Math & Physics Club | the finest kiss

Midyear Notables or Oh Yeah I Almost Forgot About This Blog

Posted on July 15, 2018 by Toby

Hopefully your RSS reader still works and this popped up. My excuse for lack of content here at the Finest Kiss is that I’ve been too busy listening to records. To catch everyone up on my life, here are 30 or so records that are at the top of my pile so far for 2018. Seems like a lot, but I still feel like I left a lot of good stuff out.

annaburch
Anna Burch – Quit the Curse (Polyvinyl)
Burch was in the Sarah Records influenced Failed Flowers with Fred Thomas of Saturday Looks Good to Me. Here debut solo album has a nod or to towards K Records, specifically Lois Maffeo, with its 90’s style indiepop and understated sardonic pop.

beachhouse
Beach House – 7 (Sub Pop)
Baltimore’s Beach House are a prolific duo and their many records seem to have building up to their seventh appropriately titled album. If you recall late period Cocteau Twins when they were at the height of their ethereal powers, then yuo will no doubt already own this.

blueslawyer
Blues Lawyer – Guess Work (Emotional Response)
With their tendrils firmly wrapped around the Oakland, California indie scene, Blues Lawyer do lo-fi wiry punk ditties that bring to mind contemporaries the Rays and early influencers like Television Personalities and the Tronics.

cavern
Cavern of Anti-Matter – Hormone Lemonade (Duophonic)
Tim Gane’s post-Stereolab groop puts it all together on their third album. It’s full of experimental Kraut excursions and just enough song structure to keep it from going off the rails.

cutworms
Cut Worms – Hollow Ground (Jagjaguwar)
Tons of Everly Brothers and Buddy Holly in Hollow Ground, which flies in the face of present day music. What’s wrong with this one man band Max Clark and his compulsion of a bygone era? Who cares, when it sounds this good.

Datenight (US) – Comin Atcha’ 100MPH (Drop Medium)
Anyone remember that Box Elders record from a ways back? If not, you probably are familiar with the Clean. This Nashville band reminds me of both.

umb
Dumb – Seeing Green (Mint)
Most would file Dumb under Pavement/Parquet Courts, but I dig way these Vancouver rockers’ punky songs evoke Big Boys, sport an offbeat sense of the absurd and (probably) make an unintentional nod to Stewart Copeland’s alter ego Klark Kent.

flasher
Flasher – Constant Angel (Domino)
I love how this DC band blend Hometown influences like Unrest and Holland with Three O’clock style paisley underground into a brilliant record that goes against the current grain. If this came out 25 years ago it woulda been on Teenbeat fer sure!

freakgenes
Freak Genes – Qwak Qwak (Drunken Sailor)
Sparse lo-fi punky songs from a guy from Proto Idiot and another guy from the Red Cords. On LP number the duo add some synths to their garage arsenal of sound. I’m not sure why they’re dressed as ducks on the cover, maybe it’s a result of some gene splicing experiment gone awry where they tried to genetically modify the DNA of Buzzcocks, Syd Barret and Howard the Duck.

girlsnames
Girls Names – Stains on Silence (Tough Love)
On their fourth album, Northern Ireland’s Girls Names plunge themselves down into a dark, dark place. It’s not as immediate as previous efforts, but I think I like this new one more than anything they’ve done so far. It brings to mind the moody “difficult” post punk the Sound’s All Fall Down and Comsat Angels’ Sleep No More.

goatgirl
Goat Girl – Goat Girl (Rough Trade)
London’s Goat Girl sound like a 1980’s 4AD band from the United States. Translated, that means think Throwing Muses and Pixies. Throw in a little PJ Harvey and Gallon Drunk and you’re only missing Steve Albini, who apparently was too busy playing poker to records their debut LP.

greensea
Green Seagull – Scarlet Fever (Mega Dodo)
From the If it ain’t baroque then surely its psychedelic school of 60’s rock revivalism, comes Green Seagull’s debut LP. Both of last year’s excellent singles reappear here to re-mezmerize, but there are many new songs drenched in kaleidoscopic harmonies and 12 string guitars that are just as worthy.

gwenno
Gwenno – Le Kov (Heavenly)
For her sophomore album Gwenno has switched from singing in Welsh to singing in Cornish, a minor detail probably for most of us who speak neither. Whatever language she sings in, Gwenno excels at the lingua franca of krautrock-psychedelic-soundtrack strain of rock.

holliecook
Hollie Cook – Vessel of Love (Merge)
Swapping out Prince Fatty with Youth to produce her third album of tropical reggae vibes, Hollie Cook doesn’t miss a step. There are fewer string arrangements, but one half of Public Image Limited (Jah Wobble and Keith Levene) and a top batch of songs make barely noticeable.

