BUZZ BANDS

Grand designs

He has no label, no publicist, not even a band, but Billy Harvey has a wildly entertaining website that set the design world atwitter when it made the rounds recently on art-oriented message boards. Might billyharvey.com be enough to earn his do-it-yourself album, “Pie,” some attention?

“It’s the best calling card I could have dreamed,” says Harvey, a thirtysomething songwriter-producer and a guitarist in Bob Schneider’s band. “If I get a record deal, it’ll probably be owed in large part to these people.”

The site, the work of Jordan Stone of the design team Sofake (also responsible for Schneider’s site) features snapshots of Harvey’s Austin, Texas, home, with the artist popping through the photos as an animated cutout. With Harvey as the affable slacker host, it’s a trove of engaging material -- just click the boombox.

As for the music, Harvey’s “Pie” is a slice of charm, alternately poignant like Elliott Smith and playful like the Flaming Lips, with some unforgettable moments, such as the classic pop chorus in “Belly Up.”

“I made these songs as demos, which is the most liberating way to record,” says Harvey, once the guitarist in the early ‘90s L.A. hair metal band Flame. “When you put it out, though, it’s like ‘final answer’: This is my final answer -- I want to be a millionaire.”

In the Brit rock mix

Singer-guitarist Chris Pearson knows his fledgling band, Gran Ronde, is walking into a crowded field. “A lot of bands in L.A. are doing the old Brit-rock vibe. But it’s almost like resuscitating a dinosaur -- it’s been done so well already,” he says. “We’re a young band, still discovering our sound, and hopefully when it comes out it will be a pretty wide spectrum of influences.”

Monday at the Silverlake Lounge, where the quartet has a residency this month, Gran Ronde continued that discovery process, layering angular riffage onto British underpinnings with promising results. The band, which began as a collaboration between Pearson and ex-Rising guitarist Robb Torres, only recently added bassist Bryan Hobbs and drummer Matt Mayhall.

“In our set we start with the dark and brooding and then have some dancy things and then progress to some more poppy stuff,” Pearson says. “We like that.”

Fast forward

Dustin O’Halloran has loosed his classical side, and the result, “Piano Solos,” is beautiful. O’Halloran is half of the L.A. duo Devics, who recorded their album in the Italian village of St. Andrea. From that same locale comes O’Halloran’s solo work, played on a vintage Swiss piano. He performs (with a film backdrop) on Tuesday at Tangier. Mia Doi Todd is also on the bill.... L.A. post-punk quartet the Kite-Eating Tree was one of three finalists in the Dew Circuit Breakout battle of the bands, performing Saturday on MTV2. The competition was won by Richmond, Va., rockers River City High.... Amy Farris, who collaborated with Dave Alvin on her impressive debut, “Anyway,” performs Friday at King King.... Melodic rockers Oslo (performing in an opening slot Friday night at the House of Blues Anaheim) are at work on a debut album due Feb. 15.