Buzz Bands

Just a few notes, and images, before you go

Call it subter-fusion. “Just a Few Notes Before You Go,” the new album by subthunk, is an ear-bending concoction of funk, soul, jazz, beats and electronica. But don’t expect to hear it note for note at the band’s gigs May 23 at 14 Below in Santa Monica and May 29 at Zen Sushi in Echo Park. “It just goes where we hear it,” says Antony Neely, a jazz guitarist who moved to L.A. five years ago from London. “I’d lose my mind if we couldn’t make the songs different every time.”

The trio combines programmed noises with drums, guitar and a Ztarr, a guitar-synthesizer hybrid used to trigger sound modules. The result attracts listeners “from the improv jazz crowd to club kids,” Neely says. Not to mention music supervisors -- subthunk’s “Wax” turned up recently in an episode of HBO’s “Six Feet Under.” “We don’t sit down and write for pictures,” Neely says, “so we felt fortunate they used the track the way they did.”

Subthunk’s performances feature themed visuals: the 14 Below show will interpret H.G. Wells’ “The Time Machine,” and the Zen Sushi show “2001.”

Robot’s success marches on

In two years, IMA Robot has gone from playing small venues such as the Mint to the Coachella festival, where the band buzzed through a glammed-up set, to a European tour opening for Blur. Plus, singer Alex Ebert and bandmates have a major-label record scheduled for release on Virgin this fall. But don’t make the mistake of calling the group an overnight success. “To me, it doesn’t seem like a quick process at all,” Ebert says. “It feels like a six-year process.” He’s referring to the time he spent in a hip-hop crew in the late ‘90s, halfheartedly playing small L.A. clubs before discovering punk rock, changing the group’s name and moving the band in a more serious, Bowie-ish direction. It was an approach that caught the eye of former Beck bassist Justin Meldal-Johnson and ex-R.E.M. drummer Joey Waronker, both of whom have since become members of IMA Robot. “They’ll only fly first class,” Ebert says. “[When we tour,] the rest of us will be riding in coach!” The way he’s going, that won’t last long. The band’s homecoming show: June 19 at the Troubadour.

Peak Show more than titillates

Nurturing a sound that blends trip-hop, hip-hop and a bit of cabaret, L.A. quintet the Peak Show will have logged a four-year apprenticeship by the time its major-label debut is released by Atlantic Records this fall. “It’s been a long road,” says lead singer and self-proclaimed original Valley girl Holland Greco. “And we’ve been christened in the ways of rock ‘n’ roll in the last year.” The group’s baptism has been an evolving one, though, as the Peak Show (which performs May 22 at the Viper Room) has opened for acts ranging from LL Cool J to the Dave Matthews Band -- and sneaked into Coachella the last two years to play unannounced and uninvited.

Maybe the band’s biggest coup, though, has been getting Beastie Boys producer Mario Caldato Jr. to produce its debut CD. “I couldn’t believe it even when we were in the studio,” says Greco. “I’m a huge Beastie Boys fan. There were so many times I wanted to geek out and get him to sign something. But I figured I’d better not.”

Fast forward

Those East L.A. veteran purveyors of blues, the Delgado Brothers, release their third album, “A Brother’s Dream,” next week. And the party starts Sunday at 6 p.m. when the band hosts a reception, followed by a concert, at the Ritz-Carlton, Huntington Hotel & Spa in Pasadena. ... Singer-songwriter Tom Freund’s version of “Blue Collar Man,” which includes an assist from Jon Brion, appears on the new compilation “Too Much Time on Our Hands: A Styx Tribute Album.” ... Singer-songwriter Anny Celsi marks the release of her new album, “Little Black Dress,” with a show at the Hotel Cafe on Saturday night. Included will be readings, by actor Arye Gross, of stories that appear on the CD. Scott Ford of Camp Freddy has the set immediately before Celsi. ... Also out next week: “Old,” the eighth album by decade-old Starflyer 59. The band, whose lineup now includes Richard Swift and Frank Lenz with incumbents Jason Martin and Jeff Cloud, performs Tuesday at the Henry Fonda Theatre with Pedro the Lion and shoegazer sensations the Stratford 4.

-- Kevin Bronson, with Jeff Miller and Steve Baltin

E-mail us at buzzbands@latimes.com.