Sunday, July 31: Nucular Aminals

Northern

By Rev. Adam McKinney on July 27, 2011

Writing the intentionally misspelled Nucular Aminals is an act of superhuman will on my part. The silliness and implied hostility of such a misspelled band name comes off as a first test, an opening gambit to see just how many people can stick around to hear the actually pretty conservative take on garage and psychedelia in which Nucular Aminals specialize. Even if they hadn't been recently signed to K Records, Nucular Aminals would still very much smack of that label's aesthetic: lo-fi, '60s-devoted garage-pop that glows with fuzzy hooks and organ-drenched vibes. When those vocal harmonies sink in just right, an indie prettiness settles on Nucular Aminals that helps to reinforce the light touch with which they seem to approach most everything about making music. 

[Northern, with the Hive Dwellers, Hooded Hags, Morgan and the Organ Donors, 8 p.m., $5, 321 Fourth Ave., Olympia, northernolympia.org]