BUZZ BANDS

Tunefully forlorn

Depending on your level of cynicism, the stylings of New York City’s My Favorite are either too meek to matter or a refreshing blast of synth-pop. Boy-girl vocals sigh and quaver. Drums chatter and twitch. Keyboards toot and groan. Cinematic melodies encase lyrics that come in bouquets: “I was an architect, she was an actress / I drew the Eiffel Tower upon her dress / So we could see the world.” It harks back to the Smiths’ corner of the ‘80s, when bands such as New Order made melancholia you could dance to -- when sad was sad, instead of the “new happy.”

“Part of what we do is to try to tap into a code language, to find a way into people because of something they’ve heard or felt,” says singer-keyboardist Michael Grace Jr., whose band performs at Tangiers tonight and plays an 8 p.m. set Friday at King King. “Our music does have the resonance of the ‘80s ... a certain texture. It has a longing and contradiction to it.”

It also transcends the realm of vacuous revivalism. Though Andrea Vaughn’s delivery of lines such as “The ghosts of dead teenagers sing to me while I am dancing” might seem dangerously precious, at least it’s more evocative than “Hey ya!”

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Success is so cool

What if you had a hit song -- but no band, no label, no product and no lawyers? Brian O’Keeffe is finding out. The 32-year-old is behind “New York Is So Cool,” a self-described “novelty song” first played June 20 on Indie 103.1 (KDLD-FM) and now gaining wider airplay. “It was something done as a one-off.... It was in June 2003, me and some kids sitting around in a room. I just freestyled it,” says O’Keeffe, who fronts the band Pink Grenade (playing Friday at King King). The “band” behind the song was given the moniker X1.

The tune caught the ear of rock scenester Heather Peggs, a former KROQ-FM employee doing some A&R; consulting. She submitted it to Indie 103.1. “It’s a smash -- it’s already gotten added at other major stations,” says Peggs, who wants to start a label and release “NYISC” as a single. How that plays out is unclear, especially because chances of further recording by X1 are slim. “It’s all a gray area. We’re kinda working backward. I have a stack of entertainment lawyers’ cards in my pocket, though,” O’Keeffe says. “I do know that I don’t want to be the guy playing that song at the state fair.”

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Fast forward

The Bigfoot Lodge in Los Feliz is returning to all-DJ entertainment, says publicist Lee Joseph, who also was booking the live shows. Joseph’s Club 66/77 moves to Spaceland on Aug. 26 (the night’s fourth anniversary show), then to the Echo on the fourth Thursday of every month, beginning in September.... Power pop, Detroit-style: The Waxwings, supporting the new release “Let’s Make Our Descent,” play Spaceland tonight, and joining their lineup for the tour is Brendan Benson.... Also tonight: The Lassie Foundation previews new material at the Silverlake Lounge.... Sparta will complete its tour -- including the finale Wednesday at the Forum -- without drummer Tony Hajjar, who suffered a broken wrist Sunday. Filling in will be Jose Pasillas and Ben Kenney from Sparta’s tourmates, Incubus.

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-- Kevin Bronson