Ideal Fathers

Ideal Fathers is a band that shouldn't work. You shouldn't be able to mix edgy Gang of Four-esque guitar adventurism and funky rhythms with the thorniness and snarling vocals of early Dead Kennedys and get anything but an unholy mess. Theirs is a collection of sonic elements that seem to pull at each other in destructive ways, yet through a clever legerdemain of musical invention, the Fathers (due at 3 Kings Tavern on Saturday, August 2) have somehow come up with a new shading of dance punk that is thrillingly aggressive but with an expansiveness of tone that suggests the more reflective side of songwriting. On stage, the bandmembers perform like one of the great hardcore acts of old, with singer Jesse Hunsaker alternately playing hellish provocateur and tortured artist. Snidely clever yet smart song titles and a genuinely creative use of sound render them ideal paragons of the new post-punk.