I sometimes cast my mind back to a formative experience when I was around 13 years old. I had attended an old friend's Bat Mitzvah, followed by a reception at a local hotel. I found myself frequently huddled together with my male friend that came with me, avoiding any interactions with girls, save for an awkward game of Truth or Dare, wherein a girl conspired with a friend to compel me to kiss her. Luckily, the game was cut off short, and I was able to hold onto having never kissed a girl for a couple more years.

The night ended with me and my guy friend faux-line dancing to "Cotton-Eyed Joe," in what must have been a subconscious effort to make me as unappealing to everyone at the party.

I'm here to report that things haven't changed in the intervening years when it comes to me and dance parties. Luckily, booze has since been introduced, which sometimes enables me to get the party going on the dance floor, though still not to great effect.

Thankfully, there are people out there who can't help but compel people to cut loose, and one of them is Saucy Yoda. Hailing sometimes from Alaska and sometimes from Portland, Saucy Yoda (AKA Melodie Langer) is uniquely qualified for such a task, as I first learned years ago from her eye-opening performance at the now-defunct Maltoberfest, the annual celebration of high-gravity alcohol, hip-hop and polka. Saucy Yoda so confidently owned the stage, creating a roiling whirlpool out of the packed Java Jive crowd. It was a freeing experience, being that lots of alcohol still doesn't always guarantee that a Pacific Northwest crowd will get wild. With a big old chain around her neck, dancing on the lip of the stage, she had the audience in the palm of her hands.

While I once knew that Saucy Yoda's stock-in-trade is mostly party rap, she's a multi-faceted performer, as she bears out on her recent LP, It's Not A Mystery. She starts out with the electronic thump of "Boys" (which winkingly references L'Trimm's "Cars That Go Boom"), but she veers all over the map, with the likes of the bratty pop-punk of "Melatonin," the B-52s-esque "Celery," the deceptively twee jangle of "Super Market," and the garage pop weirdness of "Cat Call." Langer will be performing solo at this show, but she's spent time toying with the form of Saucy Yoda, frequently fronting a full band.

Saucy Yoda has evolved since I first saw her, but the party rap and electro-clash vibe is still present, most notably in the bookending "Boys" and "Lollipop," and on the languid celebration of an elderly badass that is "Grandma." Though the hip hop has taken a bit of a backseat, It's Not A Mystery possesses the same energy that I saw her deliver all those years ago at Maltoberfest. The album simply does not take a break, busting out hook after hook, sometimes getting in and out of a song in under two minutes.

Look, I know that Saucy Yoda will be performing in Tacoma on the same day that the new Star Wars movie shows up in theaters to capture the whole world's attention, but if you can't get in to see that monolith on the big screen, why not see another Yoda? I'll tell you one reason Saucy Yoda's better than that little green guy: she doesn't play dumb for 20 minutes after the first time you meet her. Seriously, Yoda? Luke Skywalker's going through a lot, so maybe don't punk him like that.

Rounding out the party-starters at the show will be the dance-punk of Mirrorgloss and the bizarro rap of Garlic Man & Chikn.

SAUCY YODA, w/ Mirrorgloss, Garlic Man & Chikn, Vaughn, Friday, Dec. 18, The Valley, 1206 Puyallup Ave., Tacoma, 253.248.4265