Over the four years that I've written about music as a sort-of professional, something that's dawned on me and that I've had to come to terms with is that I have a real sweet spot for music that sounds a certain way. This isn't the most desirable attribute, I'd imagine, for someone that ostensibly writes about all types of music for a living. To all those out there shouting, "YES, DUMMY," I want you to know that I hear you, and I empathize.

But I am only human! What has become apparent to me is that I am inexplicably drawn to three things: an interesting voice (side note: David Byrne was quoted as saying that "the better the person's voice, the harder it is to believe what they're saying," which is something that resonates with me to this day), a gigantic sound, and compelling lyrics. While there are certainly bands that I love that are exceptions to each of these requirements, this is generally the alchemy that draws me to a band.

An inordinate amount of these desired bands fall under the umbrella of the combination of punk and Americana, to boil it down to its essence. Let's take Baltic Cousins as an example. This foursome came about in 2009, after two members of utterly dissimilar bands came together.

"It started as me showing my drummer some stuff I had been working on," says Bradley Lockhart. "We were roommates, at the time, we had been in bands, previously, and both of our bands were breaking up around the same time. So, I just wanted to pick up where we were both leaving off. ... I was the singer of a Murder City Devils-ish spooky punk-rock band called Black Eyes & Neckties, and then my roommate was the drummer of a synth-punk band called the Russians. But I had been writing music like (Baltic Cousins) for a couple years, and had played it in side projects."

The music of Baltic Cousins is defined by balls-out folk instrumentation, with Lockhart's voice shouting above the crazed din. It calls to mind easy comparisons like the Pogues, with its melding of traditional instrumentation and sloppy, emotionally resonant melodies and lyrics. There's nothing involving half-measures even close to the work of Baltic Cousins. Everything has an urgency and unapologetically bombastic energy to it. Though there's nothing new to the idea of introducing punk to the folk world (and nothing, it should be noted, incongruous about it, since folk and punk share the history of bringing voices to the underprivileged revolutionaries of the world), the way that Baltic Cousins combine the sounds has an interesting bent to it.

"There's definitely a genre of folk-punk that's been around for a long time, but it's kind of different than what we do," says Lockhart. "Punk songs played acoustic is what I think of when I think of folk-punk bands, like This Bike is a Pipe Bomb and early Against Me!, and stuff like that. With Baltic Cousins, I kind of wanted to do the opposite of that, and play folk songs electric - so, twangy, and pick songs that are loud and heavy, because that's just kind of the only music I really know how to play."

What this translates into is the kind of winsome strumming that goes along with the most righteous folk songs, this time translated into fiery electric riffs. But no matter what I tell you about Baltic Cousins, all I can really say is that it hits my sweet spot.

BALTIC COUSINS, w/ Santee, Tortilla Flat, 9 p.m., Friday, June 14, The New Frontier Lounge, 301 E. 25th St, Tacoma, cover TBA, 253.572.4020