Buzz bands

Under the influences

John Roderick did his first album at age 32 and his second at 34, so he’s only facing facts when he wryly notes, “My days of pop stardom pinup model were over before they started.” But that sophomore effort -- “When I Pretend to Fall,” by his Seattle band, the Long Winters -- suggests that his days of making startlingly fresh pop may only be beginning. Full of sweetness and sorrow, melody and melodrama and seasoned with strings, horns and lyrical bite, “Pretend” makes up for lost time. “If there’s a feeling of kitchen-sinkness to the record, it’s because I have 10 or 15 years of wanting to make records, and 10 or 15 years of influences,” Roderick says. “So how do you make a Motown record that sounds like the Cure but has those Built to Spill things about it?” Well, you take a lineup of Sean Nelson, Eric Corson and Michael Shilling, mix in some other heavyweights -- Peter Buck, Scott McCaughey and Jon Auer all contribute -- and stir. The quartet plays tonight at Spaceland.

Change is good

Trevor Lissauer has never been one to stay idle for long. The Dallas-born actor turned songwriter wasted no time after high school in pursuing his Hollywood dreams. A decade of steady acting work later, Lissauer got the itch to move on again. “I woke up one day and realized I didn’t want to act anymore. My heart is in music,” he says. Phasing out a career that saw him in recurring roles on “Felicity,” “Roswell” and “Sabrina, the Teenage Witch,” Lissauer is focusing on his catalog of rockabilly and pop songs with a voice more like the British George Harrison than the twang of the Texas plains. He’s also trying his hand as a composer, scoring the independent film “Eden’s Curve.” A frequent performer at the Hotel Cafe, Lissauer fashioned an album “Transit Plaza,” that will be released next month in New Zealand and Australia.

Fast forward

Cool of L.A. indie label Sub City Records to send out a little tout on tonight’s show at the Troubadour by the Weakerthans -- the band is no longer on the label. The Winnipeg quartet’s new album “Reconstruction Site,” on Epitaph, is a worthy successor to 2000’s “Left and Leaving.” ... Tigerella, purveyors of jangly pop whose debut album is just out on Alhambra indie label Shmat, plays Saturday night at Zen Sushi.... Orange County do-it-yourselfers Beyond Conception celebrate the release of their album next Thursday at the Galaxy Concert Theatre.... Electronic wizard Books On Tape has a new album too; check it out Sunday at the Parlour Club.

-- Kevin Bronson, with Patrick Day

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