Photos: Car Seat Headrest at the Teragram Ballroom

1
Car Seat Headrest at the Teragram Ballroom (Photo by Zane Roessell)
Car Seat Headrest at the Teragram Ballroom (Photo by Zane Roessell)

Bedroom-pop-phenom-turned-indie-darling Will Toledo — aka Car Seat Headrest — headlined the Teragram Ballroom on Sunday night, giving a performance that, like the week leading up to the show, shifted in mood from downcast to energetic. Toledo, 24 opened his set solo, lamenting the death of his favorite songwriter, Leonard Cohen, and covering “Field Commander Cohen” before segueing into “Cosmic Hero” off his heady album “Teens of Denial.” It’s Car Seat Headrest’s 13th album but first with a full band and made in a proper studio. The show — one in the Red Bull-sponsored series 30 Days in LA — also included “Fill in the Blank,” “Vincent” “Unforgiving Girl,” “Drunk Drivers/Killer Whales,” “The Ballad of the Costa Concordia” and, in the encore, “Destroyed by Hippie Powers” from the new album.

Preceding that, Seattle’s Naked Giants injected a dose of adrenaline into the night, playing the frenetic fuzzy blues-rock off their EP titled “R.I.P.” and mixing tremeloed guitars, Grant Mullen’s rabid solos and big, crashing crescendos to up the freakout quotient.

Los Angeles Police Department opened the night, as is often the case, if Ryan Pollie’s songs don’t make you smile, his banter will. “They set up a bunch of Red Bull backstage for us to sit and soak in,” he joked. LAPD included several new songs off an album that’s in the works.

Photos by Zane Roessell