Pop, in all its unadulterated and joyfully melodic glory, gets a lousy rap. Kids with TV shows are saddled with the pop moniker. So are tuneless elders when they write an actual hook. Classic pop practitioners a la Weezer, Raspberries, XTC, and the Beatles - as inventive as they are harmony-driven - are hard to find.

Oddly enough, Philly has two exemplary newbies to count among swank pop's ranks - the Swimmers and the Capitol Years, which both played Friday at Kung Fu Necktie.

The show was meant to celebrate the Swimmers' new CD, People Are Soft, on the Drexel University-based Mad Dragon label, but both bands shared in the glory.

Songwriting lead singer Steve Yutzy-Burkey of the Swimmers had a slightly high, nearly nasal voice. It's a canvas onto which he can paint a thousand slight nuances - the discontent of "Drug Party," the jitter of "Nervous Wreck." When wife/keyboardist Krista Yutzy-Burkey, Scott French, and Rick Sieber weren't beside him crafting a group lead vocal ("A Hundred Hearts"), they harmonized rhapsodically through the blipping keyboard and droning guitars of "Shelter." As catchy as their melodies were (you could hardly stop from singing the new songs), the Swimmers' strong suit was couching such tunefulness in memorable arrangements, dense rhythmic aplomb, and quirky ambience.

The Capitol Years were no less twisted in their oddball instrumentals. Deep swooping bass, grumbling drums, and Eno-like electronic twitches seem to come from nowhere on "Red Light" and "Revolutions." Singer/guitarist Shai Halperin used a low warbling croon and his own flat-lined voice to sing of neuroses fresh and shopworn. But on the buzzing "Are We Gonna Work It Out" (and elsewhere during their sharp set) Capitol Years unleashed the sleek sort of heavenly harmonies otherwise only heard on Side Two of Abbey Road. Maybe in 2010, the Swimmers can open for the Capitol Years when the latter releases its new material. I'd go.