Here’s my first official Best of List for 2007. Unsurprisingly, local musicians and releases dominate it.

1. Tiny Vipers - Hands Across the Void

2. Thee Emergency - Live from Chuck Norris’ House

3. Sea Wolf - Get To The River Before It Runs Too Low

4. Whalebones - Morning Man

5. Vindaloo - Die Emo Die

6. Math and Physics Club - Baby I’m Yours

7. Grizzly Bear - Friends EP

8. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend

9. Great Northern - Sleepee Epee

10. A Gun That Shoots Knives - Love 

This last Monday, instead of heading out to the disaster of an arena show, I went down to the Crocodile courtesy of Three Imaginary Girls to check out Math and Physics Club for my first time. I know their local, but they hadn’t played in nearly a year, and when they were playing earlier, somehow I never made it down to a show. Anyways I finally made it … and it was great.

After missing what sounded like a show-stopping set from Fred Astereo, we caught MAPC just as they were getting on stage.  There were smiles all around, so it looked like they were glad to be back in the saddle after the adventures in baby making that had kept them away from the stage for a while. They dabbled in a little of the new and a little of the old, and the crowd loved it all. If a shinier more perfect pop band exists, I have yet to encounter it.

Interpol new album has a release date. Moderation will drop June 5th in the States. I remember when Interpol’s first album came out and it was only $8 and every other album was $12 or more. It seemed after that, more bands began to put out sub-$10 albums, and it was the beginning of the end for Tower. 

Math and Physics Club plays Town Hall for the shorties. Town Hall was bustling for the specially written program just for kids. Fellow local music blogger Finest Kiss said it was a good time, and not just for the young members of the crowd. 

SXSW schedule finally announced. Now I just have to spend alot of time going through the lists to figure out where I will be each day. So many bands…

Math and Physics Club will be playing a show for Kids at Town Hall on February 17. Joining the ranks of Magnetic Fields front man Stephen Merritt as well as a few other indie bands I am forgetting right now, MAPC have put together a special concert just for our younger music fans. Here’s what they have to say about it on their page:

Our last show until summertime will be at Town Hall on February 17 as part of their Saturday Family Concerts series. Please note this is a special show for kids, so we will not be playing MAPC songs. Instead we’ve put together a “variety show” of sorts, with all the fun and games and music we could pack into one hour, including appearances by our pals Boat and Central Services. Also, as this is a concert series designed for families, adults must be accompanied by a kid under 12 to get in the door. Surely you know a kid who enjoys music and fun?

Should be a good time. Now all I need is to find a small child to get me into that show.

Hey we’re music snobs too… but sometimes Pitchfork’s reviews strike me as sadisticly cruel.

Thus it was with great trepidation that I clicked on their review for Seattle sweethearts Math and Physics Club. I was fearful that the throw back sound would be brushed off as kitschy and that their lyrics criticized as too sweet and non-abbrasive.

But oh, Pitchfork! How you have pleasantly surprised me! Math and Physics Club clocked in with a VERY respectable Pitchfork rating of 7.2 and comparissons to Belle & Sebastian and SOTS favorite Voxtrot. Sure there’s some snide comment about how MAPC won’t “becoming Tullycraft anytime soon…” but all in all… bravo!

For the Full Review

Related:

Math and Physics Club on Myspace

A Note: Jesus! Does Pitchfork have an army of bloggers trawling for even semi-negative posts about them?!?! I hopped in the shower for fifteen minutes and come back to the ‘puter and I already have an angry e-mail from some irked Pitchfork Devotee. So to clarify… I love me some Pitchfork. I promised them my first born after they introduced me to Sufjan Stevens, Songs:Ohia, Broken Social Scene, and M.Ward all in ONE BEST OF LIST. The introduction of Sufjan alone has brought me immeasurable joy… Pitchfork was even the first blog, much less music blog, I ever read. But folks, they’re not dieties or some holy music guru, they’re folks with opinions like you and me. Criticizing them is not sending me to hell or “threatening my life as a blogger” as your emails would imply. (I have a life as a blogger to threaten??? COOL!)

Scatterbrain has some sweet Math and Physics Club youTube’s of their recent performance at Sonic Boom.
Donte over at Seattlest has a new perspective on the Seattle concert crowd scene after the recent Rapture show and DJed afterparty.
Someone has tricked out a shirt to be a real life working air guitar. In related news, I just bought tickets to see Jet among others at 107.7 The End’s Jingle Bell Bash. Why is this related? Well Jet’s song was the final song for the winner of the Air Guitar World Championships.
In Gossip news: K-Fed is trying to pick a fight. The picture is unreal. What an idiot.

Lots of interesting stuff this week. Here is what we are interested in.

Built to Spill - Ultimate Alternative Wavers (reissue)

Joanna Newsom - Ys

Mark Knopfler & Emmylou Harris - Real Live Roadrunning

Math and Physics Club - Math and Physics Club

Voxtrot - Your Biggest Fan EP

Largeheartedboy has the full list.

This week is madness! I want to see something everyday of the week. Frank Black of the Pixies is a beast on stage. Tokyo Police Club might be my highlight of the week, at least as far as  bands I have yet to see. Local favorites Math and Physics Club are up there to as I missed their last performance a couple weeks ago. One of these is show of the week, which one will it be. Next post will tell.

Tonight, Monday November 13 - Frank Black - Showbox

Tuesday November 14 - Hot Chip, Born Ruffians - Neumos

Wednesday November 15 - Ray LaMontagne - Paramount Theatre

Wednesday November 15 - Asobi Seksu, Tokyo Police Club - Chop Suey

Thursday November 16 -  Pernice Brothers, Elvis Perkins - Tractor Tavern

Thursday November 16 - Reggie Watts Gets Wasted! - The Triple Door

Friday November 17 - The Decemberists - Paramount Theatre

Saturday November 18 - Math and Physics Club - The Vera Project

Saturday November 18 - The Grates, Visqueen - Neumos

Sunday November 19 - Talib Kweli - Showbox

This Sunday Sufjan and his merry band of musicians will be at the Paramount. Having seen him in both a small club and a festival I can categorically say that smaller is better. We’ll have a review for ya (and maybe some pictures of wings) on Monday. Shara Worden of My Brighest Diamond (and also a Sufjan backup singer) has been getting alot of hype on the blogs recently so I am highly interested in checking her opening act out.

We’ll also have a few other show reviews since this week is so packed. Magnolia Electric Company is tonight, so I should have something up on that tomorrow. Math and Physics Club are playing a CD release on Saturday (with BOAT and the Seaworthies) at the Sunset so we’ll have a review of that as well.

Here are the SOTS recommended shows of the week:

10/10 - Magnolia Electric Company - Neumos

10/10, 10/11 - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Architecture in Helsinki, Takka Takka - The Showbox

10/12 - Joseph Arthur - The Crocodile Cafe 

10/13 - Visqueen - The Crocodile Cafe

10/13 - Bob Dylan, Kings of Leon - Key Arena

10/14 - Math and Physics Club CD Release Party - Sunset Tavern (also at Ballard location of Sonic Boom at 6pm)

10/15 - Sufjan Stevens, My Brightest Diamond - The Paramount

That is like a show a day. No complaining about being bored this week! Next week should be just as good with Beirut, Ghostland Observatory, Cursive, and The Hold Steady. Then again it will be tough to top Sufjan Stevens, Jason Molina, and Bob Dylan all in the same week.