This past month has been was busy for local musician Anya Kvitka and her band Anya and the Get Down. After talking with different record labels—indie and major—she was asked to do a private showcase for Red Bull Records, where she and her band played an hour set to about 40 people, all of whom were associated with the music industry in some way.

Kvitka was first contacted by Red Bull after Menace, a DJ at LIVE 105 who is a friend of hers, sent out her demo to different people he knew in the music industry. The demo landed in the hands of someone at Red Bull and they were very interested in meeting with her. Right around the same time, Kvitka’s band “Anya and the Get Down” won the best band award at Metro’s Silicon Valley Sound Experience festival, which piqued the interest of Gary Avila, who previously managed Papa Roach in their heyday.

With Avila’s help they’ve met with other labels as well. So far, more than one has expressed some interest, but nothings official yet, Kvita says.

Her hopes are to find a balance between catchy songwriting and her interest in going all over the map with different genres.

“I definitely want to maintain as much diversity as possible, so that’s it’s not just one avenue or lane. I don’t want an avenue; I want the neighborhood,” she says.

There is talk that some of the industry people and labels she’s spoken to will be coming to the Blank Club show on February 15 to see her perform in a hometown environment. If all goes well, this show could be Kvitka’s last show in San Jose for a while. The plan is to hopefully move to LA and take some time to work on making a debut album that will really represent who she is an artist.

“Whatever you release for your first album, you’re always going to be that in people’s eyes. It’s very difficult to stray from that. Why would I put myself in this box that I won’t be able to get out of? I kind of want to be a bridge between accessibility and left of center. That’s kind of my goal with my music and how I write. I think that’s why I gravitate towards so many different genres, because I love so much music.”

Anya and the Get Down play the Blank Club on Friday February 15 at 9pm. Tickets are $8

Anya and the Get Down’s first EP got the local scene buzzing, its Amy Winehouse-type confessional rock blendly effortlessly with dubstep, reggae and hip-hop—not to mention the revelation that was Anya’s vocals. Their new, still nameless second EP, which will be released in conjunction with a headlining show at the Pagoda Saturday, should be no less impactful.

“I think there’s a little bit more soul on this one,” says Anya. “It’s coming from a deeper place.”

The new EP features three new songs—“Maybe,” “L.A. Woman” (not the Doors song), and “Gotta Be Got.” It also includes her first single, “Gone Baby Gone,” and a remix of “C’est La Vie” from the first EP, done by the Bangerz’s Cutso.

“He’s a good friend of mine, and I just told him, ‘I think this track could use your touch,’” she says. “He kind of electrified it up. It worked out—obviously, because it’s Cutso.”

The band’s been taking a break from playing live to work on the EP, and their first album, which is due sometime this summer. This will be Anya’s first show ever playing the piano with her band, even though she is classically trained and it is her primary instrument. There are plans to move the Fairmont’s grand piano in for the show.

It’ll also be Anya and the Get Down’s first time headlining the Pagoda, though Anya considers the spot a good luck charm after her first show there, opening for Talib Kweli’s Idle Warship.

“I actually had lost my voice that night,” she says, “but I magically got it back. It turned out to be one of the best shows we’ve ever done.”

Anya and the Get Down perform at Pagoda Lounge in San Jose on Saturday, June 30, at Pagoda Lounge in San Jose, 9pm; $10-$20.

The Usuals has been the command center for Anya and the Get Down over the last few months as the young South Bay singer-songwriter has kickstarted her solo career. Whenever I talk to her about what she’s doing—and when she plays live—she always remembers to mention and thank not only the band, but also Usuals co-owner Marie Millare and every single person she’s gathered around her: video director Brendan Van Auken, photographer Mark Sebastian, stylist Jazmine Lazzarino of 5 Color Cowboy, makeup artist Kani Cortes, the Usuals and Flora & Fauna for her wardrobe, and so on.

I never totally understood her persistent attention to detail on this stuff—like, is she just a really gracious person, or what?

But Saturday night at the Usuals, when she unveiled the video for her single “Gone Baby Gone,” I realized what it is: every piece of what Anya does is critical to her look, her style and her sound. No detail escapes her, or her team.

This was evident in her live set last night, which opened with a cover of Amy Winehouse’s “In My Bed,” and also included Nancy Sinatra’s “Bang Bang” (“Anybody seen Kill Bill?” Anya asked before she played it) and Estelle’s “American Boy,” as well as her original songs like “Baggage” and “Runnin.” Her singing style, the band’s jams and even the song choice all reflect a heady mix of vintage nightclub swank with modern cool.

But it was even more evident in the video for “Gone Baby Gone,” which the Usuals screened right before the performance. Looking like a glossy, Vertigo-era Hitchcock film mashed up with a 21st century postmodern horror movie, it brings out the dark themes of betrayal, anger and murderous vengeance that casual listeners to the song are almost certain to miss the first time through.

A mix of rock, reggae, hip-hop and dubstep, the song is bouncy and beat-heavy enough for its meaning to fly under the radar, but the video spells out everything with a noirish plot and a building air of menace. The song is like something Winehouse herself would have written, but the look of the video captures a totally different feel—from the clothes to the hair to the way she moves, it’s all an extension of an out-of-time persona Anya has been cultivating since her earlier work with the hip-hop crew Soapbox Melodics. And that’s why the details—and the people who make them happen—are so important.

The show was packed last night, with locals Vida Killz and Rey Resurreccion bringing short opening sets. Killz started low-key, sitting down at the edge of the stage to rap “47.” But by “Oro De Corazon” just a couple of songs later, she was up and delivering that off-kilter, hair-in-her-eyes intensity that seems to smolder in her best work. Usually setting her songs to dark, glimmering beats, it was a trip to see her backed by a live acoustic guitar and drum, but it worked.

And what can you say about Rey? There’s something about his playful, San-Jose-proud swagger that is totally infectious, even in such a short set. He had Aaron Aquino (aka Squareweezy of the Bangerz) DJing, and the results were nuts. Aquino was just going off on whatever that electronic device he was fiddling with was, and they both were egging each other on. “Spaceship music, man!” shouted Rey near the end.

Though last night was the release party for Anya’s video, it won’t actually go live for a few more days. Watch this blog to see it when it does.