BUZZ BANDS

Putting a sheen on shoegazing

Like the shoegazers in whose footsteps they tread, Asobi Seksu lives and dies by its undulating wall of sound, and the melodies revealed therein. Both echo formidably on the New York City quartet’s second album, “Citrus,” the clamor a construct for restlessness and angst, and Yuki Chikudate’s vocals soaring like a faerie in a sandstorm.

“It’s been a very influential genre for us,” Chikudate says of the band’s effects pedals-obsessed forebears, which in this foursome’s case might include the likes of Lush and Slowdive. “But a lot of it was missed by kids who grew up in the late ‘90s; it was gone by that time.”

Chikudate and bandmates James Hanna, Keith Hopkin and Glenn Waldman update the sound by giving their music the slightest of synth sheens, along with a Sonic Youth-type explosiveness. And with Chikudate alternating between English and Japanese, “Citrus” takes on an exotic feel.

“It was something I was really cautious about bringing into the mix, but James suggested I try it,” says Chikudate, who was born in Gardena and lived in Walnut before her parents moved to New York City when she was 16. She adds with a laugh: “In Japanese I can say whatever I want ... well, except one time my mom called and said, ‘Are you OK?’ ”

Sometimes, though, things are bound to get lost in translation.

“Then there’s our name,” says Chikudate, whose band visits the Detroit Bar in Costa Mesa tonight and the Echo on Friday. “I can’t tell you the number of times kids come up to me and say, ‘Asobi, can you sign this?’ ”

When Califone gets its nap time

Things were coming together nicely for Califone in 2004. Hectic recording schedules spawned four albums in three years, and near-constant touring with the likes of Wilco and Modest Mouse kept an equally manic pace. Then the band -- and its leader Tim Rutili -- hit the wall.

“It was pretty much nonstop work,” Rutili says from outside a Chicago recording studio. “After that I wasn’t sure if I wanted to keep playing music, doing a band or making records.”

So the lifelong Chicagoan moved to L.A. and threw himself into soundtrack work, a natural fit given Califone’s atmospheric mix of rustic guitars, broken-down electronics and clattering junkyard percussion. And ideas started flowing again. “The best thing is it has nothing to do with me. It’s totally impersonal,” Rutili says of his film scores, one of which can be heard in an upcoming bull-riding documentary for IFC.

Califone re-formed soon after, and the result was “Roots and Crowns,” a more hopeful record whose song-oriented focus was a byproduct of a more deliberate recording process.

“With ‘Heron King Blues’ we were just spitting it out, didn’t sleep, knocked it out,” he says, referring to the 2004 album. “With this one we got to take a nap.”

Califone plays Spaceland on Sunday with the Heavenly States.

Fast forward

* Touts: No reason to stay home this weekend, even if you skip L.A.’s street festivals. Tonight, the Riverboat Gamblers bring their high-energy rock to the Key Club, while singer-songwriter Jose Gonzalez finds a room for his wistful ruminations at the Vista Theatre.... Rob Dickinson (ex-Catherine Wheel) plays the Hotel Cafe on Friday, when the Inara George-Greg Kurstin collaboration the Bird and the Bee starts its residency at the Silverlake Lounge.... The Album Leaf checks in Sunday at the Troubadour, where the stellar NYC outfit the National has two dates Monday and Wednesday (with excellent openers the Mobius Band).... Psych-folk rocker Jesse Sykes, who just recorded a new album (likely out in February), has a two-night stand starting Tuesday at the Silverlake Lounge.... Shoegazey locals the Meeting Places celebrate this week’s release of their album “Numbered Days” by kicking off a Silverlake Lounge residency Monday.... And the other October residencies offer something for every palate: energetic girl-pop from Rocket (Mondays at Spaceland); traditional folk from Winter Flowers (Mondays at the Echo); and pedal-to-the-metal rock from the Ringers (Tuesdays at the Viper Room).

buzzbands@latimes.com

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Recommended downloads

Download “Thursday” and “New Years” by Asobi Seksu at www.myspace.com/asobiseksu

* Watch the video for Califone’s “Spider’s House” at www.thrilljockey.com/artists/index.htmlid10009

* Stream “True Crime” by the Riverboat Gamblers at www.myspace.com/theriverboatgamblers

* Download the Mobius Band’s “The Loving Sounds of Static” at www.mobiusband.com

* Stream “Love Like the Movies” by the Meeting Places at www.myspace.com/themeetingplaces