Post-punk was definitely the operative genre of the evening on November 30 at LA’s Spaceland. Of all the between-sets music the DJ played, Gang of Four was the most appropriate choice. There were danceable drum beats and  sparse, wiry guitar lines a-plenty, although each band brought something different to the mix.

First up were Traps PS. What they may have lacked in showmanship, guitarist excepted, they made up for with solid tunes. Their combo of clean guitar and muscular rhythm section reminded me of early At the Drive-In, which is always a good thing. Their songs and set itself were short and sweet; they developed each idea to a satisfying conclusion, then stepped back. No self-indulgent punk noise jams here.

Pity Party played next, and the duo’s sound was interesting and nearly impossible to pin down. Genre-wise, they were all over the map. There were a couple of the aforementioned wiry post-punk type songs, but also forays into metal,keyboard-driven, no less, Postal Service-esque drum machine pop and hybrid tunes galore. Apropos of all the genre-hopping, their singer Heisenflei, who was also their drummer and synth player , had her bright red hair twisted this way and that between her various tasks. The melting pot approach proved to be a double-edged sword, though. Not every experiment was a winner (I wasn’t into their heavier stuff), but on the upside if you didn’t like the current song, the next one would pull you right back in. All in all, the pros outweighed the cons; I’d see them again.

Not long after the Pity Party wound down, the Happy Hollows took the stage and brought the room right back up. “Happy” is definitely the operative word in their name; guitarist/singer Sarah Negahdari was a charmer from the instant she took the stage, all smiles and excitement and chatting with the crowd. She was exuberant in thanking Spaceland for their residency, the opening bands, her friends and everyone else in attendance. She seemed completely genuine when she exclaimed that for her and the rest of the band the past month had been a “dream come true” I don’t think she ever stopped smiling; I haven’t seen such a joyous frontwoman since Karen O back at All Points West.

I was smiling too, because the band had me hooked from the get-go. The entire trio has chops, but aren’t showy with them (except for the face-melting guitar tapping scorcher they played towards the end of the set). While a couple songs were straight-laced post-punk, most of them jumped around between lyrical passages and bursts of vocal-less noise, with the occasional dynamic change into a new style thrown in for good measure.

Adding to the celebratory vibe were the frequent guests. The Hollows had run a contest in which the person who drew the best poster for them would win a guitar; they called the winner to the stage mid-set. A guest guitarist jammed on a few songs, while the Traps PS guitarist came up for a few himself as well as a couple of eyepatch-sporting backup singers.

In other words, it was a damn fun show. This is undoubtedly a band to watch.

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