BUZZ BANDS

Oohlas turn up the hot factor

The infectious quality of the Oohlas’ feels-like-worn-denim power pop is not lost on lead singer Ollie Stone. When she first started collaborating with brothers Greg and Mark Eklund, “I felt we had something genuine, original and not contrived,” she says. “I thought, ‘I hope somebody likes this, because I sure like playing it.’ ”

Audiences around L.A. responded to the quartet, as did Stolen Transmission, the label launched by Sarah Lewitinn and Island Records executive Rob Stevenson. The Oohlas’ debut, “Best Stop Pop,” comes out Tuesday (and the band gigs at Cinespace that night).

The album was recorded in the garage studio of Greg Eklund, the former Everclear drummer who steps up to lead guitar duties for the Oohlas. “We get in the studio and the ideas just come left and right,” Stone says. “It’s great because nobody’s really trying to sound like anything.... When you’re writing like that, it’s funny how hot the room gets.”

Indeed, “Best Stop Pop,” with its layered guitars and boy-girl vocals, has enough modern flourishes to date it as a current album but enough raw exuberance that it could fall into a playlist from any of the last four decades. If Stone -- many fans know her by her nickname, Ollie Tamale -- sounds faintly like Kim Deal in a sunny mood, maybe she is. It was only four years ago that Stone was still living in her native Phoenix, just passing time. “I didn’t move here to become famous,” Stone says, “I came here because Phoenix was so boring. One thing about L.A., there are a lot of driven people here.”

For this duo, two’s a charm

Ross Golan might not yet be sure how good his new project is, but one thing’s for certain: Glacier Hiking is efficient. “We could tour in a Yugo with this set-up,” Golan says of his work with Abandoned Pools guitarist Tommy Walter, the estimable musician-around-town who was most recently seen as the Eels’ touring bassist.

Golan, the cocky voice behind the ill-fated Ross Golan & Molehead (the timing of the trio’s 2004 smart, politically charged release failed to capitalize on the presidential election and other events that the writer ripped from the headlines), says he is comfortable in the short term working as a duo. “There’s nothing better than playing in a live band,” he says, “but sometimes there’s nothing worse than getting a live band to cooperate.”

For now, Golan sings and Walter plays guitar and triggers an array of stormy samples, giving the music a gutsy, industrial backdrop. Call it electro-crash -- synth-rock, glam and emo-punk with the wires all crossed, and Golan alternating between playful, wiseacre banter and big choruses. At Monday’s show at the Echo, art-damaged videography by Zach Putnam helped it all work. Golan says the pair has finished about 25 songs. “I’m so honored to be playing with Tommy,” Golan says, “because I’ve always been such a big fan of his.”

KROQ focuses on local talent

Rock giant KROQ-FM is reaching out to the robust L.A. music scene in a big way. After six years without a local music show, the station last week launched a Sunday night program “KROQ Locals Only” -- plus, with its “Big Break for Local Bands” promotion, one L.A. artist will get to open Saturday’s KROQ Inland Invasion.

The station received about 2,600 submissions from local bands for its contest; online voting decided the winner from 10 finalists. At press time, Sunset Strip veterans Poets and Pornstars owned a commanding lead over pop-punk outfit Better Luck Next Time.

Fast forward

* Shouts: To Silver Lake rockers Great Northern, who are finalizing a deal with local indie Eenie Meenie Records (home to Irving, among others). The band is in the studio recording its long-awaited debut with Mathias Schneeberger. Expect the foursome to be in good spirits Tuesday when it helps Radio Free Silver Lake kick off a new promotion at Boardner’s, titled “Let’s Independent!”

* Touts: One week remains in Something for Rockets’ Tuesday residency at the Key Club, where the L.A. trio will dish out its tuneful romantica with support from the Squares, Fielding and the Gray Kid.... A couple of smart veterans of the L.A. scene celebrate new releases with a show Friday at Taix -- the Black Watch’s “Tatterdemalion” continues that quartet’s clamorous but literary melodic explorations, and Smart Brown Handbag’s “Harry Larry” represents a new installment in that trio’s catalog of shimmery indie pop.... The Internet radio station and DJ collective Dublab has a seventh birthday celebration cooked up for Saturday, with DJ sets by all its local luminaries, a John Coltrane tribute and a live set by Mia Doi Todd, as well as visual arts-related activities. The party is at a secret downtown location, though; details at www.dublab.com.... Orange County screamo outfit Saosin celebrates its record release with a show Tuesday at the Troubadour.... And more good stuff at the Troubadour: Norwegian shoegazers Serena Maneesh on Saturday and Canada’s soul-tinged laptoppers Junior Boys on Monday.

buzzbands@latimes.com