Buzz bands

Cook’s gain is band’s loss

Emily Cook’s star is rising, but that’s not necessarily the best news for the band Fonda. The Los Angeles quintet with the distinctively Britpop sound crawled through work on its third album, “Catching Up to the Future,” because Cook’s career as a screenwriter was taking off. First there was a comedy for Paramount. Then another project. “It’s good for her writing career,” says Dave Klotz, Cook’s husband and the band’s principal songwriter, “but it was not good for getting the album done.” Since 2001’s “The Strange and the Familiar,” Fonda songs have cropped up in various movies, such as “Spy Kids,” “Down & Out With the Dolls” and the documentary “Close to Home.” Now, with its guitar- and Farfisa-powered pop reminiscent of Lush or the Cardigans, “Catching Up” finally sees release next week on Hidden Agenda Records (www.parasol.com). “Dreampop is a word that still probably applies,” says Klotz, who shares vocal duties with his spouse, “but we’ve definitely turned up the volume.” While songs such as “Loving You Makes Me Sad” swirl around in the ethereally wistful, the edgier “Electric Guitars” exhibits the influence of ex-Mighty Lemon Drops guitarist David Newton, who steered the studio work.

Rant on the U.S.

Television breeds ... rage? That’s how “This Damn Nation,” Tim Scanlin’s provocative rant on current affairs, transpired. “It happened after a long period in my apartment watching TV, getting incensed and disgusted with American culture,” the Actionslacks frontman says. “People have written tomes on this, but there is so much potential in this country, and so much going to waste.” The song, to appear on the foursome’s fourth album (due in January) and in the set they will perform at an early show Wednesday at the Troubadour, is one in a stylistically diverse batch that Scanlin suspects might surprise fans unaccustomed to hearing, say, full-on rockers next to electronica next to alt-country. “On one hand it’s nice to have an aesthetic, but on the other I get really antsy,” Scanlin says. “I want to be scared when this record comes out.” Geography will pose another hurdle. Scanlin lives in L.A., Chuck Lindo and Ross Murray live in San Francisco and Marty Kelly is moving to Maine. “We were joking that we need a new practice space ... in Omaha,” Scanlin says.

Fast forward

Also on the bill early Wednesday at the Troubadour: promising indie-rockers the Few....New York City new-wavers Elefant, impressive in a slot opening for July residents Alaska! on Monday night at Spaceland, headline at the Silver Lake club on Tuesday.... Aussie alert: Porcelain, an all-female rock outfit from Melbourne, joins Off Limits on Monday at Club Lingerie; rockin’ quartet Jet, also from Melbourne, visits Spaceland on Aug. 2. ... Shana Morrison, Van’s daughter, just released her debut album, “7 Wishes,” and plays tonight at Platinum Live in Studio City. ... Under the sun: International Pop Overthrow’s annual free show begins at 12:30 p.m. Sunday at Eastgate Park in Garden Grove, featuring nine artists.

-- Kevin Bronson

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