BUZZ BANDS

The wolf parade continues

Irving's Alex Brown Church finds his inner folkie in Sea Wolf, and Los Abandoned's Lady P pays punky tribute to her native Van Nuys.

September 7, 2006

Overflowing with extra songs

There was never a question of Alex Brown Church finding his own songwriting voice. It was a matter of Church finding time to lose it, between his day job and his duties as member of the L.A. pop quintet Irving.

In the course of contributing songs to the collaborative process that yielded Irving's two albums and one EP, Church accumulated a batch "that didn't quite fit Irving," he says. In the last couple of years, under the moniker Sea Wolf, he flushed them out, finally recording them with producer Phil Ek (Built to Spill, the Shins, Band of Horses, Irving) late last year.

"It's one thing to write a song thinking about whether my bandmates are going to like it, and it's another to write for what I was going to like," says Church, 31. "These songs are more me."

Now his lushly orchestrated indie rock has taken shape. Even though Sea Wolf is just a one-man operation, Church — as Spaceland's Monday night resident this month — has assembled six friends (including string and keyboard players) to help showcase his compositions.

Sea Wolf's folk-tinged sound, perhaps a second cousin to another lupine relative, Wolf Parade, gives Church's mini-novellas the epic feel of bands such as the Decemberists. It's a departure from the retro charm of Irving, but winsome in its own right. "I'm trying to make the music reflective of what's happening today," Church says. "I think it's important to feed off your contemporaries as well as older bands."

Pop-punk is so L.A.

Pop-punk en español is still pop-punk, and the way the L.A. quartet Los Abandoned has rendered it on its long-awaited debut "Mix Tape" (due Tuesday on Vapor/Sanctuary), it's exhilarating no matter whether it is in English, Spanish or Spanglish.

"It's very L.A., kind of all over the place," vocalist Lady P says. "I grew up with both languages equally. That's how I think, and that's the way a lot of people around town were raised."

Los Abandoned's sonic stew, propelled by the racehorse riffs of guitarist Don Verde (David Green), offers plenty of home cooking. Lady P, born Pilar Diaz in Santiago, Chile, spent her formative years in the San Fernando Valley, which gets cleareyed treatment in the Ramones-like tune "Van Nuys" — "Van Nuys es / very nice / but it's not / paradise."

Two self-released EPs initially created a buzz for the foursome — back in early 2003, the group won a battle-of-the-bands contest staged by EMI Latin — before the band singed to Vapor in late 2004. They made "Mix Tape" last year with producer Dave Trumfio.

"I like it that we're not defined," Lady P says of Los Abandoned's cross-cultural appeal. "But musically we're very harmony- and melody-driven. I can go from Mr. Bungle to the Beatles." Los Abandoned headlines the Troubadour on Monday.

Fast forward

Touts: It may be after Labor Day, but two releases due Tuesday by L.A. artists are geared to make you party like it's the middle of July. Pigeon John's first album for Quannum, "Pigeon John ... and the Summertime Pool Party," is chock-full of humor and frolicky beats. He'll hold forth Tuesday at the Temple Bar. And electro-rockers Ima Robot will perform Tuesday at Safari Sam's to launch its new album, "Monument to the Masses." ... Great bill for fans of melodic indie-pop Saturday at Spaceland; Illinois trio Headlights, whose recent "Kill Them With Kindness" glows with the same warmth as the work of Canadian group Stars, joins Decibully in support of Finland's cutesy Husky Rescue.... Another Illinois act, the husband-wife team the Like Young, visits the Silverlake Lounge on Tuesday as part of its farewell tour; last week the duo, who recently released the crunchy "For Money or Love," announced its "retirement." ... And Cold War Kids will headline the Troubadour on Friday.



buzzbands@latimes.com

Recommended downloads

Stream "You're a Wolf" and "Middle Distance Runner" at www.myspace.com/seawolf.

Download Los Abandoned's "Stalk U" at www.myspace.com/losabandoned.

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