Austin had no idea it needed its own Los Angeles until the Independent turned into every good night at Spaceland at the first-ever L.A. RECORD Official Showcase last night. With a line-up as eclectic as the city itself, it was a night that felt like home (instead of home away from home) as bands like Long Beach’s Blank Blue mixed with the East-L.A.-on-a-Saturday-afternoon sounds of Very be Careful and a Nosaj Thing-and-AntiMC-backed Busdriver. After six weeks on tour, Henry Clay People played a “homecoming show” by dragging their producer and friends onstage to play tambourine and scream along with covers of Operation Ivy “Knowledge” and Rolling Stones’ “You Can’t Always Get What You Want.” It was a full-scene affair with members of Happy Hollows, Redd Kross and The Pity Party—all cover alumni—wandering in and out of the 6 hour show. (Chris from HH partied all night!) Things ended when three drunk frat guys offered to get Blu drunk so he’d ditch dreams of catching the Talib Kwelli 2 AM performance and rap one more for ‘em but were left watching half-headliner Exile freestyle beats like this was his living room. The experiment of a showcase (the first of many!) was a perfectly transported west coast metaphor—there might not have been a lot of people, but, damn, they were all stoked to be there.

—Sarah Bennett