Kevin Bronson on February 19th, 2010

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Mike Mancillas is well on his way to earning an advanced degree in the Indie Rock School of Hard Knocks. Mancillas (also known by his stage moniker Malcolm Sosa) is the frontman of the band Rademacher, a steady presence on the Silver Lake scene for four years now even though they live in Fresno. Rademacher got some deserved attention for 2007’s self-released “Stunts,” and since then the band’s uneven output has been matched by its uneven lineup, with Mancillas being the only constant. He’s now working on new material – more “classic rock oriented,” he says – with mates Eli Reyes and RC Essig. First impression: good.

||| Download: Rademacher, “Magic Words” (demo)

||| Live: Rademacher performs at the Echoplex tonight as part of a strong local bill featuring Radars to the Sky, One Trick Pony and the Hectors.

Meanwhile, Reyes also drums for the trio the Fay Wrays, who make indie-rock the old-school way – raw, a bit pissed off, calculatedly discordant and dripping with sweat. Singer-guitarist Ben McEntee and bassist paul Albert Harper round out the threesome. Their album “Mata Hari” came out late last year on JAXART Records, and fans of black-and-blue hardcore will want to bruise bodies to this one.

||| Download: “Weatherman”

||| Live: The Fay Wrays perform March 27 at Pehrspace.

Meanwhile, ex-Rademacher bassist Greer McGettrick has moved to San Francisco and formed the Mallard. The initial recordings from the quartet, a six-song blast called “The Quick the Dirty,” are as unpolished as the restrooms at an underground performance space. Not that that’s a bad thing. There’s even a ditty about the swine flu.

||| Download: “H1N1”

Photo of Rademacher’s Mike Mancillas by Jeff Koga