BUZZ BANDS

If the trickle of releases from Tokyo Police Club felt like a tease, the Canadian quartet didn’t mean it. Sure, its 2006 debut, “A Lesson in Crime,” with its seven songs in 16 minutes, made it sound as if they were in a hurry. But 2007 passed with only another EP (and a digital single), and fans of the foursome’s agit-pop -- think punk rock as sung by the neighbor kid who knows the meaning of the word “tessellate” -- had to wonder where the goods were. “It’s a weird balancing act,” singer-bassist David Monks, left, says. “You want to give your first record the time it deserves, and you want to make sure your second record gets the attention it deserves.” So the songs that ended up on Tokyo Police Club’s forthcoming full-length, “Elephant Shell” (April 22, Saddle Creek), languished while the band toured. Even a session last September left Monks and band mates, from Monks’ left, Josh Hook, Greg Alsop and Graham Wright, unsatisfied. “Right after that, we opened a couple shows for Bloc Party . . . humongous venues, with this amazing band,” Monks says. “And we thought, ‘Whoa, what record are we making?’ So much to our label’s lament, we scrapped everything.” “Elephant Shell,” with its hooky guitars and restless backbeats, emerged from a second session in November. “We wanted to make it so that any Tokyo Police Club song could be somebody’s favorite song,” Monks says. Live: TPC plays the last of three sold-out L.A.-area shows tonight at the Troubadour. Also: Londoners Alberta Cross hit the Viper Room tonight, while Denver dance-rockers the Photo Atlas play the Knitting Factory. . . . For easier listeners, it’s the Good Listeners on Saturday at Bordello; Eleni Mandell and Correatown with Alex and Sam at Tangier on Sunday; and Ana Egge in town to help Sara Lov kick off a residency Wednesday at Tangier.

-- Kevin.Bronson@latimes.com