The way in which music enthusiasts relate to music has changed remarkably in the Internet age. As I've spoken about before (and will keep speaking about until I can wrap my head around it), the idea of an indisputable subgenre has become irresistible to music bloggers and fans alike - to be able to hear a band and flip through a laundry list of classification after classification, stopping with your finger on the page, and say, "A-ha! It is glo-fi with a touch of witch house and a sprinkling of Krautrock! And so it is decided, forever more!"

I must say, this infinite splintering of music, though dizzying, is especially appealing when one has to write about music. The more obscure the categorization the better. It becomes more difficult when met with a band like Sordid Sentinels.

Sordid Sentinels play rock music, plain and simple. They are upfront about it. They're not reinventing the wheel, nor do they intend to. What they mean to accomplish is to perform good, soul-nourishing rock music, and they accomplish it quite nicely. They pride themselves on delivering an exciting live show, at which they are also successful.

So what we have here is a rock band. How novel. I'm listening to a song of theirs called "Walking the Plank" and racking my brain trying to come up with a handy label. It's not working. The trilling keyboards in the background call to mind bands of the '60s, but you would be hard-pressed to describe Sordid Sentinels as any kind of classic rock devotees. The guitars are loud and riff-tastic, and lead singer Riley Gratzer's voice has a certain snarl, but heavy metal this is not.

Where Sordid Sentinels succeed is largely on the basis of their tight arrangements, always firmly in the palm of propulsive drums and Gratzer's pounding bass lines. "Four minutes and out" seems to be their motto, and there's joy to be found in the knowledge that a band has taken care to construct a concise delivery system of rock ‘n' roll to your brain parts. Though the band is still relatively young, having played their first show in February of '09, they seem to have themselves pretty well figured out.

"I'll be sitting at home on an acoustic guitar and I write a song, and I have a certain image in my mind of how I want it to sound," says Gratzer of the collaborative writing process. "Seventy-five percent of the time, it ends up sounding completely different and I end up liking it more. Everyone puts in their two cents and makes it ‘Sordid Sentinels' instead of ‘Riley Gratzer.'"

"As far as everyone goes," Gratzer continues, "we all have fairly different tastes in music without a lot of really heavy overlap. ... Everyone just brings different things to the table."

One of the more appealing aspects of Sordid Sentinels is the underlying humor in their songs. Without being overtly funny, it's easy to hear how much fun the band is having; Gratzer's nutty wail at the end of "Walking the Plank" is a good example of how they walk that line between delivering serious rock ‘n' roll and that casual shrug that seems to say, "But hey, in the end it's just about having a good time."

On a side note, hawkeyed readers may recognize Riley's last name as also belonging to the Reader-Voted Best Tacoma Filmmaker, Rick Gratzer. True, they are brothers, and fans of the 72-Hour Film Festival are likely to recognize Riley Gratzer as a regular performer in his brother's films. Talented siblings. A dynasty! Well, I think it's pretty neat.

Regardless! Sordid Sentinels have made something worthy in their own right: a band that silences a lazy critic. If, when you see them live, you lean smugly back in your chair and comment on their shameful lack of dubstep or Afrobeat influences, well, you're doing it wrong.

Sordid Sentinels

w/ Vida Vore
Thursday, Jan. 6, 9 p.m., cover TBA
The New Frontier Lounge, 301 E. 25th St., Tacoma
253.572.4020