BUZZ BANDS

They play for laughs

For hip-hop duo Lexicon, keeping it real means keeping the fans in stitches. Their Beastie Boys-meets-Tribe Called Quest sound emphasizes good times, furious beats and the cockeyed worldview of MCs Big Oak and Nick Fury. It’s an angle they fear is out of step with the hip-hop nation. “Everyone takes everything too seriously,” says Big Oak, 27, who was born Gideon Black. “We felt like we have to take it back to the early 1990s, when hip-hop was fun.” Big Oak and his brother, Fury, 24, born Nick Black, will find out when their second album “Youth Is Yours” is released by SpyTech Records on Oct. 21. The West L.A. duo had an underground hit in 2001 with “Nikehead,” a peek into Fury’s addiction to sneakers. “People were like, how can you support a company like Nike?” says Fury, recalling protests regarding alleged sweatshop conditions in the shoe manufacturer’s overseas plants. “But it’s hard for someone to criticize us when we’re telling people to stop taking themselves so seriously.” Lexicon plays Wednesday at the Troubadour.

Guided by a violin

They played for crowds of up to 5,000 in their native Australia, so what do the twentysomethings in Porcelain think of scrapping it out in small Hollywood clubs the last couple of months? “To come to this side of the world here and start from almost scratch has been fulfilling ... and challenging,” says Lo Roberts, whose Chrissie Hynde-like vocals anchor a dizzying on-stage array that renders the quintet pop one moment, punk rock the next, and proggy experimentalists after that. Roberts points to violinist Nadege de Vet as the “defining difference” in Porcelain’s estimable range. De Vet’s mid-set instrumental number, “Sleet,” is at once buoyant and mesmerizing and, juxtaposed as it is with hard-rock songs featuring De Vet’s spirited interplay with Ben Richards’ lead guitar, may launch a legion of air violinists. “It adds to the journey,” Roberts says. “She rocks out as hard as anybody even though she’s playing a classical instrument.” Porcelain performs Monday night at Club Lingerie and Wednesday at the Lava Lounge.

Fast forward

With its new album “Pleasure Vibrations” on the way next month, Seksu Roba brings its trippy electronica to Spaceland on Monday night.... Dog bites keyboardist: Dean Vincent was forced to cancel his first appearance at Club Lingerie this week after sustaining an injured left hand trying to retrieve a neighbor’s dog. Freshly bandaged, he stopped by the club to offer regrets.... Power-pop quartet Maple Mars toasts the release of its new album, “Circular Haze,” with a date Friday at Club Lush.

-- Kevin Bronson, with Andrew Asch

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