Presidential candidate John Edwards wasn’t the only person moved by the story of Nataline Sarkisyan, the 17-year-old from Northridge who died in December of complications from leukemia and whose family’s battles with its insurance carrier became headline news. Two local musicians, producer-beatmaker-lyricist ailment (Tony Barkodarian) and rapper-lyricist eye2eye (Mike Chakrian), were touched too.

“We didn’t know Nataline personally, but I grew up in the same area and the whole story hit very close to home,” says Barkodarian, a Northridge native who now lives in Glendale. “The best catchphrase I heard was ‘murder by spreadsheet’ — that’s exactly what it was.”

After Sarkisyan’s death, Chakrian posted some lyrics on MySpace; upon seeing them, Barkodarian was inspired to write a beat. The pair got together and recorded a song, “Nataline,” and have made it available for download. Proceeds from the download ($1.99) go to the Sarkisyan family.

Learn more and download “Nataline” here.

Highlights for tonight, Feb. 20

Shane Alexander’s album release show goes off at the Troubadour. … Halestorm rocks the Viper Room. … And the Minor Canon and the Snow perform at Club NME at Spaceland.

– Kevin Bronson

[Be still your indie-rock hearts for a minute — this local-music installment groups three veterans of the L.A. scene with new albums, hosts of collaborators and upcoming shows:]

Jim Bianco

One of the originals on the Hotel Cafe scene, Jim Bianco comes as close as anybody I’ve heard to filling the long shadow of Randy Newman. On his new album, “Sing” (March 4, Hotel Cafe Records), Bianco’s nifty horn-, accordion- and piano-flavored arrangements and (occasionally) smilingly bawdy vignettes are as fit for smoky dives as swanky lounges. And the singer’s vaguely Waits-ian rasp is made for couplets like “To hell with the devil / I’m sellin’ my soul to you,” not to mention elastic enough to sell piano ballads (”Painkiller”) and groovy excursions (”If Your Mama Knew,” which sprinkles in “Rhapsody in Blue”). “Sing,” the Brooklyn native’s third album, is the first release on a new label spun off the Cahuenga Boulevard venue and includes cameos by Gary Jules and Cary Brothers.

||| Live: Bianco plays his album-release show at the Hotel Cafe on March 4, and a free in-store at Amoeba Music at 7 p.m. March 5. He also performs on the Hotel Cafe Tour (March 8 at the House of Blues Anaheim and April 12 at the Music Box @ Fonda).

||| Download: “I Got a Thing for You”. Check out the video for the song here.

Photo by Bethany Dwyer

Shane Alexander

The frontman of the longtime L.A. band Damone — before they sold the name to these people — Shane Alexander has stretched out incrementally on each of three solo albums, and his latest, “The Sky Below” (out today on BuddhaLand Records), muscles up considerably. Alexander, whose vocals might remind you of the Gin Blossoms’ Robin Wilson (or a couple other ’90s radio mainstays), remains an effective acoustic troubadour (especially on the title track), but with the help of backing players Chad Crawford, Charlie Paxson, Billy Mohler and Kim Bullard, he has created a catchy slice of meticulously produced mid-tempo rock.

||| Live: Alexander (co-billed with the bluesy Chris Pierce) plays the Troubadour on Wednesday.

||| Stream: “Amsterdam” here.

Photo: viakarlo@snapglamstudios.com

James Combs

James Combs get a lot of mileage out of choked notes, sprightly orchestration and a sprinkling of synths on his third album, “To Know You Is to Save You.” His filmy vocals are best when paired with collaborators Kelly De Martino and Erin Shawn Hawkins, but even alone they are ripe for his wry storytelling, amplified by a host of backing players that includes Nik Freitas (whose own album, “Sun Down,” is coming April 8). These are the tunes of vivid, waking dreams, and, every so often, realization.

||| Live: Combs, joined by Wisely and Buddy, plays El Cid on Friday.

||| Download: “Oh Me.”

– Kevin Bronson  

A bevy of upcoming albums demonstrates that inspirational arrangements and unconventional productions are not moribund in the world of pop and rock. The unifying key to the following bands is their use of dynamics — something notably lacking in the Grammy Award winners earlier this week — and the distinguishing factor is their judicious employment of the prismatic history of pop tones.

