While I generally like to think (probably incorrectly) that I have discerning tastes in music, for some kinds of music I'm just ... easy. I don't like knowing there's a surefire formula to get me to like a band, but it definitely seems like there is - more than one, in fact. Example: Hotels make the kind of music I can really get behind. I'm not trying to suggest the band got together and made all this music against their truer desires just to hook me (although that would be awesome), but I am saying dark, synth-driven, '80s-inspired pop is totally my bag. And Hotels play that. And they play it very well. Sometimes I enjoy being made to feel helpless against a band's power.

[The New Frontier Lounge, 9 p.m., cover TBA, 301 E. 25th St., Tacoma, 253.572.4020]