BUZZ BANDS

Los Angeles duo No Age has gone from zero to indie phenom in what seems like two seconds, but after Randy Randall and Dean Spunt finish their current tour with Battles (Tuesday at the Music Box @ Fonda), you’re just as likely to find them working the snack bar at downtown’s underground, all-ages venue The Smell. Randall says by phone that they’re playing the Bowery Ballroom tonight, “but next week we’ll be back playing a tiny independent space. It’s a funny thing; no place feels too big when you have friends. Sometimes we just bring The Smell with us.” No Age’s circle of pals is expanding. Its debut album “Weirdo Rippers” -- actually songs culled from five vinyl-only EPs the band released simultaneously on five different labels -- earned an 8.0 from online music site Pitchfork, adding critical cred to music already popular with fellow noiseniks in the DIY scene. Then Sub Pop signed them last month. The music, spastic pop blasted by Randall’s distortion-fed guitar and Spunt’s punk rhythms, is the audio equivalent of subliminal advertising -- gorgeous chord progressions or melodies surface, then vanish quickly in a sea of squalor. “Our goal is to write great pop songs like Squeeze or the Ramones,” Randall says, “but do it in a way that makes sense to ourselves.” ALSO CHECK: New music from locals Monsters Are Waiting (Friday at the Echo) and Radars to the Sky (Monday at the Viper Room). . . . And back in the day, The Murmurs were cool. Now Leisha Hailey has joined forces with Mellowdrone’s Camila Grey in Uh Huh Her; see them Friday at the Knitting Factory. More on the blog: latimes.com/buzzbands.

-- Kevin.Bronson@latimes.com