous support through everything and kept pointing out just how cool it was to be playing at the Troubadour. All of their friends were in attendance to catch this event. When a scream of “Arin!!!!!!” came out from the crowd mid-set, Arin knew exactly who it came from and thanked them by name. It was really funny. While we could easily get caught up in how refined they sounded, we were often enough reminded of just how young they really are, which made it all the more enjoyable. At the beginning, Avi pointed out how cool the smoke machine was to the audience and mid-set, drummer Riley pointed out, “This seems like a talent show. I wish we had one of those applause meters!” If so, it would’ve been off the charts.

The band ended their set with two songs featuring an incredible full band solo on “Where’s Your Dirty Mind?” [can be seen in the video below] and another extended ballad, “Remember Last Time”, with a long, notable solo that Zahner-Isenberg absolutely shredded through. However, it was a line from the first song that really stuck with me after the show: “Try your hardest; show em what you’re made of”, Avi repeats multiple times on “Where’s Your Dirty Mind?”. By this point, it had become clear that these are the words that Avi Buffalo live by. The group has really put in the time to get to where they are today. They have created a very clean and developed sound,that is largely due to the risks that the members have taken: putting the band at a forefront in their lives and following their dreams. Zahner-Isenberg is an extremely talented musician, certainly at the forefront of the group, but the pieces/friends that he has added around him in Rebecca, Sheridan and Arin really make the group what it is. It is impossible to imagine where the group will be years down the line considering what they have already accomplished, however, one thing I certainly can conclude after Saturday’s performance and listening to their debut album nearly a dozen times now: the buzz is certainly warranted.

Oh, and a quick mention…after the show I got the chance to talk to Avi briefly. When I introduced myself as a member of UCLA Radio he responded “We love UCLA!” Awesome.