Cloud Cult

Following the unexpected death of his 2-year-old son in 2002, northern Minnesota singer-songwriter Craig Minowa, lead Cloud of Cloud Cult, began a difficult self-examination and exorcism in song. This has resulted in several critically acclaimed albums, the next and most startling of which, “Feel Good Ghosts (Tea-Partying Through Tornadoes),” is due April 8.

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[In a decade long ago and far, far away, the 1990s, I used to shell out import prices for British bands I’d get excited about. Their releases always predated the U.S. distribution of their albums, and on many occasions I Just Couldn’t Wait. Now that I receive music in advance, those mail-order companies don’t get as much of my paycheck. But this installment of from-the-hip blurbs about new albums features three bands I’d have opened the wallet for (even at $23.49 on Amazon):]

The Duke Spirit, “Neptune” (April 8, Shangri-La; Feb. 12 in the U.K.): Talk about a voice — I’ll see your Feist and two photogenic MySpace songstresses and raise you Liela Moss. Her foreboding delivery seems to come from down here, imploring you to care very deeply about her slightly bent diary entries. Take the pluck from the best couple tracks of the quintet’s nice debut, “Cuts Across the Land,” and imagine that over a full album, and you have a band U.S. audiences ought to heed. The Duke Spirit haven’t had much luck in America, but a strong tour and a little support for “Neptune” (which was recorded in Joshua Tree) could change that.

||| Live: The Duke Spirit plays the Echo on March 5.

||| Stream the album here.

Watch: Video for “The Step and the Walk” here.

The Raveonettes, “Lust, Lust, Lust” (Feb. 19, Vice; Nov. 12, 2007, in the U.K.): It’s as if everything Sune Rose Wagner and Sharin Foo tried to align on their first two albums has suddenly coalesced. Fuzzy, dark, simmering, shimmering and nodding to decades-ago girl groups and surf guitar outfits, “Lust(x3)” is like a churning ocean in the waning light. When they played as a duo last summer at the Little Radio warehouse downtown, I had no inkling some of these songs would end up so fully formed.

||| Live: The Raveonettes have dates March 1 at the Glass House, March 2 at the Detroit Bar and March 4 at the El Rey Theatre.

||| Download: “Dead Sound.”

British Sea Power, “Do You Like Rock Music?” (Feb. 12, Rough Trade): You hear the Brighton quartet wrestling with the big issues on this album, and the title’s question feels almost like a challenge. Listening is like riding a beast; BSP’s unvarnished, delightfully meandering anthems sound larger than life. Bring on foliage and military uniforms, lads, we’re prepared to salute.

||| Live: British Sea Power plays Feb. 27 at the Echo and Feb. 28 at Spaceland.

||| Watch the video for “No Lucifer”: “No Lucifer” by British Sea Power

– Kevin Bronson

[Emptying the notebook from a busy week of music …]

Color me disappointed in having missed the Mika spectacular Monday at the Wiltern. Yes, I fall distinctly on the “hater” side of this Europop phenomenon — his cringe-worthy exuberance reminds me of every girl in my high school who ran for class president. He seems to acknowledge and even play to his detractors too, as Mikael Wood’s excellent review of the show pointed out.

But more than one faithful Buzz Bands correspondent who attended found it as entertaining for the audience dynamic as the wildly choreographed stage show. Here was the reaction of the pal who sent the above photos:

The crowd would have followed him off a cliff if he asked them to. There were three O.C.-type college girls with homemade “I” “Heart” and “Mika” on their T-shirts, and they always walked around in order, so they would read “I Heart Mika.” I was floored by the number of straight guys in the audience — guys who did not come with girls. Not hipster metro straight, but baggy jeans, sweater, baseball cap and glasses straight. The performance was totally solid, completely charming, with tons of energy — even with the multiple extended intros to songs while the set changed. There was a puppet, snow, a giant inflatable doll, plush costumes, costume changes, characters, dancers — if Peaches got a lobotomy, tons of money and was forced to watch children’s programming all day, this show would be the result.

So take that, haters.

