BUZZ BANDS

Real, yet danceable

Give Justin Warfield points for bravado: The frontman of She Wants Revenge is not only cognizant that the band’s forthcoming debut represents a brooding slab of danceable ‘80s rock, but he’s also confident it should be considered with the decade’s original artists, not today’s revivalists.

“This is not a studied attempt to make a particular style of music,” the 32-year-old singer-guitarist says of his project with Adam Braven, better known to L.A. as DJ Adam 12. “The mistake a lot of bands make is they go for the haircut and the clothes and the sound. But what made [seminal ‘80s acts] career artists was that they wrote personal songs that also happened to be dance music.”

For Warfield, with a background in hip-hop dating back to his 1993 album “My Field Trip to Planet 9,” She Wants Revenge fulfills a long desire to collaborate with Braven -- they met as teenagers in the San Fernando Valley. In fact, the duo had recorded different music just before SWR. “We decided it wasn’t really reflective of who we are,” Braven says. “This was the music I grew up with.”

Featuring the dark, hypnotic single “Sister,” the music recalls the drama of Depeche Mode and the foreboding of Joy Division. It was enough to seduce Limp Bizkit’s Fred Durst, who signed the duo to his Flawless Records label. The album is due Oct. 25; SWR has several dates next month, including Sept. 1 at the Echo.

*

Pedal pushers

Santa Barbara native Ross Flournoy moved to L.A. from Austin only a year ago, but the 26-year-old found a kindred spirit in Dan Iead -- a guitarist who appreciates the subtleties of pedal steel. With drummer Rob McCorkindale and guitarist Will Canzoneri, they make up the Brokedown, a quartet whose music is not as downtrodden as its name suggests.

Its self-released EP, “The Dutchman’s Gold,” displays an affection for the unaffected -- wide-eyed, tuneful pop with just enough steel, organ and tambourine to make you think it came from the hills. “I was 15 or 16 when I heard the first Son Volt record, and then the first Wilco album, ‘A.M.,’ which gets slagged by some people,” Flournoy says. “What I heard were well-written pop songs with little country flourishes.”

The single “Down in the Valley” fits the model, chugging toward its sing-along chorus. The Brokedown join John Hoskinson and the World Record for a show Wednesday at the Derby.

*

Fast forward

Fresh off a strong residency at Spaceland, the BellRays are working on material for their third album, which is drawing interest from three indie labels. Of course, vocalist Lisa Kekaula is nearly an industry herself: That’s her belting out “Revolution Get Down” on a Nissan commercial; she’s in the U.K. as one of the lead singers for Basement Jaxx; and she’ll join the likes of Greg Dulli on Sept. 17 to perform with MC5 surviving members Wayne Kramer, Michael Davis and Dennis Thompson at UCLA’s Royce Hall. The BellRays play Sept. 12 at the Viper Room.... Autolux plays matinee and evening shows Saturday at the Echo, paired with Steve Albini’s ear-melting trio Shellac, before a national tour in September with Nine Inch Nails and Queens of the Stone Age.