Brand X’s L.A. Unheard hit the Gene Autry Museum last Thursday night, bringing two up-and-coming and one already-there band to an oft-overlooked and exceedingly charming little museum in Griffith Park. It’s weird that no one seems to go here—two fellow lifetime Angelenos and I tried to find the entrance together, none of us having been before, even on a field trip. I missed Gamble House, a shame as their Grizzly Bear-esque brand of pastoral pop hasn’t disappointed live thus far, and I could see it ensconced perfectly between the Autry’s Western-themed walls. The tiled open space in the middle area of the museum—which somewhat resembles a modern Metro station, complete with goofy Western murals and weirdo horse sculptures—was perfectly suited for Lord Huron’s worldbeat-inspired haze of reverbed out vocals, bongo beats and harmonic guitar interplay. They sounded up to the task of fulfilling their next big L.A. band tag, their atmospheric and beatific sound filling up the space nicely and getting a crowd of nearly 100 or so to jig a bit. A female backup singer on their last song swelled their ranks to 10, including a four-man string ensemble bedecked in suits, pulling things to an altogether satisfying and warm-hearted conclusion. Afterwards, a few stray notes from Abe Vigoda’s “Sequins” pulled me away from the museum’s Brokeback Mountain exhibit for a typically assured performance from the coldwave kings. Kind of worlds away in sound from the previous two bands, Abe Vigoda blew through much of 2010’s delectable Crush and dusted off the tropical thrash of Skeleton’s “Bear Face” with patience and precision, in place of their previously (pardon the pun) unbridled energy. As on Crush, “Repeating Angel” stuck out as a highlight, sprinkling gurgling synths over singer Michael Vidal’s doom ‘n’ croon, until a Siouxsie-inspired guitar line blows it all out of the water.

—Billy Gil