◊ ◊ ◊

Also missed a moment at the Echoplex on Monday night: Bone Thugs-n-Harmony did a cameo with Rickie Lee Jones.  I simply need to be in three places at once.

◊ ◊ ◊

Local tidbits: The Front plays its final show tonight at the Prospector in Long Beach. There’s a note about the band’s breakup here.  That brings to three the number of band breakups I’ve heard about recently — the nice fellows in the Prix and Simon Dawes, respectively, also called it quits.

◊ ◊ ◊

Happy Valentine’s Day: On Tuesday, the Greg Kurstin/Inara George force known as the Bird and the Bee released a digital-only, Feb. 14-themed EP called “One Too Many Hearts.” I’m not one for V-Day mush, but the four-song effort is pretty sublime. Did you forget flowers, guys? Head to iTunes.

◊ ◊ ◊

Happy Mondays guitarist Kav has been around town DJing, and now he’s assembled a full band (including some collaboration with Black Rebel Motorcycle Club) to play his own music. The full-band version of Kav debuts Sunday night at the Whisky; he’s playing stripped-down on Feb. 25 at the Troubadour.

◊ ◊ ◊

Things: Electrelane has remixed the Little One’s single “Ordinary Song” and you can download it here. … Styrofoam has remixed Cassettes Won’t Listen’s “Paper Float.” … Moby has a downloadable from his new album at RCRD LBL — right this way. … Taken by Trees, a.k.a. Victoria Bergsman from the Concretes and a Peter, Bjorn and John collaborator, plays the Roxy on Feb. 28, and here’s her song “Lost and Found.” … Rock Insider, via GorillavsBear, has the scoop on Radiohead remixes here — as well as an item on Wallpaper signing to local imprint Eenie Meenie (complete with download). … And speaking of V-Day sounds, here’s something from Daedelus (from the recent release “Live at Low End Theory” on the AlphaPup imprint): “Now’s the Time.”

◊ ◊ ◊

Spaceland celebrates its 13th year with a March 2 show featuring 13 bands for $13. All the performers will be alumni of the venue’s Monday night residencies over the years — that’s a formidable cast. Confirmed so far: The Tyde, the Vacation, Oliver Future, the Blood Arm, Run Run Run, 400 Blows and the Movies. I have a hunch there might be a big-name surprise or two in store, but it’s just a hunch …

– Kevin Bronson  

Joseph Arthur
An ascetic loneliness pervades much of the indefatigable Joseph Arthur’s work. He’s offering up four EPs and one full-length this year, all guaranteed to make us reach for the bottle, and this is on top of his opening a new gallery in Brooklyn, the Museum of Modern Arthur (MOMAR) on Feb. 15. Few approach his plangent vision, as “Walk Away” from the upcoming “Could We Survive” (due March 18) illustrates. Who among us has not desired self-abnegation, “to walk away from who you are”? The production is both a mess and gloriously clear at the same time. Over saturated drums and the distant harmonies, Arthur’s shaky voice implores.

Download: Walk Away

James McMurtry
James McMurtry, that salty, scathing muckraker, brings things right down to the dirty sawdust bottom. True to form, he’s ragging on President Bush, the easiest of targets these days, and the seemingly endless war. “Cheney’s Toy” will become appropriately available as a free download on Super Tuesday through emusic’s daily download. But to go beyond the lyric’s wry implication of a reverse-Pygmalion relationship between the Commander-in-Chief and his second in-command, guitarists will go into cold sweats over the guitar tones — a veritable audio gallery in the glories of amplifier tube distortion.

–Casey Dolan

Tina Dico’s insouciant alto sounds like no other voice. She’s not an aspirating waif, despite her Danish good looks. Instead, there’s the hint that she could eat you for breakfast, if she cared. She’s like an updated Tracy Chapman with her no-nonsense delivery, deft acoustic picking and songs of yearning. This peculiar $5 video of “On the Run,” a catchy, reflective number on the peripatetic life, is from Dico’s upcoming album, “Count to Ten.” The video looks as it might have been discovered in an isolated cache in Joshua Tree National Park — the last recorded images of Tina Dico before her disappearance.

