Start with half a cup of power pop and a handful of harmonies, stir in a viola, add a pinch of crazy animation and Voila! A great night out.

Local artists Allison Weiss and the Way She Likes It, Venice is Sinking and The Buddy System are taking the stage tonight at the 40 Watt to merrily demolish conventional standards of music – and look great doing it.

In the four years that Allison Weiss has lived in Athens, she’s become quite the lady about town. Determined to gain headway in the music business, Weiss has now collected a sizable fan base that can’t get enough of her lighthearted tunes of love and loss.

“I think it’s catchy and easy to relate to,” Weiss said. “I like to say that it’s your saddest memories sung to the tune of your happiest.”

After naming their 2008 summer tour a grand success, Weiss and her bandmates were ready to hit the recording studio again.

“We released an EP in October, which is the first release I’ve had with a full band,” Weiss said. Until about a year ago, Allison’s act consisted of her and her younger brother A.J. Weiss.

“I just put up an ad on Craigslist for my drum and bass players,” she said. Responses came from ex-Winter Sounds drummer Donovan Babb and former Beyond Tomorrow bassist Alec Wooden, and just like that, a band was born.

Dynamics aside, Weiss says that not much has changed about her music.

“It’s pretty much the same lyrics about heartbreak with really upbeat, happy music.”

One emerging local act that Weiss couldn’t help but notice is The Buddy System, a band with an unusual approach to live performance.

For every song the band plays, there is an animated visual playing behind them.

The Buddy System is an equal collaboration between two musicians, brothers Mat and Ryan Lewis, and two graphic designers, Lauren Gregg and Craig Sheldon.

“I was living in New York with my friend Lauren when we decided to start our own animation business,” Sheldon said. The two later moved to Athens to pursue animation.

“We also wanted to be in a band, but we never had the musical chops to back it up,” said Sheldon.

Fueled by this desire, the two joined up with the Lewis brothers to create a powerful force of new-age entertainment.

“[We wanted] something that tied in closer together than bands that just project things behind them while they play. Our songs sync up with the cartoons, and vice versa,” Mat said. “The visuals take a lot of work…it’s at least a solid two weeks of work for each song.”

Sometimes The Buddy System even generates its animated visuals live.

“For [some] songs Craig will actually be controlling the animation in real time,” Lewis said.

Lewis and Sheldon insist that the extra work is worth it.

“You can definitely see when we start our set that people are sort of looking around at each other trying to see how other people are responding to it,” Mat said.

While half the group’s songs are exclusively instrumental, Mat writes the lyrics for the rest.

“When there are pictures of kitties jumping around behind you, it’s not really about writing anything very deep,” said Mat.

With brightly colored cartoons and songs about magical battling horses, The Buddy System seems to have an accepting attitude toward the nonsense that can arise from the creative process.

Sheldon said, “If we tried to take ourselves seriously, it would be terrible.”