Thursday is the perfect night of the week to discover new bands. If you don’t care for all of them, order drug your weekend isn’t ruined, or you’ve discovered a new favorite band to obsess with Saturday and Sunday. Luckily, this past Thursday at Great Scott was the latter with the lineup of Saintseneca, LVL UP, Ovlov and Fleabite.

Fleabite is a fun punk band comprised of members of many other bands in the Boston area, so they’ve had the experience of creating different sounds. Now a three-piece instead of a four-piece, these ideas meld together in Fleabite with heavy guitars but fun melodies. The band also showed some confidence for their first Great Scott gig. When Vicky’s kick pedal broke, Ali took to the mic to tell a story of a time she got kicked out of Great Scott for being underage at a show. They brought nine CD-Rs to the show with their new material, because their tapes haven’t been pressed yet. I hope they sold all nine. At times, they had alternating vocals between Ali on guitar and Vicky on drums, which created a fun play in the lyrical style. Chelsea on bass kept everything flowing together. The audience was new to Fleabite, but they enjoyed a cover of Venga Boys’ ‘90s classic, “Boom Boom Boom Boom.”

I’ve seen Ovlov too many times live, because the first thing I noticed was that Steve Hartlett got a new guitar. I had heard that Ovlov was playing some new songs on their recent shows, so I was very excited to hear them along with some members of the audience who appeared just to be here for Ovlov. I don’t blame them; Ovlov is one of the best semi-local acts to see live. Their first three songs were new tunes. The first was heavier than some of the songs off their debut am, but it was very melodic at times and less noisy than some of their material. Jonah Furman of Krill fame summed it up well when after the song ended, and he yelled, “YEAHAHAHEHAHH!” They showcased more of their noisier side on the second track, which also gave Theo Hartlett on drums a chance to explore his skills. The timing of the drumbeats was constantly changing, but Theo with all his mad skills kept up with it. The third of their new songs demonstrated their ability to effortlessly switch between quiet, loud, slow, and fast while still all sounding like one cohesive song that takes you on a sonic adventure. Ovlov then smashed into their older material with “The Well,” one of their fastest and hardest-hitting tracks off am. Steve Hartlett is like a machine operator and that machine is the strings on his guitar, bending them farther than you would think, but he knows exactly what to do to produce the pretty noise of Ovlov songs. He showed his humor on stage as well, ending the set with a joke about how everyone should skip LVL UP’s set to go eat cheeseburgers.

I hope no one listened to Steve Hartlett, because LVL UP’s set was the one you shouldn’t have missed. I have listened to LVL UP time and time again through my iTunes, but this was my first chance to see them live. I am now a new woman. LVL UP showcase some of the best power pop that turned the head bangs from the Ovlov set in the audience to dancing feet.

Their surfy guitars and alternating vocals create one the most unique power pop sounds. It seems rooted in punk, but it really isn’t. One of the guitarists was having trouble with a cable and between Matt Connery of Pile, himself, and a few songs, they improvised a fix for the problem. Their tricky beats make you think that maybe the song is over, but then it hits you hard back again. LVL UP made my weekend, and I spent the entire time letting it all soak in and obsessing over a new favorite band.

The night had an interesting progression that went from punk to noisy to poppy and now folky? Saintseneca are an interesting pop folk outfit. Their members all dressed really well, and there were some instruments on stage I couldn’t even identify. See photos to help a sister out. They weren’t the obnoxious cute-folksy-pop-on-the-radio kind although I thought they might have been a bit gimmicky at times. The members of the band played a constant game of musical chairs where the chairs were their instruments and spots on stage. After every song, the members would switch around and tune up to play the next song. Interestingly, they had no stage banter like most bands during their changing/tuning times. They did it quietly since it is a part of their normal routine.

I knew Saintseneca wasn’t a gimmick when I listened carefully to the lyrics of Zac Little, their beautifully groomed lead singer with an amazing mustache. His lyrics are brutally honest with natural themes, much like a true folk act. Little remained on the stage for one solo effort on electric guitar, and the band joined back on stage for another song. They left for a brief period and came back out for an encore, performing a song to an almost sold-out crowd who all screamed the words back out to them.

This perfect Thursday led to a weekend filled of post-show happiness. New discoveries left to that weekend of obsession and excitement about new favorite bands. I know the rest of the audience left feeling the same way.