Last Tuesday at the sold out El Rey Theatre, Cayucas and Pacific Air set the dance floor for the wildly catchy new tunes by the synth-pop artists Ra Ra Riot. 

Hailing from Syracuse and ready to rock the West Coast, this core group of four artists shrugged aside the loss of their former cellist, Allie Lawn, and embraced the change with upbeat pop rock.  

Ra Ra Riot recently released the album “Beta Love” which showcases their synthesizer and vocal-driven indie rock side.

Lead singer Wes Miles announced after singing some tunes off their latest album that contrary to many people’s beliefs, Los Angeles is a great place to play and the El Rey provided a warm welcome. 

Wes went on to explain the circumstances of him losing his voice and cancelling a dozen or so shows last year plus the loss of Lawn, as she left to pursue her other interests. 

He said that after all these downturns, the fans in Los Angeles showed immense love and have continued into this year’s performance. Wes gave back some love too by playing songs from the album “The Rhumb Line" such as “Can You Tell”. 

As Isha Kawatra writes in the Daily Trojan, bringing on the new mix of an eclectic electronic synth and indie sounds helped Ra Ra Riot fuse the gap and bring the party to attract more followers. 

One more experimental song, “When I Dream,” caught the audience off guard and captured them in a trance of vocals from Wes and violinist Rebecca Zeller. 

These more dream-like, almost ethereal songs shook up the rocking energy and beautifully displayed the balance in the group including a stand-in cellist and drummer.

Closing up the show, the band played many of their new highly energetic songs from “Beta Love” to keep up the excitement through to the end, including a two-song encore. 

Standing in front of panels of bright strobing lights, violinist Rebecca played so hard that several of the strings on her bow broke. Wes also sung his heart out to the point it was difficult for him to keep his high-pitched well-tuned Freddy Mercury voice. 

The sound became a bit off towards the end, as Wes was overpowered by the rock and strings but still had the energy from the beginning. 

They closed out the set with the song “Boy” and went on for an encore that further showed off their string section and grooving bass mix.

Ra Ra Riot proved that they have multi-talented musicians in their group, with several of them providing keyboard, tambourine, or vocal interjections to complement the song. 

While they formed the group in college, the timing for this band along with other indie rock rising stars worked out really well to promote this new album and welcome them to new listeners. 

Their sold-out show at the El Rey confirmed they are loved and will move forward to bring the dance tunes and excitement for a talented and entertaining show. 

You can listen to their album "Beta Love" here.

Read more of NT’s show reviews here.

Reach Staff Reporter Aislinn Glennon here.