When you think of art rock, bands like King Crimson and Genesis or Sonic Youth and latter day Talk Talk tend to come to mind. The common thread that runs through most of these bands is a deadly seriousness. It's, you know, "art." It needs to be serious. And it needs to be taxing and difficult and all those other words we use to describe albums that just aren't any fun to listen to.

Enter Japanther, an art rock band with punk leanings that's actually fun.

A duo, the band got their start in college, at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. They're a couple of art students who formed a band just to form a band.

"Funny enough, we had more of a concept and a logo than a band," says drummer, cassette-player, and Yakima-native Ian Vanek. "We were horrible at playing and had no idea what we wanted to do... (You look at a band like) the Germs, and they had no idea how to play their instruments, but they knew exactly that they wanted to be called the Germs, and they had a whole concept of what that meant and how that was different from everything else. That was something that really inspired us."

Before Japanther knew it, the band was opening up for the likes of the Blood Brothers.

"Holy shit, we're opening shows that actually have people at them," Vanek recalls thinking at the time. "Fuck, we'd better do something different. So, it was like the Germs-just super violent and chaotic and short and crazy and wild. That's still sort of where we keep it."

On record, Japanther is lo-fi and noisy, and live it's not much different. Live, the duo play bass and drums, filling out the rest with their backing track on cassette.

"We feel there's a certain magic or energy to (the cassette)," says Vanek. "Magnetic tape is of the earth, and it's carbon as we are carbon. It's kind of a magic that you can make these sound waves stick to this metal that's been painted on the back of a piece of plastic and stretched into a coil."

The rest I'll let you discover on Friday-a free, all-ages show that may be one this year's best.

[Peabody Waldorf Gallery, with Muhummadali, the Wheelies, Friday, Aug. 20, 3-7 p.m., all ages, no cover, 745 Broadway, Tacoma]