Sacramento State will show off the proverbial “creme de la creme” of its student music scene Thursday night at the Battle of the Bands.

The show will pit 10 musical acts of various styles and genres against each other in a contest of talent and showmanship. The participants’ styles range from instrumental heavy metal to hip-hop to science-fiction-influenced punk, but the one thing that connects them is at least one member of each band is a Sac State student.

The final lineup was narrowed down from 17 applicants. UNIQUE Programs volunteers and KSSU DJs listened to selections from each act, and used a 1- to 5-point system to determine which bands would duke it out.

All acts will play two original songs and one cover.

In addition to the overall quality and originality of each band’s performance, UNIQUE Programs adviser Zenia LaPorte said contestants are judged on interaction with the audience, crowd response and presentation. The three-judge panel will consist of one volunteer each from UNIQUE and KSSU, as well as Nick Brunner, host of Capital Public Radio’s “Off Air.”

First prize will include an appearance on Brunner’s show, as well as a live performance in the studio.

LaPorte said this event is a great opportunity for Sac State students to come out and see what their peers are up to.

“It is free, first of all,” she said, “and also it is a good chance to be exposed to bands (students) may not have seen otherwise, and also to support their fellow students. It is always a fun event.”

This is the third such contest, the last being in spring 2009.

Here is a little something about a few of the bands who will compete, in no particular order:

THE TIBETAN METHOD

The Tibetan Method might have an edge if bands were judged by how many people they have. Senior mechanical engineering major Steven Casado said he will be joined on stage by seven bandmates as well as a number of backup dancers.

The dancers will not be choreographed; Casado said they will just be up there having a good time. In fact, he said, if UNIQUE would permit it, he would like it if members of the audience cut loose and jump on stage with them as well.

Casado said he met the two other core members of the band, Daniel Mitchell and Jake Arveson, when all three were on Sac State’s cross country team. They just happened to all like and want to make the same type of tunes.

In terms of music, Casado said they play whatever they feel like playing. Often times, this ends up being “indie or acoustic stuff,” but he said the shows are never lacking in energy. They have some original material, and they also play a lot of covers, featuring selections from bands like The Beatles, Fleet Foxes and Vampire Weekend.

Casado said The Tibetan Method has a great chance to win because it packs so much energy into its live show.

THE RED RED KROOVIES

Sophomore photography major Mason Dean plays guitar in The Red Red Kroovies. Dean calls their sound “low-fidelity” indie rock, with a little bit of punk and a little bit of blues.

Dean said the band is heavily influenced by famous acts like the White Stripes, in that, he said, they focus more on making “interesting sounds than on heavily produced pop stuff.” He described the result as “rough” and “raw.”

Dean said the band formed in the summer of 2010, and were just looking for gigs when he happened upon a flier for the Battle of the Bands on campus. He thinks the Kroovies have a good shot at victory since he does not think any of the other bands are doing similar music.

LOBOT’S REVENGE

Lobot’s Revenge’s drummer, who goes by T742, said her band is in the middle of an intergalactic tour, and are stuck on Earth because humans have not yet invented the parts necessary to repair their tour bus.

T742 said their music is “sci-fi core,” with subject matter pertaining to science fiction. The self-identified robot said what humans call “science fiction” is really Lobot’s Revenge’s reality.

They play “fast punk music,” and true to this form, most of their songs are about one minute and 30 seconds long.

T742, who claims to be studying photography at Sac State to “upgrade (her) programming,” said while the other bands’ playing are good, she is not particularly worried.

“They play pretty good standard Earth music,” she said. “Definitely not as cool as stuff from space, but they are not so bad. I think we have a good competition. If we lose, it will be because people cannot see how great the future is.”

BE BRAVE BOLD ROBOT

Perhaps more than any other act playing Thursday, Be Brave Bold Robot will be familiar to many Sac State students, especially ones who have been around for a couple years. He has played multiple times on campus, including two Nooners.

Vocalist Dean Haakenson calls his band a “singer/songwriter project,” and said he has written all the music for its entire six-year history. Now 33, Haakenson will appear at Sac State with a completely different cast of backup players than the one he started out with. As time goes on, though, he said it gets easier to find new bandmates as the ones he has move on to start or maintain their own projects.

“It’s an upward spiral,” Haakenson said. “The more you play, the more people you meet, and the more you do not have a problem finding people to play with.”

He will be joined on stage by Chuck Hansen, a Sac State geology student in the master’s program. Haakenson himself is at Sacramento City College until he is “ready to make the leap to Sac State.”

FORTY LOVE

Hip-hop trio Forty Love formed specifically to compete in this Battle of the Bands, getting together a week after they heard about the competition. But rapper and head producer Donald McNair, junior business major, said the band has have a set of fresh, new tracks for its Sac State audience.

McNair and bandmate Tracey Drew came up with the name Forty Love because they both are committed tennis players. Both have made music on a solo basis since before high school, but had never teamed up before this year.

McNair was sure to emphasize that Forty Love does not perform “gangster rap,” but tries to keep the message positive and about having fun. The band does not use profanity or discuss negative subjects.

He described Forty Love as “commercial,” saying it is more mainstream and less “artistic” than the solo stuff of the individual members, since it is, at times, difficult to compromise with other artists who have their own desires when it comes to creating music.

THE MEN UPSTAIRS

Senior digital media and communication studies major Daniel Cordova, bass player for The Men Upstairs, said he knows his band’s music is not for everyone. He said his group plays “instrumental progressive hard rock,” and does not know who to compare the sound to.

“I do not expect us to win by any means,” he said, “but I love playing music in front of large crowds, and that is what I think this will be.”

While all the members of the band listen to it, Cordova said The Men Upstairs do not play “thrash or death metal.” Frequent hard rock listeners might find something different in this band, since Cordova said it features interesting genre twists such as “slap-bass funk breakdowns.”

Cordova said Be Brave Bold Robot is their biggest competition. He said he does not listen to that kind of folk-influenced music, but he said Haakenson is talented and “solid.” He realizes his kind of instrumental music does not always transfer well to a live show but he hopes to show Sac State something different.

DALIBRIUM

Most of the bands playing Thursday believe they have a chance to win, but Jonathan Knudsen of Dalibrium said it is all but in the bag for his group.

Knudsen, who goes by the stage name K-Desn, said Dalibrium plays a blend of alternative and rap-rock, and the result is a high-energy show guaranteed to get people “out of their seats.”

“We want to win, obviously,” he said. “But our goal is just to get people moving, pretty much.”

Knudsen insisted he was not talking trash, but he just does not see where Dalibrium’s competition will come from because there is no other group scheduled to perform who can get a crowd excited like his.