Whenever some fool goes on about the death of jazz (as if such an improvisatory medium could stop mutating), play that misguided soul some of “Little Things Run the World,” the latest album from New York bassist Ben Allison and his band Man Size Safe. Allison has been getting a lot of ink from notable critics praising his merger with rock or folk. Rock? I’m not sure what they are hearing. This is assuredly jazz that deconstructs all influences, with harmonic chromaticism in an intriguing dialogue with hummable modal melodies. On the lead track, “Respiration” (streamable second track on the player for the above-linked website), guitarist Steve Cardenas bravely takes his solo to Ribot-like territory in which the guitar noticeably goes out of tune. One may be reminded of similar excursions by guitarists as varied as Thurston Moore and Ornette Coleman’s double whammy of Charles Ellerbee and Bern Nix on “Dancing in Your Head.” Becoming a musical device, you never forget it. And check out Allison’s mischievously skipping bass lines, punctuating all the permutations of the beat.

Minneapolis-based guitarist Steve Tibbetts rarely records or performs. ECM Records issues one of his haunting, musical gnosis, seemingly out of the ether, every once in a blue moon. Akin to Michael Brook and Eno’s more ambient work, the more uncharitable might label him New Age, but not many New Agers get that howling, desperate sound like the wind sweeping through the cerulean peaks of the Hindu Kush, close to where Tibbetts has spent so much of his time in the last 20 years. Listen to three tracks from “Selwa,” a collaboration recorded with Choyung Drolma, a Tibetan Buddhist nun, in 2004. A video of a concert in 2005 reveals Tibbetts playing an acoustic 12-string. Listen for the soul-shaking bottom end on the 12-string when Tibbetts kicks it in. Listener be wary: Time may suspend.

– Casey Dolan

[Photo: Ben Allison. Credit: Jimmy Katz / Palmetto Records]

The spasmodic sagacity of the Henry Clay People can be a

little like watching somebody karaoke the encyclopedia, and the L.A. quartet’s spate of

shows in late 2007 seemed to augur their rise to bigger stages. The prolific foursome is

getting ready for a February residency at the Echo (batten down the fixtures) by putting

the finishing touches on a new EP.

With last year’s album "Blacklist the

Kid With the Red Moustache" just making it into many local music collections, TCHP

will have the five-song "Working Part Time" EP ready for the residency. The

title track ought to be the anthem for every indie rocker who juggles a day job with

being in a band. And, front man Joey Siara says, the band is writing and recording more

new material.

Here’s something from the new EP — "We just made up the

song titles last night," Siara confessed on Tuesday — featuring a rare lead vocal

from Joey’s brother, guitarist Andy:

||| Download: "Andy Sings!"

|||

Live: The Henry Clay People play Jan. 24 at the Detroit Bar in Costa

Mesa, and every Monday in February at the Echo.

Photo of Joey Siara getting

in the spirit at the Little Radio holiday party by Timothy Norris.

Highlights

for Wednesday, Jan. 16

Model K celebrates the release of its

new EP with a show tonight at the Hotel Cafe (where Buddy is playing a string of Wednesdays, and Ian Ball [of Gomez] is also playing). …

Fans of good, solid prog and classic rock, take note: Anaheim six-piece Dusty Rhodes and the River Band headline

the Echo tonight. … Army Navy plays Club NME at Spaceland. … Kim Kline plays the Viper Room (where

Switchfoot’s Jonathan Foreman was scheduled to play; he has postponed). … And it’s Hello Dragon and the High Wires among the bands rocking

the Silverlake Lounge.

Matthew Kelly, Frankie Koroshec and their bandmates in L.A. rock quintet the Autumns have announced plans to release

their long-awaited sixth album, "Fake Noise From a Box of Toys," on April 15

in the U.S. When the band played a run of dates last May at Spaceland, its new material

proved very challenging — having moved beyond by-the-playbook dreampop and shoegaze,

the Autumns’ furious rhythms and interwoven guitars demanded more than casual attention.

I haven’t heard the whole record, but here’s a taste (no live dates scheduled as of

now):

||| Download: "Boys."

