From this week’s Band of the Week column:

I get the sense from my fellow Stranger staffers that Mountain Con are not well-liked around here. I am not supposed to enjoy their perfectly-crafted whiteboy soul-funk jam pop. I ought to find Beck-ish, Cake-like tracks like “Ophelia” and “I Fall Apart” fey and irritating rather than breezy and clever as hell. That the long-standing sextet reminds me of dorm-room bong rips and long summer afternoons should be shamed, not embraced. Here’s the thing about all that: I make the call this week and I decree Mountain Con to be really fucking good. JONATHAN ZWICKEL

I can’t believe these guys don’t get more shine around here. There’s a brilliant pop sensibility running through their music, a whiff of mid-’90s, non-grunge alt-rock from bands like James and, like I said above, Beck. “Ophelia” nods to the Band (if only in title) and sounds like an Odelay outtake with better vocals. “Propertius Pound” is a woozy electro-funk pastiche of “Tracks of My Tears,” with singer James Nugent warbling, “There’s no hiding the fact that I am a thief/Originality is nothing but a joke told in 3-D.” “I Fall Apart” is Velvet Underground weeded-out instead of dopesick (with a shout out to the Seattle Weekly—maybe that’s why they get no love.) The production is Dust Brothers dense, jangly with tambourines and slinky piano lines, electrified with turntable scratches and drum machine beats.

Is it too soon for a mid-’90s throwback band? No. Good pop music never goes out of style. Is Mountain Con too radio-friendly for their own good? Probably. This is Seattle, after all.

Check out Mountain Con on the Stranger’s Bands Page.