Affability is one of the most underrated qualities in music. While critics and those similarly inclined often champion novelty and affected eccentricities, sheer likability often trumps all (or at least it should). And in the Parson Red Heads' repatriation to their native Oregon, the city of Los Angeles is losing perhaps its most winsome outfit.

The decision for their move was explained two months ago, but in brief it boils down to the high cost of living in Los Angeles and the band's ability to quit their day jobs and concentrate on music full-time.

Throughout their five-plus years in Los Angeles, Evan Way and company electrified every Silverlake and Echo Park nightclub imaginable with their kinetic live performances that worked within the Laurel Canyon folk and Southern California psych traditions, but expanded upon them through their natural effervescence, joie de vivre, and careful attention to songcraft.

Tonight marks the first of the pair of going-away shows, with the group taking over Spaceland, alongside the vaunted Le Switch, another chronically underrated unit. On Tuesday, the Redheads play The Echo with Red Cortez and The World Record. 

Fresh off a tour with Cotton Jones, the Red Heads have been peddling a new EP of old songs originally written between 2003 and 2004, and re-recorded recently. In honor of their farewell performances, the band is giving away an exclusive MP3 of "World," a song that ironically concerns a move to Los Angeles.

-- Jeff Weiss

Download: (Pop & Hiss Exclusive)
MP3: The Parson Red Heads- "World"

The Parson Red Heads, tonight Sept. 17 at Spaceland, 1717 Silverlake Blvd. 8:30 p.m. $5, $2 if you wear all white.

Photo: The Parson Redheads. Credit: The band's MySpace page

If you've spent any time in the Silver Lake/Echo Park axis over the last half decade, chances are you've seen the Parson Red Heads. They're hard to miss, an all-white-costumed crew who have, over the years, swelled to as many as eight people, looking like a cross between Danielson Famile and the Partridge Family, and playing sun-soaked and serene tunes that touched on the Beachwood Sparks and the usual Laurel Canyon suspects (The Byrds, Fleetwood Mac, CSNY).

Their live shows ran the gamut between drowsy folk-tinged acoustic sets and unruly psychedelic guitar workouts. The band played early, often and everywhere, with residencies at Spaceland, the Echo, and Silverlake Lounge that evidenced a visible joy that distinguished them from the often ultra-serious swarm of indie bands. Lamentably, the jubilation and jams will be far less frequent in these parts, with the band's core trio of Evan Way (guitars, vocals), his wife, Brett Marie Way (drums, vocals), and Sam Fowles (guitar, vocals) announcing that they will be relocating back to their native Oregon.

The band's departure statement cited the cheaper rents of Portland and the "closeness to numerous musicians there that will help them continue to explore their art and keep them on the road." Among their confederates in Portland include childhood friends, the Sub Pop-signed Blitzen Trapper.