Physics is an interesting band. The lineup has shifted and changed with
over 30 members over the years. The lengthy list of people who have played
in Physics includes some very prominent musicians: Rob Crow (Pinback,
Optiganally Yours, Heavy Vegetable, Thingy), Jason Soares (Stacatto Reeds),
Denver Delmonte Lucas, Pall Jenkins (Three Mile Pilot, Blackheart
Procession), and Travis Nelson (Heavy Vegetable, Thingy). The presence of
Rob Crow (who was a charter member, of sorts, having played on everything
they released) implies that Physics is a pop band. However, Physics leans
away from the songy side of these musicians' spectrum. Instead it dunks its
head fully in Spacemen 3 and their idea that "3 chords is good, 2 chords are
better, but 1 is best." Musically, Physics aligns itself with Windy & Carl,
Stars of the Lid and Spacemen 3 in that the backbone of the song is a long,
solid drone.
There seems to be a big difference between Physics' recorded output and their
live shows. I get the impression that in the studio, they have the freedom
to work a song out as long as they want, which allows them to find small
melodies within the drone which they can accentuate and mask at different
points in the song. Whereas live, it seems to be an improv feel that
results in a less thoughtout, simple drone. Occasionally, the route
Physics takes when playing live works better than any song to come from the
studio. That's where this EP comes in. It was recorded live at the Casbah
in San Diego on February 2nd, 1998. It's fairly short (28 minutes), with
just two tracks. The first track has a thinly picked guitar part switching
back and forth between two chords while the keyboard makes crazy noises. It
slowly builds and develops into the 2nd track which is built around a guitar
part consisting of 3 notes being played in a pretty strange rhythm. Then
comes the part that makes this EP something special. The guitar slowly
blurs into a wall of confused noise while the band continues in the same way
they had been the whole time. At this point Physics is living up to their
recordings and adding a depth not found on the others.
When Physics is good, they're as good as any droney band around, but when
they aren't, they can be particularly uninteresting. This EP walks the line
between the two. At times, it's fabulous, but it has it's moments that
aren't so great. If you are new to Physics, I recommend you start with
buying their second album as soon as possible, then move on to the first
album, and possibly this EP. If you are familiar with them and have both
albums, then I would definitely recommend this EP.
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