Ozma

I t’s the signature rock sound of Southern California: cutesy Captain Adolescent harmonies draped over a wall of bone-crunching chug-a-lug from amplifiers that only teenaged privilege victims can afford. So Ozma’s incubating cul-de-sac was labeled “Pasadena” — is that supposed to distract us from the fact that they sound just like a heavier Weezer? (That is, like the aforementioned Cali formula gimmicked through the aid of candy-ring pop sauce and Hallmark synth gushing, with the gain and the bass maxed out. Aren’t you just juicing for all that death-chord/Care Bear contrast? It’s just so suspenseful!)

What else do you need to know? “There’s battle scars on all my guitars but I still come out every day,” contributes vocalist Daniel Brummel on the group’s debut-record opus, the eight-minute “Battlescars.” Contribution appreciated. Other nuggets of knowledge: 2001 debut (Rock and Roll Part Three) fell straight from the power chord-plus-tweeting mold previously mentioned, but orchestral arrangements helped their newest, 2003’s Spending Time on the Borderline, shed a few Weezerite feathers, stopping well short of a sonic revolution. And that debut album title was just so ambitious.