Radars to the Sky finish the year with a 'Big Bang'

As scores of aspiring bands around Los Angeles find, life can get in the way of music. Take a year in the life of Radars to the Sky frontman Andrew Spitser: "You graduate from law school, you take the bar exam, you get a job, you're having a baby, and you think, 'When the hell am I going to get this done?' " he says of his quintet's "Big Bang" EP, its second release of 2007.

The singer-guitarist and his bandmates -- guitarist Seamus Simpson, bassist Martin Avelar, drummer Kenny Kupers and singer-keyboardist Kate Post Spitser, his wife -- got it done, all right, five intense volleys of indie rock with arcs back to a time when indie rock was less self-conscious. It's no surprise that Spitser's heroes are Built to Spill; the gnarly interplay between guitarists and the time signatures might bring Pavement or Sebadoh to mind. Even allowing for its self-production, "Big Bang" can be big and bold (and tender, when Kate Spitser's vocals enter the mix), rock whose working-class trappings disguise an essayist's soul.

Like his forebears, the songwriter tackles weighty topics -- Radars' EPs cover material such as abortion, marriage proposals, sleeping with one's ex-girlfriend and even suicide. "That's not exactly the warm-and-fuzzy I'm going to play for Maya [the Spitsers' daughter, who was born in June] when she gets older," Andrew says.

"It's always been sort of a struggle ... wondering where this stuff comes from, because generally I'm a very happy person," Andrew says. "But songwriting has always been a place I can address some of those things I don't walk around with every day."

||| Live: Radars to the Sky, supported by the Henry Clay People, among others, play tonight at Spaceland.

||| Stream "Victoria" and other songs from the new EP, or download songs from the band's previous EP at its MySpace page.

Other highights for Friday, Dec. 7

It's a busy night, but among the offerings: The Thermals play the Echo. ... Andrew Bird holds forth at the Orpheum Theatre downtown. ... And  From First to Last rocks the Troubadour.