The Cadallaca Experience: Gentle and Upbeat Punk

Cadallaca makes raw, quirky pop that is just sloppy enough to be charming. The trio is a side-project for singer-guitarist Corin Tucker of the acclaimed Sleater-Kinney, but the result is similar, if less intense punk-flavored pop.

At the Troubadour on Friday, Cadallaca worked the same roads regularly traveled by Sleater-Kinney, but with the added flavor of the simple, playful organ of Sarah Dougher. The sound was spare and gleefully small-time, the world of divas and MTV further away than Saturn.

Both bands emerged from the punk scene of Olympia, Wash., and Friday’s show was like a flashback all the way to, um, 1993. “It’s nice of you to try moshing that way,” Dougher told fans, “but don’t hurt yourself.”

Most of the set was up-tempo, romantic pop culled from the band’s new “Introducing Cadallaca” album, but there were enough new songs to suggest that this is more than a hobby for Tucker, who shared lead vocals with Dougher.

The hourlong set had more than a few false stops and starts. And upbeat pop performed this sloppily is somehow transformed into something else, like ? and the Mysterians or “Louie Louie” by the Kingsmen, where a layer of something darker and real is added to elementary melodies.