Abe Vigoda, Talbot Tagora, Sydney Confirm

Abe Vigoda's lower-profile triumph last year affirmed what most Southern Californians already knew: Los Angeles is in no danger of running out of good ideas—and they're all still wafting out of a dirty old alley.

Technically, Abe Vigoda's young cadre hails from Chino, but the quartet has long been associated with the Los Angeles scene. Skeleton is the band's third album, and the timing for its "tropical punk" to come to fruition couldn't be better. Just as East Coast preppy-pants Vampire Weekend was giving us lessons in commas (and product) placement over artfully ripped Afro-rock, Abe V. appeared with a bag of mush-mouthed stream-of-consciousness poems and a shit-ton of guitar that channeled equal parts wall of awesome and African thumb piano. The album feels both youthful and local, but big for its britches in all the right ways.

Seattle's Talbot Tagora and Dallas' Sydney Confirm open.