Hookworms – Microshift (Domino)
Hookworms started out as a screaming maelstroem inspired by Thirteenth Floor Elevators, but with each album they have sanded down the roughness of their sound little by little and now Microshift sees them morphing into Depeche Mode. Not quite, but they do employ some fast fashion into this record to thrilling effect while still keeping their slightly unhinged attitude.

Insecure Men – Insecure Men (Fat Possum)
The new band from Saul Ademczewski formerly of Fat White Family is light, playful and unassuming, but that doesn’t mean it’s not worth your time. With a name like Insecure Men and sounding like it they were influenced by Harry Nilson, the Lightening Seeds, Love & Rockets and Captain Sensible, Ademczewski an his collaborator Ben Romans-Hopcraft stay on the pop rails just barely.

itchy
Itchy Bugger – Done One (Low Company)
This record appears to bit of an anomaly, a dude from bands that sound nothing like the Clean, Television Personalities, and the Art Museums makes an album that makes a record that sounds like it was directly influenced by those bands. What a crazy wonderful world.

espaces
Jonathan Fitoussi / Clemens Hourrière – Espaces Timbrés (Versatile)
This duo employ vintage modular synthesizers to create ambient landscapes that share topographical similarities with Kraftwork’s Radioactivity and Eno’s ambient stuff. Rarely does ambient music feel so powerful, but this record is juiced with the ability to make one feel they are floating into other realms.

laluz
La Luz – Floating Features (Hardly Art)
I suppose it isn’t all that surprising that a surf band from Seattle would move to Los Angeles. Who wants to surf (or play beach parties for that matter) the frigid waters of the Pacific Northwest when sunny SoCal is just down the I-5? With some production help from Dan Auerbach and sporting a slightly more muscular tone, these former Seattle ladies seem to have adjusted to their new locale quite nicely.

laylamas
Lay Llamas – Thuban (Rocket)
Lay Llamas essentially is Italy’s Nicola Giunta creating multi-textured psychedelic rock. On Thuban he has a few guest to help him out including Goat and Clinic, but this is his show of rhythmic dalliances into north Africa, Thailand and the Beta Band’s Edinburgh.

lithics
Lithics – Mating Surfaces (Kill Rock Stars)
I recommend Lithics second album and first for Kill Rock Stars knowing that their sparse, mechanical clang is not for everyone, but for those who like cold hard surface on which to reproduce…Hell even if you don’t and want something cold, sharp and hard to jar you from your comfort zone then this is it.

mapc
Math & Physics Club – Lived Here Before (Fika)
Math & Physics Club have been known to cover REM, I remember them doing an excellent version of Shaking Through from Murmur, so it not surprising to hear them dropping REM references throughout Lived Here Before. Don’t worry, if you are a fan of their subtle understated pop, they haven’t gone all End of the World as We Know it. They have this great ability to subtly incorporate influences without them overpowering their own of delicate pop.

melodys
Melody’s Echo Chamber – Bon Voyage (Fat Possum)
The second effort from Melody Prochet was a long time coming, but well worth the wait. Instead of the focused pop of her debut, she teams up with members of Dungen to make a psyche rock amoeba built on improvisation and fear of being fenced in. It has a random kitchen sink feel at times, but it sounds adventurous and exciting.

olkenyolk
Olden Yolk – Olden Yolk (Trouble In Mind)
I always wonder when a member of a band, say Shane Butler of Quilt, starts another band, what does that mean for the other band? Are they kaputt, or just taking a break? Bultler is joined by Caity Shaffer and they come off sounding like a long lost 60’s California folk group that has a thing for the German motorik beat. A near perfect combination of the two and my new chocolate & peanut butter.

