Fort Lauderdale Foursome Fantastic 5 Plays Radio-Active Records This Saturday, July 25

 Fort Lauderdale-based foursome Fantastic 5 blend indie rock and '90s alternative with echoing guitars, stripped down rock, and grungy  vocals, and name The Pixies, Weezer, The Strokes, and Velvet Underground among their musical influences. Their songs vacillate from Nirvana-inspired opening tempos to Bloodhound Gang-style vocal antics; and sometimes the vocalist even sounds a little like Marc Bolan from T.Rex, but in a good way. The band description on MySpace says the music is dark yet accessible. I don't really feel the dark part, as far as the songs posted, but it's accessible and poppy in mature ways that won't leave you in a sea of tween. The band plays Radio-Active Records Saturday with Alex Nelson. The show is free.