It’s natural to expect bouncy, upbeat pop music from a band with an adorable name like the Tea Cozies, and the band’s brand-new record Hot Probs—produced by local pop music savant Erik Blood—delivers just that. But while bright ditties like “Pretty Pages” and “Corner Store Girls” share a lot in common with the sweet, summery songs Michigan band Saturday Looks Good To Me does so well (“Underwater Heartbeat” comes to mind), the Tea Cozies aren’t all cotton candy and rainbows. Numbers like “Huffy Walrus” start out like a cleaned-up Bikini Kill demo, with screaming vocals and lots of distortion. But the band doesn’t sustain that hard edge; later on, the song breaks out into a chorus of “oh ah ohs,” a shtick that’s just about as pop as it gets. It’s a deliberate, exciting juxtaposition that proves the Tea Cozies’ three founding ladies (and their lone bass-playing gentleman) know exactly what they’re doing.

Fri., May 1, 9 p.m., 2009