QUICK RIDE TO RECORD DEAL; FOR NEW KIDS ON POP MUSIC'S BLOCK, GETTING DISCOVERED WAS THE EASY PART.

Byline: Fred Shuster Daily News Music Writer

In the old days, bands would slog around the country for years, building a buzz and developing a sound before a record company would even bother glancing in their direction.

Today, any artists that sound weird enough, have the right look or can claim at least one song that has a shot at radio, get a contract shoved under their nose before they've even received their driver's license.

Take, for example, Fiona Apple. Her three-song demo tape made its way onto the deck at a Manhattan party attended by an industry insider. The song ``Shadowboxer'' came on, the music-biz geek got Apple's phone number, and within a year the song was all over radio and onto the charts.

It all happens these days with alarming speed. But with the quick rise can come an even faster drop back into obscurity. Remember the Spin Doctors? Didn't think so.

For our spring roundup of notable new releases, we've chosen five acts - Mono, Jimmy Ray, God Lives Underwater, Rebekah and Los Amigos Invisibles - offering a range of music from chilly electronic dub to bubble-gum pop to a joyful world-music hybrid from Venezuela.

All have received glowing press, most are in the charts this week, and all took a circuitous road to their record label.

Here are their stories.

Jimmy Ray

Jimmy Ray knows he's going to take some hits for his runway looks, trendy style and Spice Girls connection, but he says the proof is in the punch of his current top-20 single.

``Are You Jimmy Ray?'' an ultra-catchy mix of rockabilly and dance beats, peaked at No. 13 on the Billboard Hot 100.

A year ago, Ray was working in the video department of London's Virgin Megastore. That's when he met Simon Fuller, the marketing brains behind the Spice Girls.

``I went to his office with my cassette, and he spent about an hour with me,'' Ray, 22, recalled from New York where he was rehearsing with a band. ``He said he had an idea how to market my act and material. We decided we would work together.''

By that time, Ray says, the single had already been written.

``The song is supposed to show my love for '50s rock 'n' roll,'' the guitarist and singer said. ``I'm a big fan of that whole attitude and approach to making music.''

Ray, who calls his sound rockabilly-techno, started out in the duo A/V, which sought to fuse rock with the new dance music. After two years without an album release, the team split.

``We were doing this music at the exact same time the Prodigy was making `Firestarter,' so if it had come out, it would have been at the pop end of that new dance revolution, combining rock guitar with techno rhythms. It went horribly wrong, and I figured it was my one shot at that style.''

Ray - whose self-titled Epic Records debut album met with a mixed response - says he's aware that image plays a big part in sales.

``As a young guy, when I bought my first guitar, I seemed to have an awareness that it's an entire package,'' he said. ``I was a realist in that respect. I knew if you want to promote records, you have to do press, TV, modeling. It's all part of doing the work. I love dressing up. Having a specific image is what pop music is all about.''

Los Amigos Invisibles

Venezuela's genre-skipping Los Amigos Invisibles thought the person on the long-distance telephone line was joking when he introduced himself as David Byrne, ex-leader of the Talking Heads and head of the world-music label Luaka Bop.

But it was indeed Byrne trying to track down the makers of the odd, wonderful dance music he discovered by accident in the Latin-music section of Tower Records in New York.

Los Amigos Invisibles - which recently played a string of local club dates and is about to hit the road with Soul Coughing - call their music gozadera, a '50s Venezuelan term for lounge or party.

The six-member band's highly danceable album, ``The New Sound of the Venezuelan Gozadera'' (Luaka Bop), was released last month to warm reviews. The group's pan-global sound mixes James Brown-style funk, Latin styles, salsa, bossa nova, organ trio, lounge and a hint of new wave.

``We're the result of our record collections,'' said Invisibles guitarist Jose Luis Pardo, 25. ``But it's not common in Caracas to play so funky. We're not just the biggest dance band in town - we're the only one. People didn't know what to make of us at first.''

It was Los Amigos Invisibles' 1995 debut disc, ``A Typical and Autoctonal Venezuelan Dance Band,'' decorated with images from Japanese comics, that caught the attention of Byrne. The downtown Tower had received just 15 copies of the album and, not knowing what else to do with it, dumped it in the Latin section.

