Many of their songs are truly one of a kind; the dueling guitar parts have their own unique sound, and the often garish costumes worn by frontwoman Haley Bonar are certainly distinctive. However, the one trait that most sets Gramma's Boyfriend apart from the band members' other musical projects might be this: It's nothing personal.

"It's the one thing we all do that's mainly just for the fun of it," guitarist Jacob Hanson explained of the quintet, which celebrates the release of its second album Friday at Icehouse in south Minneapolis.

Added Jeremy Ylvisaker, the arty post-punk group's other resident guitar wiz, "Especially for Haley, so much of her life is wrapped up in the music she makes under her own name. We can all kind of get outside ourselves in this band."

They certainly outdid themselves with "Perm." The 11-song collection arrived Oct. 9 via Georgia indie imprint Graveface Records and instantly confirmed that Gramma's Boyfriend is to be taken more seriously.

Granted, between the cute band name and sometimes goofy live shows, the group's reputation as something of a novelty act wasn't unfounded.

That's even how it was initially viewed by its members, who also include bassist Mark Erickson (Cloak Ox) and drummer Luke Anderson (Rogue Valley) in addition to Ylvisaker (Alpha Consumer, the Suburbs) and Hanson (Actual Wolf, the Pines). The latter three instrumentalists also regularly back Bonar's solo ventures.

"We were definitely lighthearted about it at first, both in our approach and certainly in our time commitment," said Hanson, recounting how the band was born by them all "going off" during rehearsals behind Bonar's "Golder" album in 2010.

"We were playing these punky guitar riffs and weird jams to sort of blow off steam, and Haley just started playing along."

Recorded over a sweaty three-day session last summer in Erik Koskinen's warehouse studio space, "Perm" shows how much more acutely ferocious and meaningful (if not personal) Gramma's Boyfriend's music has grown.

One of the best tracks on the album is a wounded, frayed cover of bipolar Texas songwriting hero Daniel Johnston's "I Live My Broken Dreams." Several of the other standouts, such as the shoegazer-whirry closer "Legends" and the almost Black Flag-like blaster "Deep V," would rival the local music scene's noisiest punk or scariest metal bands for savageness or noise level.

"That's what I mean about us doing this for fun," Hanson simply summarized of the latter tunes.

"The lyrical content is sometimes as intense as the music," Ylvisaker added, pointing to an earlier original, "Glitter," for proof. He also said of the Johnston cover, "It's just a heart-crusher that we all relate to deeply, living this crazy [musician's] life because it feels like we were meant to."

There's still plenty of room for levity in Gramma's Boyfriend, though. That much is confirmed by the fact that they waited until the night before Halloween to host their release party, also a costume party with Suzie opening (11 p.m., $10, icehousempls.com).

Random mix

Mark Mallman's Halloween night gig at the Turf Club is also the kickoff to a Kickstarter campaign to fund the release of an album he has been working on for three years. The Jayhawks, Soul Asylum, Romantica and "American Idol" alum Mark Andrew also all have new record-related crowdsourcing campaigns going on now. R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck is co-producing that Jayhawks record, by the way. …

Cloud Cult issued the first single from its next album last weekend, respectively titled "No Hell" and "The Seeker." It turns out the band also made an accompanying movie based on the record starring two TV actors, Josh Radnor ("How I Met Your Mother") and Alex McKenna ("What Women Want"). Their dual release is set for Feb. 12. And, yep, they too are crowdsourcing via PledgeMusic.com. …

Adam Levy's new record, "Naubinway," is out and paid for (at least in theory), and he will play a free in-store set Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the Electric Fetus in Minneapolis ahead of the Nov. 28 release party at the Cedar Cultural Center. It's the Honeydogs frontman's first solo album, and it's a doozy emotionally, based largely on his late son Daniel's battle with mental illness. …

Jim Walsh's Mad Ripple Hootenanny is moving for one night only to the DEMO Music Center on Friday night to raise money for the new community rescource and education facility, 3530 E. 28th St., Mpls. Terry Walsh, Martin Devaney and Sarah Streitz will also perform (6:30-9:30 p.m., $10 suggested). … Lots of love and a GoFundMe.com campaign is going around the web for slide-guitar specialist Shön Troth of Enemy Planes (and ex-Dreamcrusher, Solid Gold), who is currently battling cancer. Enemy Planes is carrying on with a free gig Friday, 8 p.m., at Club Jaeger. …

First Avenue's sixth annual tribute to the Replacements will feature a Melismatics-led all-star cast performing the entire "All Shook Down" album, plus Fury Things, Al Church, Bruise Violet and more on Nov. 27. … Bruise Violet will also perform an all-Lunachicks set for the third installment of the Girl Germs tribute bash Dec. 5 at the Turf Club, also featuring Nona Marie (doing Patti Smith), Mina Moore (Janet Jackson), Bad Bad Hats (Sheryl Crow) and Suzie (Cyndi Lauper). …

The Johnson brothers will be home for Christmas: Kraig and Kirk Johnson will follow up another Run Westy Run homecoming gig at 7th Street Entry in Minneapolis on Dec. 25 with a reunion of their fondly remembered, post-Westies dance-pop band Iffy on Dec. 26. Tickets to both gigs are on sale. … Sounds of Blackness has tickets available for its annual holiday show, "The Night Before Christmas: A Musical Fantasy," scheduled Dec. 12 at the Fitzgerald Theater in downtown St. Paul. …

If the precedent set the past two Friday afternoons holds, check startribune.com later to see which longtime radio DJs are out of jobs and what Prince has planned this weekend at Paisley Park.

chrisr@startribune.com • Twitter: @ChrisRstrib • 612-673-4658