The Orielles – Silver Dollar Moment (Heavenly)
I’ve seen the Orielles described as being, baggy, shoegaze and C-86. They’ve been compared also to the Pastels, Pink Floyd, Belly and Orange Juice. For the record I’m not going to add to that confusing list of comparisons. I will say that this trio’s debut album is strong in the pop department and has something for nearly everyone.

cover
Parquet Courts – Wide Awake (Rough Trade)
The new PC’s album was produced by Danger Mouse, reminds me of the Beastie Boys Check Your Head era funk and Spoon’s sparse percussive pop. Wide Awake might be their best since their debut Light Up Gold.

patois
Patois Counselors – Proper Release (Ever Never)
Charlotte, North Carolina’s first impressed with 2015’s Clean Skits single on Negative Jazz. The seven piece band are a kin to Protomartyr, with a seriously lower profile. Their debut album is full of post punk, art school ditties reminiscent of Pere Ubu, the Fall and Fugazi and every bit as worthy of your hard earned money.

Red Red Eyes – Horology (Where It’s At Is Where You Are)
This year I’ve felt a strong Broadcast influence in the rock continuum and UK duo Red Red Eyes are another piece of anecdotal evidence for my case. It’s not a Broadcast tribute mind, Horology is moody, mysterious, trippy and not afraid to borrow from Massive Attack and Serge Gainsbourg either.

roves
The Roves – The Roves (One Man Movement)
This London band’s debut album is a jangly throwback to classic 60’s pop records that were packed with two and tree minutes pop songs and not a dud to be found in the bunch.

saysue
Say Sue Me – Where We Were Together (Damnably)
The undeniably catchy Old Town is a slice of classic indiepop, but it’s sort of a red herring too. Say Sue Me hail from South Korea and it’s obvious they are fans of the UK indiepop style, but they paint from a bigger pallet of surf inspired guitars and effects laden dreampop.

shannon
Shannon Shaw – Shannon in Nashville (Easy Eye Sound)
Is it ok to say that I like this better than any Shannon & the Clams albums? The Shaw – Auerbach collaboration reminds me a little of accomplished pop-psych that came out of the Del Shannon – Andrew Loog Oldham collaboration.

Shopping – The Official Body (Fatcat)
For album number three (why does nobody call the third album their junior effort) Shopping rip it up and start again. Not exactly, but they employed Edwyn Collins to produce the record. Their brand of dancy post-punk benefits from an infusion of Orange Juice to make it their most accessible record yet.

sonsofkemet
Sons of Kemet – Your Queen Is a Reptile (Impulse!)
I didn’t even know that the Impulse label still existed as a label that put out new stuff. This is the group’s third album and its tuba, trombone, sax, clarinet attack spans Mingus, Jamaican ska/reggae, Coltrane and Sun Ra. Remarkable, even for non-jazz aficionados like myself.

virginiawing
Virginia Wing – Ecstatic Arrow (Fire)
This is the first Viginia Wing I’ve bought since EP on Faux Discx. I love it. Touches of Taken by Trees, Hector Zazou, and Broadcast, the latter which (as you can probably tell) seems to be so prevalent in my listening tastes lately.

An Interview With Math & Physics Club

Posted on June 26, 2016 by Toby

Scotland has Belle & Sebastian, Australia has the Lucksmiths and the Pacific Northwest has Math & Physics Club. The Puget Sound darlings share a common aesthetic with the former and a record label with the latter. While they never got out and toured the world to the extent of their colleagues, they’ve been releasing quality records for more than a decade. The Olympia by way of Seattle band (or vice versa) began as a trio, expanded to a quintet and then shrunk back down to a trio and now appear to have settled on being a quartet all the while releasing superbly crafted beautifully melancholy records. The band have just released a compilation that collects their first three EPs and some sundry B-sides. For those of us familiar with the band it’s a great reminder of how good those early songs were and for those not yet acquainted it serves as a great introductory and overview of one of indiepop’s well kept secrets.

Having lived in the PNW for about as long as Math & Physics Club has been around I feel like their records have been like soundtrack to my life up here. I’ve also had the pleasure of seeing them play live many times. After their recent in-store performance at Sonic Boom Records in Ballard I asked them if they wouldn’t mind answering a few questions for this blog. They kindly agreed. I hope you enjoy their insightful answers to my pedestrian questions, and if you happen to be in Seattle this summer the band will play a rare show at the Vera Project on August 8th. Also, be sure to pick up the new compilation In This Together from Matinée Recordings and Fika Recordings.

