BUZZ BANDS

Grown at home

Kevin and Anita Robinson make house music. No, not the kind that shakes the dance floor at nightclubs. The husband and wife behind the eclectic dreampop of Viva Voce craft tunes in their Portland, Ore., home -- songs that are practiced in the basement (“not the greatest sound,” Anita says), that use the bathroom (“natural reverb”) and that are recorded in the living room (“hardwood floors”). Thankfully, the first people who heard Viva Voce’s new album “The Heat Can Melt Your Brain” were tolerant. “Yes,” Anita says, “the neighbors understood.”

The duo’s cult following -- and admirers of the do-it-yourself oeuvre -- might even be impressed. The album’s sneaky melodies and subtle messages bob and weave on a medley of instrumentation that includes everything but the pots and pans. Do they give advanced degrees in use of handclaps? “On our last album [“Lovers Lead the Way”], we played it a little more safe musically,” Anita says. “We were more comfortable with the process this time.” Viva Voce performs Friday night at the Viper Room.

Back in business

The end of Mike Thrasher’s two-year vacation from making music was heralded by a drum machine. That’s how the singer-guitarist (and former frontman of the ‘90s band Gwenmars) restarted his songwriting engine about a year ago. “I tried to find beats I liked and then piece together things that

fit with those rhythms,” he says of the process that led him to assemble Meho Plaza, a trio that includes James Connelly on drums and Steven Murashige on a mini-Moog.

Having recorded only demos so far, Meho Plaza is polishing its licks and establishing its aesthetic in live gigs (next up: Silverlake Lounge on Sept. 13). Melodic but angular, the music is indie rock as poured through a 1980s filter -- dancey but not retro, synthy but not necessarily upbeat. Onstage, the trio plays astride three small TV screens with visuals by Murashige, a music video director (Incubus, the Ataris).

Thrasher worked at a restaurant during his time away from rock. “I wanted to cleanse myself of the music business. It had come to the end of the road” for Gwenmars, which released two albums six years apart. “It was just time to move on.”

Fast forward

Saturday’s segment of the Grand Performances series at California Plaza is titled “A Dangerously Unexpected Tribute to L.A. Music.” The free 8 p.m. show features music direction by Stew and includes such guests as John Doe of X and Michael Quercio of the Three O’Clock.... Nice set, nice turnout for the Tints on Tuesday night at the Key Club’s free weekly all-ages show. The teenage trio features Clara, 15-year-old daughter of Michael Balzary, a.k.a. Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, on drums. The trio returns next week.