we like a show: Department of Eagles with The Cave Singers. The Troubadour. January 23, 2009.

We walk into the Troubadour where an adorable British blond girl is going on to her bearded friends about how lovely it is to start the New Year at the Troub: "It's like my Cheers...where everybody knows your name." Although we see only a few familiar faces, the Troubadour has increasingly become our favorite venue in Los Angeles. Tonight it was made even more enjoyable by the crowd drawn in by these chill, very real, very genuine bands. (And even enjoyable with Ryan Gosling hanging out in the corner booth upstairs)

We saw this bearded trio from Seattle last year at the Echo and love them dearly. It was a pleasant surprise to see that they were the opening band tonight. We still love and listen to their 2007 album, Invitation Songs, quite often. We almost melted when they played "Seeds of Night"- it is such a great feel-good song. As they have said themselves, their music is like "a group hug."

Doodle, the man that runs the Troub grub station, mentioned that he witnesses most of the band's rehearsals. He usually notices a significant change from the band's sound check and the way they are when in front of an audience. Doodle tells us he wanted The Cave Singers to "keep it real" during their performance tonight. And that they did, that they did.

We were expecting the unexpected with the Department of Eagles. By the end of their set, we were both in awe - with a splash of disappointment. We were not sure how this duo was going to approach the show following their latest album, In Ear Park, which they recorded with the rest of the Grizzly Bear crew. Angelic wanted to hear "Forty Dollar Rug"...but had to hold back the tears of disappointment when she realized it just wasn't going to happen. Melissa, on the other hand, was hoping for more of the harmonies which were featured on their second album. She got her harmonies during the encore, but much to her dismay, it was a voice loop.

All in all, we were ecstatic that we were able to attend a Department of Eagles show and enjoyed it thoroughly. Being that they are based in NYC, are a side project and had barely produced anything since 2003...we were thrilled that they made it out to the West Coast. And were booked at the Troubadour non-the-less.