Do you recognize the Seattle of today compared to the one of 2005 when you released your first EP Weekends Away?

Ethan: It’s different, but we’re different too. You can definitely follow the threads from the past into the present, but I guess recently it’s gotten to be a heavier weave.

Charles: I recently visited Bellingham where I went to college, and I couldn’t remember the last time I was there. It was familiar in that I could still find my way around, and a few of the old shops were still there, but a lot was new and I felt out of place even though I’d lived there for 6 years of my life. Seattle is a bit like that for me now. We’ve taken a lot of time between albums and shows in recent years, and each time we come up for air it feels like I barely recognize the musical landscape.

What has it been like being a band that could be described as twee in a city known for lumberjacks and grunge? Who were some of the bands that you identified with back then?

Ethan: Well, we liked the Posies, the Dharma Bums, Beat Happening, Young Fresh Fellows, Lois, Tullycraft, the Fastbacks, and in a way I think we’ve always seen ourselves as an extension of that part of the local scene, rather than the grunge scene. More Popllama or K than Subpop, if that means anything. Although I guess we don’t sound like any of those bands, they’re part of our culture.

James: I’m really thankful we got the chance to see all those bands growing up. I think we probably learned a lot about the aesthetics of being in a band from watching people like Calvin Johnson or Jeremy Wilson from the Dharma Bums. There wasn’t much separation between the audience and the musicians. There was very few rock star personalities. One minute you’d be standing next to someone watching the show and the next minute they’d be up on stage playing.

Charles: I love how James described it there. I think more than anything we were exposed to bands that respected each other and their audience, and that’s what rubbed off in how we’ve approached being in a band.

Do you think that sounding so different from the what people expected a band from Seattle (or Olympia) to sound like helped you to get recognized in the beginning?

Ethan: I’m not sure if it helped or hurt. We like a lot of the same bands other people like, and that comes out in the music.

Charles: I think it’s fair to say it helped us in the beginning. We probably didn’t sound like a lot of the other demos that landed on desks at KEXP, for example. Sometimes getting people’s attention is half the battle.

The story is that you sent a demo tape to Jimmy at Matinee and quickly became the first American band on the label. What songs were on the demo and why do you think you’re the only band on that American record label? Do you have to speak with an accent when you talk to your label?

Ethan: Our first EP is basically identical to the demo, except we included Love Again on the EP instead of Nothing Really Happened. The demo version of Nothing Really Happened is on the new compilation. I think the story is, Mark Monnone from the Lucksmiths was staying with Jimmy when our demo arrived in the mail, and Mark talked him into giving us a chance.

James: I think that actually is a true story. We should ask Mark and Jimmy to tell us what happened that fabled night. Right when we were joining Matinee another American band called the Fairways was sort of calling it a day. I always loved their music and wished we’d had the chance to get to know them and play a few shows together.

Charles: I think some of that is Mark’s cheeky version of the story, but no doubt he was there when Jimmy got the demo. Whatever the real story, it couldn’t have worked out more perfectly for us. As for why we’re still the only American band on the label, you’d have to ask Jimmy, but if you look around the States there really aren’t a lot of bands doing a similar style of pop, which fits pretty neatly into Matinee’s aesthetic.

How were the first two EPs recorded, were they done by yourselves or did you go into a studio for them?

Ethan: They were mostly recorded at Silvermaple Studio, which is what we called James’ basement, and it consisted of an old computer with CoolEdit, a Mackie PA for preamps and reverb, and a couple of SM57s. The drums for the second EP were recorded in a friend’s basement because he could record more than two mics at a time! Some bits were recorded at Charles’ house, too. We mixed the first EP ourselves, and I think we mixed the second EP too, but our mix was so bad that the mastering engineer told us to redo it. Kevin had all the files on his laptop, but he was leaving for several weeks, so he remixed the whole EP from scratch in a day or two! I actually really like the sound of the early EPs.

James: There really is nothing more terrifying than having Barry Corliss listen to your mix and then point to the door and say come back for mastering when you have it fixed. We really had no idea what we were doing when it came to writing and recording music which was part of the fun. Not knowing how to do something meant there weren’t really any rules.

