BUZZ BANDS

Working for a rock living

You might have seen the Waking Hours without ever having seen them. Since moving to L.A. from Richmond, Va., nearly two years ago, the band -- working in and outside a variety of Southland clubs -- has given away some 12,000 copies of a five-song EP. Now, that’s tireless self-promotion. “It’s opened a lot of doors for us,” frontman Tom Richards says. “There’s no way we would have been on the Warped Tour, or had songs in compilations, movies and video games without so many people having heard the songs.” Now comes the real deal -- “The Good Way,” the band’s self-released debut album, comes out next week. The Waking Hours brings its exuberant live show, featuring dizzying clashes of harmony-laden melody and edgy guitar, to the Roxy next Thursday.

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A nice trip down

Leave it to a band that’s a product of an art-school education to call its sound “romanticore.” That band is Highland Park’s Bedroom Walls, an ensemble with revolving membership whose CalArts roots have spawned minimalist, mellow, coed drone rock -- including “Do the Buildings and Cops Make You Smile,” which earned airplay on KCRW (89.9 FM) -- that brings to mind such indie heavyweights as Yo La Tengo and Low. But don’t just expect a downer from the band’s Thursday night residency at the Fold in February; at most shows, Bedroom Walls busts out a different classic cover, from Pavement’s “Summer Babe” to Echo and the Bunnymen’s “Killing Moon.” The band’s been talking to a prominent indie label while working on its debut album, with indie priorities apparently in order. When singer Adam Goldman gets serious, he says, “We just want to make people sad.”

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Back to roots

Colorado-born, L.A.-based singer-songwriter Patrick Park is part of a proud tradition of American musicians who’ve had to travel abroad to get noticed. The distinctly American-sounding Park has opened in England for the likes of Beth Orton and Gomez, and now is looking to bring his European success back to his native land with “Under the Unminding Skies,” a dreamy six-song collection due Feb. 11 that suggests a folky Brian Wilson. The EP has a deep L.A. connection: Local favorites Anna Waronker and Steve McDonald engineered the closing track, “Will the Circle Be Unbroken.” Park, who got his start in Denver punk bands, is recording a full-length debut due this summer. In the meantime, his monthlong residency at Spaceland ends with a show Monday. He opens for Damien Rice on Saturday at the Troubadour.

-- Kevin Bronson, with Jeff Miller and Steve Baltin

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