It goes without saying that the World Famous Bob's Java Jive is a thing of beauty. Sure, it's grimy beauty, the kind of beautiful thing that also features a trough to piss in, but it's beautiful nonetheless. Tacoma's most legendary dive bar has been home to decades of iconic bands and once-in-a-lifetime performances, amidst swilling of beers and chain-smoking of cigarettes.

But, the Java Jive has always been in a state of flux. Crowds come and go, as well as bookers for the sometime venue, and so shows frequently vary in regularity. However, the Java Jive has acquired a new booker and, with him, a whole cavalcade of interesting shows. Recently, I found myself at a particularly invigorating night, featuring Dava Tara, a one-night-only reunion of the Cutwinkles and a mesmerizing performance from the totally insane Fabulous Downey Bros.

It was heartening to find myself at another quality Java Jive show, smack in the middle of several other promising shows on their calendar. One such show is taking place Saturday, featuring a band likely to draw comparisons to the Fabulous Downey Bros. in terms of sheer insanity: Swingset Showdown.

This is a band that describes themselves as a novelty act, though their music is far too complicated and off-putting to land them a spot on a Dr. Demento compilation. A piano-punk trio more on the Don't Stop Or We'll Die side than the Ben Folds Five side, Swingset Showdown find themselves building richly melodic jams that end up getting sidetracked by absurdity halfway to the triumphant chorus.

At times, their music comes across like a friendlier version of Coquelicot Asleep in the Poppies era Of Montreal. Even their sweetest melodies are infected with an eeriness that offsets the sugar. Off-kilter rhythms and tempo shifts serve as obstacles to keep the listener from passively absorbing the music. Swingset Showdown wants you to be an active participant.

When Swingset Showdown does a straight-ahead piano-punk number, they fly along at such a giddy speed that it's hard not to get caught up in their ridiculous energy. But, on their album, Short Bus Ruckus, Swingset Showdown are determined to let you know that anything can happen when it's least expected. Six-second throwaways are followed by power pop gems, and then there's the towering centerpiece: the seven-minute "Godzilla," an appropriate story of the monster's destruction translated through a headbanging blues-rock journey that pokes fun at the pretentious classic rock bands that indulged in faux-profound storytelling.

For an ideal illustration of Swingset Showdown's sensibility, you needn't look further than "Mustache." The song chronicles two young men: one asleep in the middle of a party, and the other with the unavoidable task of drawing a mustache on his sleeping friend's face. Affecting a widdle kid's voice, singer Eric Harvey then details the escalating series of mustache-related offenses that follow, all accompanied by jaunty piano and hooting and hollering bandmates.

At their finest, Swingset Showdown sound like a party band at a kid's birthday, all hyped up on sugar and dead set on destroying the cake before anyone can get to it. It's all in the name of fun, this sort of sonic destruction, and how you'll like it depends on how much you can recall your childhood fondness for chaos and mayhem. It's all just a joke, in the end.

Get it? Or are you still mad I drew that mustache on your face?

SWINGSET SHOWDOWN, w/ Vacant Seas, Smashie Smashie and Infinite Flux, 8 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 21, Bob's Java Jive, 2102 S. Tacoma Way, Tacoma, $5, 253.475.9843