BUZZ BANDS

Local acts make good ... sounds

The past year brought a robust crop of Buzz Bands, and with it a bountiful harvest of releases from Southland bands. Here are this column’s Top 10 favorites, along with a bunch more worthy efforts:

The Top 10

1. Silversun Pickups, “Carnavas” (Dangerbird): With all four of the band’s parts -- fuzz-smitten guitarist Brian Aubert, frantic drummer Christopher Guanlao, insistent bassist Nikki Monninger and space-synth cadet Joe Lester -- in top form, all that remained was to harness the band’s power. Producer Dave Cooley (and mixer Tony Hoffer) delivered, toning down SSPU’s soft-loud dynamic while sapping none of the Silver Lake quartet’s explosiveness. The band’s long-awaited debut exhilarates with every guitar swell, with Aubert’s pinched vocals spewing out the artful dodges he pens as lyrics. Even for fans who’ve seen SSPU play “Lazy Eye” for six or so years, “Carnavas” is a revelation.

2. Cold War Kids, “Robbers & Cowards” (Downtown): Shambolic as emotions laid bare can sometimes be, the Long Beach quartet’s music fuses stabbing rhythms with Nathan Willett’s keening to produce storytelling that sounds timeless. Seething with an almost gospel intensity, the songs insist you care about their often forlorn characters.

3. Los Abandoned, “Mix Tape” (Vapor/Sanctuary): Everything about this foursome with roots in Van Nuys screams duality -- punk and pop, English and Spanish, smarts and sensuality. It’s a true L.A. album, a melting pot of sensibilities.

4. The Submarines, “Declare a New State” (Nettwerk): Boy-girl pop doesn’t get more pristine than this; Jack Dragonetti and Blake Hazard fold their reflections, and their voices, into serene tales of reconciliation. If only relationships worked like this.

5. The Oohlas, “Best Stop Pop” (Stolen Transmission): Surging guitars, soaring vocals, big choruses, undeniable hooks -- this trio’s debut chews up power-pop turf the same way Weezer’s early album did. Crunchy, with a sweet aftertaste.

6. Bitter:Sweet, “The Mating Game” (Quango): Beat maker-producer Kiran Shahani and singer Shana Halligan put a fresh, sexy twist on trip-hop in their debut, perhaps the best album of its kind since Porthishead’s “Dummy” was released more than a decade ago.

7. Irving, “Death in the Garden, Blood in the Flowers” (Eenie Meenie): Retro-pop stylishness, slyly deconstructed a bit for the indie masses, isn’t the only appeal of this quintet’s sophomore effort. It’s the songwriting threads that lead you into shadowy places amid all those cheery harmonies.

8. Pigeon John, “Pigeon John ... and the Summertime Pool Party” (Quannum Projects): Maybe it was just the right time for a release like this, but L.A.’s resident feel-good rapper spreads more amiable humor than an uncle who winks at you all the time. With its almost saccharine tunefulness, it goes down like a glass of lemonade.

9. Joe Purdy, “Only Four Seasons” (Reincarnate): Stripped down instrumentally and emotionally, the singer-songwriter lets his meditations on life, relationships and the road speak for themselves. They communicate volumes.

10. Jenny Lewis With the Watson Twins, “Rabbit Fur Coat” (Team Love): The Rilo Kiley vocalist doesn’t exactly go it on her own, what with Chandra and Leigh Watson bringing their ethereal bluegrass voices to the table. But Lewis, all vulnerable and aching, does carve out a touching slice of Americana that goes beyond making you nostalgic for the days her indie band had more twang.

Honorable mention

Also spent a lot of time with: the sly hip-hop crooning of the Gray Kid and his “... 5, 6, 7, 8” ... the guilty-pleasure electro-dance rock of Ima Robot’s sophomore effort “Monument to the Masses” and Shiny Toy Guns’ debut “We Are Pilots” ... the driving, layered guitars of Gliss’ “Love the Virgins” and Mezzanine Owls’ “Slingshot Echoes” ... the psychedelic jangle of the Clean Prophets’ “Praise Is Poison” ... the old-school dirty reggae of the Aggrolites’ self-titled album ... the Americana-tinged glow of the Elected’s “Sun, Sun, Sun” ... the working-class musings of Starflyer 59’s “My Island” ... the unabashedly retro punk of the Briggs’ “Back to Higher Ground” ... the fractured indie rock of Division Day’s “Beartrap Island” ... and the peripatetic pop on the “Sing Song” EP by the Little Ones.