Physics was an early post-rock/experimental rock band from San Diego,
California active during the
1990s. Originally formed in by John
Goff and Denver Lucas (both previously of Johnny Superbad &
the Bullet Catchers, and the latter also of
powerdresser), Physics
featured a rotating cast of musicians, so the member listing represented here
is not exhaustive nor representative of the band at any particular point in
time. Physics were, in their time and in many extant sources (including
what is effectively the band’s own description of themselves, from
Aspects Of Physics’s bandcamp
page: “the enigmatic math rock
band Physics”), considered “math rock”.
They are not primarily tagged as math rock here because the
band’s music is not usually reflective of the label — there are a
number of possible reasons for this seemingly strange categorization, including
the widespread loose association between post-rock and math rock; Physics sharing members with math rock groups like
powerdresser, Heavy
Vegetable, and Drive Like Jehu (Rick Froberg reportedly
played as part of Physics, although he is not credited on any of their
known recordings, so he is not represented in the member listing here); and
possibly Physics’s association with southern
Californiamath rockers like Upsilon Acrux (with whom they appear on a V/A record). The band did sometimes play math rock, though: see e.g. “Seven-11ths”. In any
case, most of the recordings that we now have of the band are live recordings,
and the one “proper” album in the usual sense (full-length studio
record) that they released was “Physics²”, released on the
legendary San Diego label
Gravity Records in . After
the dissolution of Physics some time in , Jeff Coad, Jason Soares, and
Thatcher Orbitashi went on to form Aspects Of Physics, a more electronically-focused continuation of Physics.
Perhaps the most obvious reference point for the music of Physics is
Tortoise; both started releasing music at around the same time, both are
considered post-rock, both shared members with post-hardcore/math rock bands
(Bastro, Slint, and Gastr del Sol in
Tortoise’s case), and both take influence from a wide variety of
musical styles, including krautrock, minimalism, drone, electronic, noise, &c. In comparison
to Tortoise, Physics were less likely to make use of
straightforward melodies in their music, and also more likely to feature
crescendi into loud, distorted sections (a feature that would
later come to be associated with the post-rock label).
Ultimately, the music of Physics is intentionally experimental and
challenged the limits of popular music to a degree that makes
them difficult to categorize other than with the retrospective and perhaps
overly-broad “post-rock”. Physics comes
highly recommended for fans of Tortoise, post-rock
in general, and of Rob Crow’s various projects.
notes on the distributions
“‘Black’ 7″” is usually listed with both tracks being
untitled.
“America Salutes Merzbow” consists entirely of covers of
Merzbow tunes. The distribution here only includes
Physics’s contribution to the record.
“Physics¹” is a compilation album of the band’s work up to
that point (including all the material from the 7″).
The tracks on “2.7.98” have no titles.
The distribution for “Keep Left, Vol. 1: A Benefit for David Barsamian
& Alternative Radio” only contains Physics’s
contribution to the record.
Physics discography
title
“Black” 7″
[V/A] America Salutes Merzbow
Physics¹
Physics²
[V/A] Che Fest 1999
[V/A] Flushing the Vault
2.7.98
[V/A] Keep Left, Vol. 1: A Benefit for David Barsamian & Alternative Radio
Physics — Road-Seaching Electric Sound From The Super-Charged Nineties!
11
Fin — Christinaudile
12
blackhumour — Electro Nuts
13
Allegory Chapel Ltd. — Brain Forest For Mental Digital Concrete (7-16-95)
14
Lucas — Crash In Hi-Fi
15
Con-Dom — White Prickes, Yellow Pricks, Black Pricks, Brown Pricks...
16
The Spacewürm — Seishi Sappuku Kei
17
Alger Hiss — Border
18
Big City Orchestra — Weltanschauung
19
Anal Sadist — Breathe
20
UCLA Experimental Workshop Ensemble — #5
21
Gen Ken Montgomery — Thank You Thank You
22
Pea Hix — Lead You Towards Glorious Times (vTI-99/4A)
23
The Haters — Crocidura Dsi Nezumi
total duration
1
Second 7″ Side 1
2
Second 7″ Side 2
3
Delayed Drone
4
First 7″ Side 1
5
First 7″ Side 2
6
Song From Video
7
Live At The Casbah [1995-02-07]
total duration
1
Positive Heterodyne
2
Delayed Drone
3
Wave File 3
4
Level 2 – Part A
5
Level 2 – Part B
6
+⇄−
7
Proper
8
Neutralogue
9
Negative Heterodyne
total duration
1
Electric Nazarene — Kentucky Waterfall
???
2
Gogogo Airheart — These Honor Suits
???
3
Volume 11 — Inhalants
???
4
The Roots Of Orchis — Accompanied By Fever
???
5
Jejune — Early Stars
???
6
Yaphet Kotto — The Glove
???
7
Sterling Silver — Carousel
???
8
Oma Yang — There's No General Chow In Team
???
9
Camera Obscura — Sound
???
10
Physics — Level X|2
???
11
Get Hustle — Charles Bronson
???
12
Sunday's Best — Turn Them A Deaf Ear
???
13
Vile Maxim — Sarkko / Fikkus
???
14
Reversal Of Man — Quantis
???
15
The Black Heart Procession — Blue Tears
???
16
Boilermaker — Trunk
???
total duration
???
1
Custom Floor — My Knot And Knee
2
Upsilon Acrux — 45 Seconds
3
Soul-Junk — Bottomless Might
4
Gogogo Airheart — And The Excitement, Stop!... I Continue With New Needs Daily And Spending My Attention, Just To Keep Up, Your Daydreams Are My Work Realities, Stop!... Now I Recognize Your Direction... Fuck Your Opinions. Ignorant To Control, Sidestepping... Your Fact Is Fantasy
5
ÜÜM — Blood On The Flaypsts
6
Rafter Roberts — Blue Room, Red Curtain
7
The Free Stars — Prison Walls
8
Last Of The Juanitas — Untitled
9
The Black Heart Procession — Pulsecheck
10
Physics — 00:00:00
total duration
1
1
2
2
total duration
1
Negativland — Truth In Advertising
2
Elliott Sharp: Tectonics — Near The Wall
3
Kronos Quartet — Tonight Is The Night
4
The Olivia Tremor Control & The Elephant Six Orchestra — Glass Beard
![cover art for “[V/A] America Salutes Merzbow”](america-salutes-merzbow.jpg)
![cover art for “[V/A] Che Fest 1999”](che-fest.jpg)
![cover art for “[V/A] Flushing the Vault”](flushing-the-vault.jpg)
![cover art for “[V/A] Keep Left, Vol. 1: A Benefit for David Barsamian & Alternative Radio”](keep-left.jpg)
![liner notes [1]](physics1-liner-notes-1.jpg){kind=link}
