BUZZ BANDS

Help from a patron

The Stratford 4’s second album, “Love & Distortion,” seemed the perfect marriage of intensely personal American indie rock and the dispassionate guitar aesthetics of British shoegazers. It attracted modest attention after its release in April 2003, and earned the San Francisco quartet tour dates with sonic bedfellows Black Rebel Motorcycle Club.

Noted producer Ric Ocasek took a shine to the album, too. “He bought it because he liked the cover,” Stratford 4 singer-guitarist Chris Streng says. Ocasek set about luring the band to Elektra, a complicated move since the group owed Jetset Records another album. Streng describes the maneuvering as “like watching roller derby, wrestling and government all at once.” But Ocasek prevailed and in January was at the controls at Electric Lady Studios in New York producing the band’s follow-up, “Keep Your Crazy Head on Straight.”

“Working with Ric was a blast,” Streng says, “and we feel like we’ve really nailed it on the record.” The Stratford 4, who open for Beulah on Friday night at the El Rey Theatre, might be in for a little more anxiety, though. Because of the sale of Warner Music Group, which included Elektra, plans to release the album are up in the air.

The other indie

With all the media attention heaped on newcomer Indie 103 (KDLD-FM), the efforts of the true independents at Little Radio have largely been overlooked. Launched in February by a handful of music lovers led by Dave Conway, Little Radio was briefly broadcasting on the FM airwaves -- on tenuous legal ground -- but has settled into sharing its adventurous playlist now via webcast at www.littleradio.com. The station also is promoting Wednesday night shows, also webcast live, from its headquarters at Club Fais Do-Do. This week eastside favorites Silversun Pickups played, and next week the show features Chicago expatriates Helen Stellar, quite a story themselves.

Last year, having earned notice from KCRW-FM for its second EP of dense, textured guitar rock, Helen Stellar drove west from Chicago for a few tour dates. The trio’s van broke down. “We had no money, no way to get back to Chicago, no way to eat, no place to practice,” frontman Jim Evans says. “But we met some people, made some friends, so we just kinda stayed.” After some rough months getting on their feet, Evans and drummer Cliff Clehouse have hooked up with a new bassist, Dustin Robles, and, Evans says, “things are better now than they ever have been.”

Fast forward

Nu-Mark, who with Cut Chemist has concocted a decade’s worth of beats for the Jurassic 5, celebrates the release of his solo mix CD, “Hands On,” with a show Friday night at the Temple Bar....There’s a riveting quality to the art-folk of multi-instrumentalist Patrick Wolf, who performs Saturday night at Spaceland....And happy nuptials, Books on Tape.