Charles: Though not following any rules also meant you got sent home to redo it by Barry! My favorite bit of nostalgia about recording those early EPs is that Kevin played the bass drum on Sixteen and Pretty with a spoon because he’d forgotten some piece of drum equipment that day. In all honesty, I used to feel sheepish about the lo-fi sound on the early recordings, but after having worked in a bunch of studios since then, I appreciate that we were somehow able to capture a feeling that’s not easy to replicate.

MAPC was originally five members, but Kevin Emerson (though Kevin still plays drums in the band) and Saundrah Humphrey left after the first album. Besides the obvious we’re now a three piece, how did the band change when they left?

Ethan: Mostly it streamlined our decision making. We’ve always made all our decisions together, so now there are only three people in all the email threads. Usually we figure out the details, and then see if Kevin’s available. And he almost always is. We’ve been playing together for so long, Kevin just knows what to play almost automatically. Before we went into the studio to record California, I think we only rehearsed twice!

James: I’m not entirely sure Kevin isn’t back to being a full time member of MAPC these days. We should ask him sometime!

Charles: At the time Kevin left, I don’t think we quite realized how much the band is really defined by the four of us. We’ve played with other drummers who are our friends and fine musicians, but there’s something about the four of us together that just feels like magic, if you’ll pardon the metaphysics. Luckily we’ve found a way to keep him close. And Saundrah was such a vital part of our early sound that we couldn’t help but change, and I think you can hear the difference in our sound after she left in 2007.

Not many bands stay together for ten plus years. How do you account for your longevity?

Ethan: Well, we’re friends. Some people have poker nights, or they get together to watch football games or something, but we have the band. And because we’re friends, we all know that family comes first, and so we just get together when we can. It’s not always easy, but when we get together, everything just falls into place. It sounds like us, and that’s really satisfying.

James: So there’s laughing and then there’s can’t catch your breath sort of laughing. I’ve probably laughed the hardest over the last ten years hanging out doing stuff with this band. We have a ton of fun when we get together and the music just flows easily for some magical reason.

Charles: I love you guys.

More bands should play in museums. I recently saw the Intelligence play the Frye and it reminded me of seeing you play SAM. I think you even covered the Stone Roses & Razorcuts at that performance. What were some of your more memorable shows in Seattle and elsewhere?

Ethan: We actually got to play our Razorcuts cover with Gregory Webster once! He sang A Is for Alphabet with us at San Francisco Popfest, but sadly the only evidence is a photograph of the top of Gregory’s head!

James: Museums, libraries, record stores, etc. are absolutely some of the coolest places we’ve had a chance to play. Our show at the Seattle Art Museum is probably one of my all time favorite live experiences along with the time we played at the same local public library Charles and I used to go to in Olympia when we were kids.

Charles: I love playing in alternative venues. I wish Seattle had more affordable makeshift music spaces. I’m still hoping to find a boat we can play on! Playing at Bumbershoot in the Sky Church in 2005 is one of my favorites. I couldn’t believe how packed it was, and we were playing on this huge stage and it was weird and wonderful.

I know Charles has been playing in Unlikely Friends with Dave from BOAT, but you included a brand new song (Coastal California, 1985) on the new compilation. So what does the future have in store for MAPC?

Ethan: We recorded another song at the same time as Coastal California, and we’re holding onto that for the future. We have a plan to record some new demos. We’re working up plans for a little tour in the Autumn but I think that’s still a secret. Also, Kevin and I have a side project called Northern Allies, which is more of a new wave postpunk sort of band. But Math and Physics Club seems to turn up opportunities for fun and adventure, which is all anyone can ask for, and it manages to stay alive somehow. I’m so thankful it does.

James: We don’t really have a roadmap drawn for MAPC. We’re just sort of letting it evolve organically and we’ll see where that takes us next.

Charles: Nothing so far has gone according to any plan we could have dreamed up. As long as it continues to be fun, we’ll keep doing it.

Unlikely Friends Strike Gold

Posted on February 10, 2015 by Toby

With Boat on somewhat of a hiatus and Math and Physics Club in the middle of their standard four or so years between albums what is a guy to do in the green and mossy Pacific Northwest? Well, in the case of Boat’s Dave Crane you round up a new bunch of friends, call yourselves Unlikely Friends and cook up a new batch of killer pop pop songs. You will undoubtedly recognize the voice of Charles “Chaz” Bert from Math & Physics Club and you may know Chris Mac (the Indiepop King of Seattle) who runs the Jigsaw record label and mail order and is at least in three bands around town at any given time.

