BUZZ BANDS

Bang, bang, they’re alive

The Cold War Kids play anything that doesn’t break, and maybe a few things that do. They make a racket so furious that you believe their story that the group was born when college buddies Nathan Willett, Jonnie Bo Russell and Matt Maust gathered in a Fullerton apartment with little more than hand claps, pipe banging and a few ideas.

A year later and a week into their Monday residency this month at the Silverlake Lounge, the quartet of early twentysomethings is all exposed nerves. Maust’s peripatetic bass, Russell’s stabbing guitars and keyboards, Matt Aveiro’s cantankerous drumming and Willett’s caterwauling combine to reach a point where post-punk meets gospel. Imagine the rawness of the White Stripes on Day 1. Or what Spoon would sound like at a church camp making music with found objects.

“The great thing about this band is that nobody feels like they have to do anything else to fulfill their musical desires,” says Willett, who cites influences as varied as the Velvet Underground, Jeff Buckley and Delta blues. Adds Russell: “Nobody came in saying, ‘This is my gig.’ ”

That democratic spirit carries over into the revivalesque music on the Cold War Kids’ “Mulberry Street” EP. They recently recorded six more songs with production help from Jason Martin of Starflyer 59. Release plans are not yet firm.

“For now, all our efforts are going toward just making the music,” Willett says. “It’s a big enough job to begin with.”

Welcome to ‘Elizabethtown’

The soundtrack album for the Cameron Crowe movie “Elizabethtown” kicks off with an all-star lineup, with tracks from Nancy Wilson, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and Elton John. Then comes the dreamy, plaintive “io (This Time Around)” by unsigned L.A. trio Helen Stellar. “I mean, our song comes right after the guy who has ‘Sir’ in front of his name,” singer-guitarist Jim Evens says, still a bit disbelieving.

How the song ended up in “Elizabethtown” is a classic guy-walks-into-a-record-store story. Evens’ day job is at Amoeba Records -- a store that is famously supportive of its employees’ musical endeavors -- and when a customer checked out with albums by the Verve and My Bloody Valentine, Evens suggested the patron check out his band. Turns out the customer had connections to Crowe’s company Vinyl Films, which purchased the trio’s three EPs online and then sent a representative to a Helen Stellar club show. A meeting followed. Evens says, “Who am I to say no to Cameron Crowe?”

Vinyl Films now plans a vinyl-only, double-LP release of Helen Stellar’s three EPs, plus a new song. “We have a ton of new stuff we can’t afford to record, so we’re trying to use this ‘Elizabethtown’ thing and whatever momentum it gives us,” says Evens, whose band performs Monday night at the Viper Room. “It’s given us exposure, but it’s a slow process.... We’re still struggling.”

At no time was that more evident than last week, when Evens and bandmates Dustin Robles and Clif Clehouse launched a mini-tour back to their native Chicago. Helen Stellar’s van broke down. In West Covina.

Fast forward

Touts: L.A. quartet Mellowdrone joins Seattle six-piece the Lashes at Spaceland on Friday; both bands have albums coming out early next year.... New Orleans cab driver-turned-bluesman Mem Shannon plays tonight and Friday at Cafe Boogaloo in Hermosa Beach.

Shouts: To reggae and Afro-beat star Rocky Dawuni, who had ‘em dancin’ with the mammals on Friday night at the Natural History Museum’s First Fridays event.... To the Wrens -- “four fat guys from Jersey,” as singer Kevin Whelan said -- for showing at the Troubadour on Saturday that exuberance is not just a franchise of youth.

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Kevin Bronson

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Recommended downloads

* Download the Cold War Kids’ “Heavy Boots” at www.coldwarkids.com/music.htm.

* Stream Helen Stellar’s “io (This Time Around)” at www.helenstellar.com/pages/listen/listen.html.

* Download Mellowdrone’s “Fashionably Uninvited” at redmusic.com/downloads/Mellowdrone/FashionablyUninvited.mp3.