Five years since their formation, San Jose indie-pop outfit, A Yawn Worth Yelling, are enjoying their status as one of the South Bay’s most buzzed-about bands as they prepare to release a new EP and play the upcoming C2SV music and technology conference.

What began as a high school side project back in 2010 has evolved into an all-consuming effort, which is beginning to pay dividends—as media outlets, including Impose Magazine and PopMatters, have praised the band’s brand of complex-yet-catchy songwriting.

Naturally, AYWY have also garnered plenty of respect on the local indie circuit—playing with the likes of Picture Atlantic, Finish Ticket and Rin Tin Tiger, and collecting fans along the way. After years of performing and self-releasing four EPs, A Yawn Worth Yelling recently broke the attendance record for a show at the Art Boutiki.

Now they are hoping that this wave of local popularity and attention from the broader blogosphere will propel them even further. Taking advantage of their burgeoning fan base, A Yawn Worth Yelling ran a successful crowdfunding campaign—using the revenue to produce their fifth release, the Play Pretend EP.

According to guitarist and singer Brayden Deskins, Play Pretend, which was given a professional budget, marks the next evolutionary leap for his band. “This is us at our most focused,” Deskins says. “We really refined our sound and took the time to make the best release we could.”

The first single off the forthcoming EP, “Start Somewhere,” is definitely representative of the band’s heightened energy. A four-minute pop-rock romp, full of slick production, tight harmonies and an infectious melody, the track strikes a balance between eclectic and accessible—and is reflective of their diverse influences, which include many bands that straddle the line between pop and proggy songwriting, such as Dirty Projectors, Manchester Orchestra and The Dear Hunter.

“Play Pretend is a release that sounds pretty similar to our previous stuff, but we put a little spin on it to make it fresh to people who’ve been listening to us for a while,” guitarist Tyler Boyd says. “We want to make all our releases like that—similar enough to draw you back, but innovative enough to make you stay.”

A Yawn Worth Yelling are hoping Play Pretend will be the first step toward becoming a larger force in the music industry. As they look to the future, they are preparing to move to Los Angeles and are courting record labels. The next step is a full-length record.

Play Pretend is slated to be released Sept. 18. A Yawn Worth Yelling are playing the C2SV music and technology conference in San Jose on Oct. 8 and 9.

An organization calling itself Make a Scene San Jose recently formed with the intention of promoting an all-ages music scene in San Jose.

The idea behind the group is to get bands and music fans to work together more for the overall benefit of everybody in San Jose that loves live music. Though, they are still working out the details of how they want to do that, they are starting with the release of a free compilation of San Jose bands.

The compilation features 10 San Jose bands, providing a nice reference point for people unfamiliar with the diverse talent that San Jose has to offer. Some of the bands on the compilation include Curious Quail, San Francesca, the Trims and Corpus Callosum.

“The compilation we put together is a quick resource we can point people to if they’re in the dark about what goes on here musically, and hopefully it will influence them to come out with us to see some of these bands play live,” says Kendall Sallay, who plays in Cartoon Bar Fight and is a member of Make a Scene San Jose. Sallay is one of several other local musicians that are members of the group. There is no established leader.

To help bring more people to the all-ages shows already being booked in San Jose, “Make a Scene San Jose” lists several upcoming all-ages shows on its Facebook page. They hope for starters to get more bands to support each other by passing out flyers for each other’s shows, promoting each other online and making an effort to go to more shows here in San Jose. View the page HERE.