There was a period of a couple years, when I was most entrenched in my exploration of music criticism and the brave new world of music classification, when I would introduce a band to my dad and attempt to describe them through a list of newspeak subgenres. My dad, being an old-school '70s prog-rock aficionado, would roll his eyes at things like "match-rock" and "post-rock" and "chill-wave" and the Pixies. "It's just progressive rock," he'd say.

As much as I'd like to tell him that there are subtle nuances that differentiate these bands and break them free from the shackles of prog-rock, I have to say that I've spent years looking for a convincing argument and I've come up empty. Yes, St. Vincent is art-rock-space-funk, but what is this saying beyond that she's taking rock to a progressive level? Yes, Grizzly Bear make music that rises the alternative charts, but man, there weren't any alt charts in the '70s, so good luck hearing them played alongside Carole King.

For the nebulous nature of so many of these subgenres, there are at least certain ones that denote a time and space. C86, for example, being a very descriptive term for a sound, time, and place, painting a picture of jangly British bands from the mid-'80s. Post-punk, as literal and plain-faced as the conjoined words that make it up, casts your mind back to the wild and innovative times of the late '70s to the early '80s. This was a time when bands were recovering from the seismic shift that was the punk music revolution, and they were rebuilding sound from the musical rubble. Yes, it's still vague, knowing that the Cure, Echo and the Bunnymen, Joy Division and, arguably the Smiths and Tears for Fears can all be included.

The genius thing about the subgenre of post-punk is that we now have bands like Phobos & Deimos who can mine inspiration from a vibrant variety of bands that existed during this period.

"The guitarist Zac Webb and I had been friends for years," says Phobos & Deimos singer Hans Burger. "We wrote a few songs, just for shits and giggles, while I was in South Korea. We sent recordings back and forth, adding layers, and eventually we realized we had something we were actually proud of. ... I moved back to the U.S. and to Olympia, and then we worked on getting a band together. Eventually, we had Dallis on drums and Joe Dye on bass."

That first song they recorded was "The Optimist," which differs from the majority of their other songs, in that it takes a very ‘80s feel, getting in and out in under four minutes, layering reverb upon reverb on guitars and vocals. There's a driving quality to the song that doesn't reflect the slow burn that can come with their other output, along with that sweetly mopey sound that accompanies bands like the Smiths and the Cure.

"That song was almost a pastiche," says Burger. "Zac and I are both really big fans of the Cure, so we thought it would be fun to try and do something that might be a B-side for Seventeen Seconds. It was an experiment, initially, and it was fun as an experiment. ... There's a flexibility that's built into that post-punk style. There's something about it where you fold lots of other genres and subgenres into it and it fits pretty smoothly. ... You think about a band like Magazine, and a lot of their work is considered post-punk, but their early stuff sounds like old Genesis."

What Phobos & Deimos sound like is a band with their heads on straight and a muscular sound that isn't afraid of silence and anticipation. No subgenres needed.

PHOBOS & DEIMOS, w/ Chung Antique, Battersea, Bullets or Balloons, Fountains, 8 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 25, Bob's Java Jive, 2102 South Tacoma Way, Tacoma, $5, 253.475.9843