``It was destiny,'' Pardo said. ``Byrne picked it up because of the ironic Japanese cartoons on the cover and said, `I've gotta meet these guys.' We said, `No way.' ''

Rebekah

After graduating college, singer Rebekah moved to Los Angeles to find a career.

She worked in stores, landed secretarial work and wondered how she wanted to spend her life. Deciding she'd like to sing and write songs, the one-named Rebekah made a demo of seven original tunes.

While the tape was being dubbed onto cassette at a studio, a label insider heard the music by chance.

``All these labels suddenly got interested,'' Rebekah, 25, said. ``I had to get a lawyer. I was in shock.''

Rebekah's well-received debut, ``Remember to Breathe'' (Elektra), was produced by Matthew Wilder (No Doubt).

``He's known for layering instruments, getting textures and working over keyboard parts,'' Rebekah said. ``I knew I wanted to sound different. He helped me be me.''

The Cleveland native, who sat through years of Catholic school and Bible study, grew up in a strict home environment where she wasn't allowed to experience the local music scene. She hadn't found a band or played in clubs until after ``Remember to Breathe'' was wrapped last July.

``I did a demo, and everything happened so quickly,'' she said. ``It was kind of backwards. I didn't even have time to get my feet wet. I ended up getting a deal and then putting a band together. That's when I started performing live.''

Call it jumping in the deep end, but Rebekah is getting her road seasoning. She recently spent three weeks opening for labelmates Third Eye Blind.

God Lives Underwater

Pop-techno duo God Lives Underwater - now enjoying national airplay with the eerie track ``From Your Mouth'' - had two albums out previously.

You might say the band drowned in its own aquarium.

``The first label couldn't hack it,'' said singer David Reilly. ``It got to the point where they couldn't ship enough records to places where we had a song on the radio. They couldn't hold up their end of the deal.''

GLU's ``Life in the So-Called Space Age'' (A&M) entered the Billboard 200 last week. The disc mixes techno beats with guitars, original melodies, strange lyrics and clever arrangements.

``Our sound came from us getting tired of techno with no vocals and rap music with no tunes,'' Reilly, 27, said. ``We used to do hip-hop demos. That's where we learned to make the beats.''

GLU appears April 29 at the Roxy in West Hollywood.

``We never went into this thinking about radio play,'' the Los Angeles-based Reilly said. ``We just want to make music that sounds good. We have to entertain ourselves somehow.''

Mono

The rumor of an interesting demo tape and a long car trip out of town resulted in a hit album for British noir-jazz duo Mono.

The group's ``Formica Blues'' (Mercury) is doing well in the charts because of the compelling ``Life in Mono,'' a track used over the end credits in the film ``Great Expectations.''

The radio-friendly single is equal parts Portishead and Burt Bacharach, samples a sliver of John Barry's theme from ``The Ipcress File'' and features the Astrud Gilberto-like vocals of Siobhan DeMare.

DeMare and producer, arranger and songwriter Martin Virgo make up Mono.

``It's very flattering to make the comparison between us and Portishead,'' DeMare said. ``But I think we're a bit happier. We've got hope. We aren't going to kill ourselves.''

After a mutual friend put DeMare and Virgo together, the duo began tinkering around with musical ideas, and a tape resulted.

``Someone from a label got wind of the tape and played it to their boyfriend as they were driving out of town for a holiday,'' DeMare explained. ``He stopped the car, turned it around and said he was going back to London to sign this band before anyone else does. The girlfriend said they're not a band, they're just two people. Then there was a month of restaurants and people with silicone smiles.''

Mono appears tonight at the El Rey Theatre.

THE FACTS

Who: Mono, with the Devlins.

Where: El Rey Theatre, 5515 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles.

When: 8 tonight.

Tickets: $12.

Information: [phone].

CAPTION(S):

6 Photos

Photo: (1--Cover--Color) TWIST & SHOUT

The strange trip of hot new music acts (MONO, JIMMY RAY, REBEKAH, LOS AMIGOS INVISIBLES)

(2) Siobhan DeMare, left, and Martin Virgo of Mono make music that has been favorably compared to that of Portishead.

(3) God Lives Underwater

(4) Rebekah

(5) Jimmy Ray

(6) Los Amigos Invisibles