BUZZ BANDS

A whole new take on things

Is Andy Herod having fun yet? The frontman of the indie quintet the Comas certainly sounds like it. Having moved from North Carolina to Brooklyn and steeled himself after the Comas’ 2004 album “Conductor” sank in a record-label quagmire, Herod (and band) decamped to the snowy Catskills to record their Vagrant Records debut “Spells,” a trippy, exuberant excursion that suggests My Bloody Valentine on a sugar bender.

“It’s a really different album, and I wasn’t aware of how different it was until I started hearing from people,” Herod says. “Making it was a different process -- we had less time to think about what we were doing. We took ourselves less seriously.”

And Herod was less roiled by the mopery that characterized “Conductor,” an album that dwelt on his breakup with “Dawson Creek’s” Michelle Williams. “ ‘Spells’ is the opposite of a theme album,” he says, “because it was much more of a band album, and I wasn’t beating myself up over relationship things.”

With the songs not entirely written before studio sessions began, Comas co-founder Nicole Gehweiler and new members Jason Caperton, Matt Sumrow and Nic Gonzales chipped in. “Spells” ended up with a stream-of-consciousness feel that fits its fuzz-heavy foundation.

The Comas visit Spaceland on Friday night with the Veils.

Fast forward

* Touts: The Mooney Suzuki plays Spaceland tonight.... Also tonight: Catchy Castledoor winds up its residency at the Silverlake Lounge.... Canadian songstress Feist holds forth at the Wiltern on Friday.... And Saturday, Fair to Midland is on the bill at the El Rey, Moving Units play the Fonda, the Donnas are at Safari Sam’s and Radars to the Sky rock the Echo.

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Recommended downloads

Stream the Comas’ “Spells” at www.virb.com/thecomas

* More on the Buzz Bands blog: latimes.com/buzzbands