Buzz bands

‘Right time’? Sorry

The fickle winds of the music industry have bent but not broken Jason Martin. The frontman of one of the Southland’s longest-running and most respected indie bands, Starflyer 59, Martin has seen one of his side projects sprout wings -- then sputter to a halt before takeoff. The Emergency, a project he started with friends Dirk Lemmenes and Travis Cunningham, grew to include Starflyer 59 bandmate Frank Lenz, but it was dropped by Atlantic before a record was released. “It was meant to be something fun to do on the weekend ... a little straight-ahead AC/DC rock ‘n’ roll,” Martin said after a set Monday at the Troubadour. “We made a demo, and it was like an episode of ‘The Brady Bunch’: ‘Hey, listen to my tape,’ it gets passed around, and then we get signed.” The album of propulsive rock songs with New Wave elements -- “Wrong Place, Right Time” sounds like the Cars on steroids -- was produced by Ken Andrews (the band Failure). “When I’ve given it to people in radio, they’ve said, ‘Hey, there are some songs here,’ ” said the band’s manager, Ted Gardner, who is shopping the finished product to other labels. As for Martin, the experience was unsettling compared with his other relationships -- Seattle indie Tooth & Nail has released all eight Starflyer albums, including, in May, the band’s headiest collection yet, “Old.” “I’m disillusioned but not bitter,” Martin said. “It was what it was.”

Irving juggles

Call it pop that won’t stand still. Recordings by the Echo Park quintet Irving -- both the 2002 album “Good Morning Beautiful” and the forthcoming EP “I Hope You’re Feeling Better Now” -- conjure up influences ranging from the Beatles to the most eclectic of experimentalists. “We’ve been told our album sounds like your best mix tape ever,” guitarist Steven Scott says, “and we like that aesthetic.” The diversity is no quirk: All five musicians share in the songwriting, so the band’s harmony is just as sound as its harmonies. Scott, 29, says Irving’s biggest challenge is juggling day jobs and finances long enough to tour (the band plays tonight at Spaceland). “We’re halfway through our next record already,” Scott says, “but [it’s] tough. A lot of us are barely scraping by anyway.”

Fast forward

Concrete Blonde invades the cozy Hotel Cafe next Thursday to play a 9 p.m. acoustic set as part of a benefit for the AIDS Research Alliance. Cover is $20 until Concrete Blonde’s set ends, $7 afterward to catch performances by Tim Scanlin, Luther Russell and Rebekah Florence.... Big Bad Voodoo Daddy returns to the Southland on Wednesday at the Derby, a day after its new album, “Save My Soul,” is released.... A British band with a KCRW buzz, Keane, makes its U.S. debut Wednesday at the Viper Room.

-- Kevin Bronson

E-mail us at buzzbands@latimes.com