Cheers for this. I've been daunted by their discography for years now so it's great to have this jumping-in point ticking my boxes right off the bat. Could you point me in the direction of their best albums based off this sorta stuff? I dig lo-fi but I even more dig rollicking great pop tunes.
Under the Bushes Under the Stars is a very good starting point. It was the first album they recorded in a professional studio, and the only four-track based album recorded by the 'classic' lineup in the '90s. Song-for-song, it's pretty spectacular.
Mag Earwhig! is a solid follow-up - a few weird lo-fi interludes, but the bulk of the album is pretty rocking power pop.
Do the Collapse is the their most 'produced' album, which some fans hate, but it's definitely worth a listen for huge poppy stuff. It opens with Teenage FBI, which maybe fits the term power pop most out of their catalogue.
The four albums after that until their initial split in 2004 are fairly safe bets, although they do also find Bob indulging his love of prog, so have their share of less catchy moments (albeit still in three minute form). It's also worth listening to
Alien Lanes and
Bee Thousand at some point, as they're the band's peak, songwriting-wise, even if they're recorded on four-tracks and have 30 second songs stitched together and weird noises. But songs like 'Gold Star for Robot Boy', 'Echos Myron' and 'Little Whirl' are unbeatable, regardless of production.
