BUZZ BANDS

Familiarity breeds tunes

The sparks of urgency that dotted the Sharp Ease’s uneven but energetic debut album two years ago merely hinted at what was to come. With their new “Remain Instant” EP, the L.A. art-punk quintet may feel as if they are breaking loose.

“We got to know each other better and push each other further,” singer Paloma Parfrey says of the new songs, which were made with producer Rod Cervera. “And working with Rod pushed us to write songs with more depth.”

Parfrey and band mates Dana Barenfeld, Christene Kings, Anika Stephen and Aaron Friscia are playing them in all their heady, unvarnished glory as the Monday night residents this month at the Echo. The band will also help close out the Arthur Nights festival in Echo Park on Oct. 20.

The EP, available on vinyl only, was released by olFactory Records, the imprint launched by Jim Smith of the underground downtown venue the Smell, an all-ages room that favors risk-taking, DIY acts with a counterculture bent. If things play out right, the Sharp Ease may do some more recording this fall.

“I was sitting on some of the songs for three years, waiting for the right time,” Parfrey says of the EP. “Once things started to click, they came to life again.”

Barkeep, pour me a rock band

How the Favourite Sons were born sounds like a guy-comes-into-a-bar story. Only the bartender was ex-Rollerskate Skinny frontman Ken Griffin. And the guys who came into that New York bar in 2004 were Justin Tripp and Matthew Werth, admirers of Griffin who were looking for some new musical direction after the demise of their band Aspera.

Something clicked.

The songs Griffin had been writing -- “about love, losing love, regaining love, about dealing with just being a working person in the real world,” he says -- were embraced by his new band mates and almost immediately drew label interest. This week, about two years later, “Down Beside Your Beauty” was released on Vice Recordings.

Anchored by booming rhythms and Griffin’s contained but convincing vocals, “Your Beauty” is as remarkable for what it isn’t (fashion-conscious or gimmicky) as what it is (straight-up rock with lyrical stylings as likely to snap your neck as the music).

“Not to sound grandiose, but all great art aspires to something simple; you often have go through complex things to get there,” Griffin says. “Musicians are very tempted to fill in all the spaces, but when you listen to the classic songs there is space. The music has to travel into the silence.”

The Brooklyn-based quintet visits Spaceland on Monday and Safari Sam’s on Tuesday.

Fast forward

* Touts: “Songs to Love and Die By,” the debut from 8mm, isn’t out until Sept. 26, but Wednesday the L.A. duo will celebrate with a show at the Knitting Factory. 8mm’s Portishead-y stylings are the handiwork of producer Sean Beavan (Nine Inch Nails, Marilyn Manson, Kill Hannah) and his wife Juliette.... Two veterans of the L.A. scene -- Sydney, Australia, duo the Presets -- bring their gloomy electroclash to Spaceland for Wednesday’s installment of Club NME.... Funkmeisters the Breakestra hit the Temple Bar on Saturday as part of their West Coast tour.... Sound of the Blue Heart parties Saturday at Bar Sinister to celebrate the release of its debut, “Beauty?” ... And Warped Tour darlings Meg & Dia play a Doghouse Records event (with San Diego’s Weatherbox) tonight at the Knitting Factory.

* Bits: Ex-Grandaddy guitarist Jim Fairchild, who has been writing music and producing various L.A. bands since the Modesto quintet splintered, has been signed to local indie Dangerbird Records. His project, All Smiles, will release its debut in February.... L.A. indie artist Ariel Pink is launching a record label, Human Ear Music, and plans a showcase Sunday at Little Pedro’s.

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latimes.com

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Recommended downloads

Download “Remain Instant” by the Sharp Ease at www.myspace.com/thesharpease.

* Download the Favourite Sons’ “Hang On Girl” at www.myspace.com/favouritesons.