One of the more intriguing aspects of our prolonged exposure to intense music snobbery is the eventual caving of critics and admitting support of more maligned subgenres. Pop-punk's return to acceptable regions of taste for folks that would have previously turned up their noses at Blink-182, in particular, has been fascinating to watch. It's hard to trace back when music critics suddenly decided that they like to have fun, too, and that not everything has to be Bon Iver or Sigur Ros or any other number of whale-song bands. Sarchasm is a group of pop-punk slackers from the Bay Area, and they have all the hallmarks of that late-'90s pop-punk boom, but they pull it off with such breezy panache that it avoids lame pastiche. Reedy, bratty vocals ride atop sugary guitars, and it all feels so goddamn right.

SARCHASM, w/ Captain Algebra, Full Moon Radio, Whelp, 8 p.m., Northern, 414 ½ Legion Way, Olympia, $5, northernolympia.org