Solid Gold Cowboys will be easy to like if you are already a Boat fan because Crane’s voice and his penchant for writing hooky pop songs. The gunslinger in this game is Bert who usually keeps things pretty mellow when singing in MAPC, but really lets loose on many of these songs adding an quantifiable effervescence into them.

The album is a combination of precise pop hooks akin to Guided By Voices and the sunny sweet bubblegum psychedelia of the Apples in Stereo. Soft Reputation and Satellite Station are the best of examples of this great combination, but that doesn’t really cover it. Ride Off Into the Sunset chugs along like Love and Rockets, Gold Hills Theme nods to the dusty spaghetti western soundtrack music of Ennio Morricone and Gold Coast Marauders has the delicacy of a Left Banke song. Crane usually takes the lead vocal with Bert coming in on the chorus to put the song into the stratosphere.

Considering the backgrounds of these three (Un)likely friends it’s not surprising that they got together to make a record. The unlikely part is that the peanut butter and chocolate combination of the heart on your sleeve style of Boat juxtaposed with the sweetness of Math and Physics Club is satisfying winner.

Cassette version is available from Mirror Universe Tapes
Compact Disc version is available from Jigsaw Records

If you are in Seattle, you won’t want to miss Unlikely Friends record release show at the Rendezvous in Belltown, Saturday, February 21 with Ruler and Oh! Pears.

Summertime Matinée

Posted on July 17, 2013 by Toby

Santa Barbara’s Matinée records has a double feature of 7-inch singles for your summer listening pleasure. First up is Seattle’s very own Math and Physics Club returning with one of their more upbeat tunes in recent memory and a very eye-catching Tae Won Yu cover to boot. I think I like it when singer Charles Bert sounds a little pissed off. In fact I prefer it. Long Drag is still definitely indiepop, but it veers off the twee highway when Bert sings I’m not the one who shut you I’m not the one let you down. He sounds hurt, let down, and vengeful and he even swears! This is not the Math and Physics Club your parents knew and they are all the better for it! More like this please.
stream: Math & Physics Club – Long Drag (7-inch/download out on Matinée Recordings)

Scotland’s Bubblegum Lemonade offer up the second feature. This one is full of 12 string jangling goodness. It’s not a huge departure from previous efforts, but when you excel at honey sweet pop goodness why depart. Have You Seen Faith has the Byrds jangle and adds a little of the Stone Roses more melancholy side to the equation. Bonus points for writing the answer to Heavenly‘s Cool Guitar Boy in the obviously titled Cool Guitar Girl on the b-side.

stream: Bubblegum Lemonade – Have You Seen Faith? (7-inch/download out now on Matinée Recordings)

Singles of the Year Countdown: 40-31

Posted on December 12, 2010 by Toby

I bought way too many seven inch singles this year. I’m not trying to brag. It’s a problem really. The seven inch is like crack to the record geek, a fleeting moment of pop perfection and then it’s off to either flip the record or put on another one. This was a daunting task this year and I feel like I left out a lot of stuff, but a top 60 would have been too much and limiting it to 40 makes you have to really decide, what were your favorite singles of the year. Here are numbers 40-31.

31. Mirah – Don’t! (Mississippi)

I admit that I hadn’t paid much attention to Mirah in recent years, but I do pay quite a lot of attention to Mississippi Records, so that led me to buying this record. The song Don’t appeared on the compilation The Old Days Feeling in a different version, but that version didn’t prepare me for this Patsy Cline inspired beauty. It has a warmth that you might not have thought that records could have any more and the b-side The Tears That Fall with its strings and horns is no slouch either. This record makes me pray that she’s planning a whole album in this style.

mp3: Don’t

32. Sourpatch – Deli Dream (Happy Happy Birthday To Me)

San Jose’s Sourpatch owned my record player for a good part of the year and just as I had properly killed their album Crushin’ they go and release this single to take over my record player again. They called the sides to the single This side and Other side, but I call them Tiger Trap side and Small Factory Side. In my little corner of the basement where the record player sits that is as close to perfection as it gets.