Here’s the video for that song:

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The Harry Nilsson Tribute goes off tonight at Bordello, with the likes of Frankel, Le Switch,

Ferraby Lionheart and Sara Melson (new album coming Feb. 26) among the 15 artists slated

to perform the late singer-songwriter’s material. Dan Crane of Nous Non Plus will be there too, and word

is that Crane’s alter ego — air guitarist supreme Bjorn Turoque — will also make an

appearance.

◊ ◊ ◊

Experiemental electro guru Daedelus has a new album, "Live

at Low End Theory," coming on Jan. 22. (An he’s playing Low End Theory on Wednesday

night). Here’s one track:

||| Download: "Now’s the

Time."

◊ ◊ ◊

With a new album, "Alopecia," on

the way March 11, Bay Area indie-hoppers Why? play Tangier tonight. The trio throws a

lot of sonic stuff against the wall, and what sticks is pretty fun.

|||

Download: "The

Hollows."

Other highlights for Tuesday, Jan.

15

Jesca Hoop has

had to postpone her show at the Hotel Cafe tonight because of illness. … Dan Deacon, Health and Abe Vigoda party at the El Rey Theatre, and

as of early this afternoon the show was not sold out. … Death to Anders’ album-release

show for "Fictitious Business" goes off tonight at Boardner’s as part of Radio Free Silver Lake’s shindig.

… Jupiter Rising brings the dance to the Viper Room. … And Shiloe and Nightfur rock the Echo.

With his new concept album, “The Cool,” Lupe Fiasco is riding high. He also earned a Grammy nomination this year for his smooth and smart rap style. Matt Santos (labeled Fiasco’s “vocal hook”) is the melodic diversion on single “Superstar” but what an arresting diversion! He almost stole this performance on the “Late Show With David Letterman” on Jan. 2, the first “new” musical performance following the late-night host’s return to TV after his deal with the striking Writers Guild of America. Santos gets the vocal hook all right — a repeated chorus, but given a new interpretation with each repetition. Fiasco may be the next big hip-hop thang, but Santos is the secret weapon on this track. Lupe Fiasco is at the House of Blues Anaheim tonight and the House of Blues Sunset Strip on Thursday. Catch Matthew Santos at Bordello Bar on Wednesday. Also, compare the Letterman gig to the Hype Williams-directed video.

Nyles Lannon, an alumni of the psych-pop band Film School, came out with “Pressure,” one of the best, and most subtle, pop albums of 2007. “Obsession” sounds like it was recorded in a somnambulist episode, but note the backups, the understated solo, the odd Casio-like keyboard. Yes, there is a bit of discontinuity between the rhythm section and the guitars and vocals, but what do you expect? He’s playing everything a la Jason Falkner or Todd Rundgren. But it’s that balance between skill and slop that makes him an alluring singer-songwriter. Lannon will be at the Knitting Factory on Friday.

And in Exhibit B for the defense of drooling rock ‘n’ roll, we have Iceage Cobra. There are those times, God help us, when we’re tempted to down endless cans of the most appalling brews and bang our heads like so many mindless monkey toys. This band can supply the soundtrack. Sometimes, drummer Metch Brasch is not quite in the pocket; sometimes, the vocals go off-course. It will not matter as you reach for another beer. These guys make Wolfmother sound like prog rock.

Enjoy streaming “Tornado of Knives” and catch the Iceage at Charlie O’s (NOT the famed jazz club) at the Alexandria Hotel downtown on Thursday. Earplugs are advised.

Rudder is something of a supergroup with a jazz-rock rhythm section that could lay claim to being the funkiest working today: Keith Carlock (drums) and Tim Lefebvre (bass). Their separate resumes include stints with Sting and Steely Dan, but it was their work as a trio with guitar superhero Wayne Krantz at New York’s 55 Bar that woke my ears up. Electric, loud, ingenious and, quite simply, incomparable. Add the finely exuberant saxophone of Chris Cheek and the mischievous keyboards of Henry Hey — also possessing VIP resumes — and you have one of the most exciting musical hybrids today. Get Carlock in one of his swampy grooves and, believe me, it’s all over.

“Stablemaster” live in NYC:

–Casey Dolan

[Photo: Film School, with Lannon second to left. Credit: Peter Ellenby]