Hoot Hoots hop into Mootsy’s

If you couldn’t tell from the bunny suits and rainbow cloaks, The Hoot Hoots play what you might call feel-good music.

But the Seattle power-pop quartet is as serious about their songwriting sensibilities as they are about creating a fun vibe live.

Relying largely on fuzz synths and sing-a-longs to hook crowds into its outrageous stage show antics, The Hoot Hoots draw easy comparisons to The Shins and Flaming Lips, with a dash of vintage 16-bit Nintendo synth-pop.

The Hoot Hoots have been collecting props regionally as well as online since self-releasing the band’s first EP in 2010, “Silly Lecture Series” and the followup months later, “Appetite for Distraction.”

The Seattle Weekly said the songs about ghosts, robots, and brain-eating dinosaurs “capture the essence of goof-pop with upbeat, irrepressible glee.”

The Hoot Hoots, though, prefer audience member Tim Mendonsa’s assessment: “The Hoot Hoots are the band Calvin from ‘Calvin and Hobbes’ would have made when he got older; incredibly imaginative, funny, energetic, and quite poignant at times, too.”

See it firsthand when The Hoot Hoots appear with Terrible Buttons at 10 p.m. Saturday at Mootsy’s.

New York City Queens … from Houston

Also fresh on the scene, the New York City Queens have been making waves on the indie-rock radar with their 2012 debut “Something Different, Something New.”

Hailing from Houston, New York City Queens connects the dots of multiple forms of pop, including surf, folk, power, dream, ’80s synth, dance, New Wave, garage, of course pop-rock, and the ever-elusive post-pop.

Although New York City Queens stands out for its deft musicianship – tight, inventive arrangements, dynamic songwriting and selective groove – the vocal harmonies are key to the band’s sound signature.

Plus, the band has a reputation for polished live performances that do justice to studio recordings.

See for yourself, when New York City Queens headlines an all-ages show Wednesday at The Hop.