mp3: Deli Dream

33. Aias – Aias (Captured Tracks)

Every band should have a self-titled theme song and Barcelona’s Aias do just that with their horn laden song Aias. These ladies put a twist on the girl group, C-86 phenomenon by singing in Catalan. Note to old people who always say it’s a lovely tune but I can’t understand what their saying: Uh, yeah.

mp3: Aias

34. Yuck – Georgia (Fat Possum)

More 90’s sounds in this year’s countdown, you will quickly figure out that this is a recurring theme. Georgia first appeared on the split record Yuck did with Cleveland’s Herzog on the Transparent label. Fat Possum new a good thing when they heard it and smartly released it as an A-side themselves. The guitars remind me of Teenage Fanclub from their Bandwagonesque heyday, but Teenage Fanclub never had the secret weapon of girl harmonies.

mp3: Georgia

35. For Ex-Lovers Only – Coffin (Magic Marker)

This Orlando, Florida band lay down a slab of white noise in Coffin. A melody carefully buried underneath six feet of squalling guitars that does their namesakes proud. I wonder if the Magic Kingdom has a Black Tambourine ride yet?

mp3: Coffin

36. Heavy Times – No Planes (Hozac)

For a second I thought BOAT picked up and moved back to Chicago. No, it seems that Heavy Times just mine the same vein of sloppy, but friendly sounding pop. Like BOAT, Heavy Times’ sound is steeped in the 90’s and these two songs will make you nostalgic for Hale Bopp, Boris Yeltsin, the Wonderbra and umm, Grunge.

mp3: No Planes

37. Talbot Adams – Jack and Jesse (Douchemaster)

Guided By Voices with Beach Boys Ooohh’s is probably all that needs to be said about this former Black and Whites front man who became a dad and turned down the volume and intensity. What he left out in those two areas, he more than made up for in pop hooks. This single contains four songs all under the two minute mark. It’s like a cliffs notes for pop songs. Who said taking the shortcut never paid off?

mp3: Life is Good When Cinematic

38. Math And Physics Club – Jimmy Had A Polaroid (Matinée)

Math & Physics Club don’t get out much but when they do they make the most of it. Jimmy Had a Polaroid was the first single from the band’s second album and not a huge departure from their previous output, but when you’ve got a timeless sound and the ability to evoke bygone nostalgia that makes you ache for those days of really awful photos that faded to nothing a week later, then why mess with a good thing.

mp3: Jimmy Had a Polaroid

39. Fungi Girls – Doldrums (Hozac)

Sometimes it’s not the A-side of a single that grabs you, hell the Smiths’ How Soon Is Now? was a b-side. Doldrums tucked away on the flip side of Turquoise Hotel has this great little riff that gets stuck in your head like glue. These youngsters from Cleburne, Texas have quickly learned the art of seduction and Doldrums is prime evidence. Looking forward to full swoon when album number two comes sometime next year.

mp3: Doldrums

40. Proper Ornaments – Recalling (Make a Mess)

Named after a Free Design song, the Proper Ornaments make warm, plaintive and fuzzy psychedelia. The Ornaments are two dudes who are no strangers to the seven inch single having been in the Sexy Kids and currently also in Veronica Falls. This is quiet and seductive music that is like a warm blanket on a cold night.

mp3: Recalling

[40-31] [30-21] [20-11] [10-1]

I Didn’t Know You Could Get That Film Anymore

Posted on October 31, 2010 by Toby

Allo Darlin’, Math & Physics Club, Special Places at Jewelbox Theater, Seattle | 29 October 2010

