BUZZ BANDS

Their name has been mumbled, mangled and maybe even mocked -- not that the four guys in Voxhaul Broadcast can blame anybody. “Every name we’d pick would be taken,” singer-guitarist David Dennis says, “so we thought, ‘Let’s make up some words and hope it’s not taken.’ ” In a way, the Orange County quartet set about making their music in similar fashion. “If it sounds too reminiscent of anything, we kind of [rough] it up,” Dennis says. “It’s really easy to be cliche; you have to be picky about what you do.” Voxhaul Broadcast’s twitchy, soul-infused rock isn’t brand new -- but the work of Dennis, guitarist-keyboardist Anthony Aguiar, bassist Phillip Munset II and drummer Kurt Allen is distinctive, if only because it originated on an O.C. landscape populated by harder-edged bands. “It used to be a band like us could not play a show without being booked with a hard-core band,” Dennis says. “Now there is a lot of other music coming out of Orange County.” The band’s “Rotten Apples” EP, out on Retone Records, recalls the Charlatans UK or the Strokes more than any suburban thrashers. The quartet (pictured from left, Aguiar, Munset, Dennis, Allen), now based in L.A., has spent much of the fall on tour (next: Monday night at the Viper Room). “Right now we’re just trying to get our name out there,” Dennis says. Such as it is. ALSO CHECK: Ex-L.A. resident Richard Swift and Long Beach trio We Barbarians open for Cold War Kids on Friday at the Wiltern. . . . Joshua Tree quartet Gram Rabbit celebrates the release of its third album, “RadioAngel and the RobotBeat,” with a show Friday night at Safari Sam’s. . . . Dance party alert: Casxio finishes off its residency Monday at the Silverlake Lounge with guest Sam Sparro. . . . And Los Campesinos! hit town from Wales, playing the Echoplex on Tuesday with the Most Serene Republic.

-- Kevin.B[email protected]