If there is a more perfect place than the tiny Jewelbox Theater to enjoy the precious pop of the likes of London’s Allo Darlin’ and Seattle’s Math & Physics Club and Perfect Places it likely only exists in my imagination or some storybook. After providing the secret knock to the theater door I entered into a Seattle’s small but familial indiepop world. Allo Darlin were a long way from home and I can only imagine here because of the enthusiasm of Three Imaginary Girls who booked the sold out show.
Allo Darlin’s album on Fortuna Pop came out earlier this year. It was recorded in the basement of the Duke of Uke shop in London, where people like Darren Haymen, and the Wave Pictures like to hang out and a place where Allo Darlin singer and ukulele player Elizabeth Morris probably had her choice of ukuleles to play while recording. Morris started off the set solo with a new song she called Talulah, that contained a line about listening to that Go-Betweens album on cassette. Usually I would assume that a song with an obscure reference to a Go-Betweens album would be lost on the audience, but I think it’s safe to assume that everyone in the room got it. The song was about as gentle and tender Allo Darlin would be this night.
The rest of the band then joined her on stage for what they referred to a slow-burn of a set. A slow burn according to the band is gradually turning up the heat as the night goes on. Their self-titled album on Fortuana Pop is fun and similar to Camera Obscura, but where Camera Obscura are stiff and standoffish on stage Allo Darlin’ are the types to put their arms around your shoulders and pogo with you until you’re out of breath. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a bass player jump so high and still keep a beat as Mr. Bill Botting did. A good thing the place had a high roof because He and Morrise would get in sync on their jumping nearly every song and their verticals had to be about one and half to two feet. The band were definitely having a good time and everyone there to see them couldn’t help but have a good time too. Songs like Kiss Your Lips and If Loneliness Was Art raged full on almost making you question their twee roots. On the Polaroid Song they snuck in the chorus to the Bangles‘ Walk Like an Egyptian to everyone’s delight and the band’s as well as they were all grinning ear to ear. It was infectious, even after they left the stage and denied us of an encore, I couldn’t seem to wipe the giant grin from my face.

mp3: Allo Darlin – If Loneliness Was Art (from their Fortuna Pop album, buy the CD here or the vinyl here)

Hometown boys Math & Physics Club must have drawn the short straw back stage having to follow Allo Darlin, but their sublime understated set was a delight. This was the first chance that I got to hear the new songs from their second album I Shouldn’t Look As Good As I Do live. Maybe I pay more attention to guitars these days, but I don’t remember them sporting Rickenbackers. Both James and Charles had shiny and shimmering ones and they looked as good as they sounded. Another thing I noticed that I had either forgotten or never picked up on was how meaty and bouncy the bass lines were. Before the final song when Ethan Jones and James Werle switched instruments, Jones noted as he picked up Werle’s guitar how his kid brother’s friend said to him when he found out Jones was in Math and Physics Club how his favorite MAPC bass line was for the one song he didn’t play bass. I was hoping that they would have come back out with Allo Darlin for a rousing rendition of We’re So DIY with Elizabeth Morris singing the Ya, oh ya’s while Tullycraft were in the audience. No such luck. No encores from Math and Physics Club either, but I counted myself fortunate having seen them as their appearances around town are all too rare.

mp3: Math & Physics Club – We’re So DIY (from their album I Shouldn’t Look As Good As I Do, buy it from Matinee)

I shouldn’t complain, half of Tullycraft, Jenny & Cori opened the show as the Special Places. Jenny was sporting a newly acquired accordion which she said she just learned to play a few days before. The keys had stickers on them to remind her where to put her fingers as Cori pointed out after a false start. Their set was totally DIY and off the cuff, but their acoustic songs felt like a breath of fresh air wafting through the the tiny theater.

Spending Warm Summer Days Outdoors

Posted on May 16, 2010 by Toby

Something had been missing from the Seattle scene for the last few years, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. I realized right after hearing the warm chiming guitar that begins their new single Jimmy Had a Polaroid that it was Math and Physics Club. Bucking the no/lo trend and keeping with a softer and smoother side of things they keep your attention with attention to detail like those chiming guitars I mentioned and a supple melody supplied by Charles Bert. The song evokes a nostalgic euphoria of some beautiful adolescent summer afternoon spent in company of best friends and pretty girls. Math and Physics Club are so good at songs that make you happy and sad at once, and this one does exactly that.

The band have been on a hiatus since their 2007 EP Baby I’m Yours, and have pared their ranks, losing their violin player Saundrah Humphrey to Denmark, and Drummer Kevin Emerson to his own busy schedule, but they haven’t lost their sublime pop hooks. Jimmy Had a Polaroid is the first single from their upcoming second album entitled I Shouldn’t Look As Good As I Do out next month. Their label Matinée has decided to commemorate the return of the sole American band on the their roster with a glorious 7″ single with an exclusive B-side The Sound Of Snow.

mp3: Math and Physics Club – Jimmy Had a Polaroid

You can order up copies of the 7″ and the album from Matinée.