Artists starting with H

Broken Glass

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Hazel O’Connor, “Broken Glass” (A & M, 1980)
Actually the soundtrack to a rags-to-riches movie about a female punk-type singer (think Mariah Carey’s “Glitter” with safety pins), this is actually more like Bowie’s glam-rock work (“Ziggy Stardust,” etc.) fortified with a cold, hard postpunk edge (“Ziggy” producer Tony Visconti produced this too). Excellent songs by O’Connor, who performs them with fierce drama and clarity, like Siouxsie giving in to her love of Bowie and “Cabaret.”
Try 1/1, 1/5, 2/5.
10/3/13

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Hairdresser Blues

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Hunx, “Hairdresser Blues” (Hardly Art, 2012)
Now bereft of his Punx, Hunx returns with a solo effort even better than its fine predecessor. This is fuzzy garage-guitar-pop, but instead of blurring the girl-groupisms into a stylized wall Hunx camps them the fuck up into larger-than-life drama, giving this the real feel of its Spector-era models, as well as a smashingly glam gender-bending that’s welcome in our all-too-modest times.
Try 1, 2, 6
2/28/12

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Who’s Landing In My Hangar?

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Human Switchboard, “Who’s Landing In My Hangar?” (Fat Possum, 2019; original release 1982)
This criminally neglected Midwest postpunk/proto-Indie masterpiece is finally back in the public spotlight, and it’s about time. From Kent, Ohio, they melded neurotic Velvets-derived strum-pulse with organ-driven garage-punk simplicity and punch (à la? and the Mysterians, from nearby Flint, Mich., a decade earlier). Alternating guy-gal vocals trace the frayed stitching of an actual relationship between the two (à la contemporaries John and Exene) all against a bracingly gray Rustbelt backdrop. Don’t miss this one.
Try 1/1, 1/ 4, 1/5, 2/1, 2/5
6/9/19

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Operation Heavenly

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Heavenly, “Operation Heavenly” (K, 1996)
Last LP from twee-pop legend Amelia Fletcher’s ‘90s band, and their hardest-punking yet. Fletcher’s melodies were almost at the peak of the twisty drama they’d achieve with her next act, Marine Research, and here their ‘60’s mod/yé-yé stylings get real hammerhead propulsion from the beats and revved-up guitars.
Try 3, 9
2/21/16

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Thunder Hips And Saddle Bags

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Human Skab, “Thunder Hips And Saddle Bags” (Family Vineyard, 2010; original recording 1986)
Recorded in the mid-‘80s, this is the sound of a very hyperactive and hyper-imaginative ten-year-old boy banging on anything in sight in an attempt at “African music” while delivering stream-of-consciousness rants about nuclear war, He-Man, children’s graves, throwing rocks through people’s windows, and many other topics. This is great, with an emotional range and sense of news, protean creation that puts most artists two or three times his age to shame.
Try 2, 3, 5, 14, 15
4/4/11

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Dare!

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Human League, “Dare!” (Virgin, 1982)
The hits are deservedly revered, but what made them great is the luminous, precise, tense electro-pop minimalism that sounded unbelievably novel and alien at the time, and still feels advanced even now. Some of the “album tracks” are as demanding and confrontational as any of their earlier work, but with an added pop sese.
Try 1/3, 2/3
1/12/11

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Dare

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Human League, “Dare” (A&M, 1982)
Dour minimal-electro pioneers went pop in a big way on this one, which is as austere and stylish as their earlier work, but with a melodic shimmer up top that truly dazzles.
Try 2/ 3, 2/4, 2/5
1/23/14

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This Is . . .

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Huey “Piano” Smith, “This Is . . .” (Music Club, 1990; original recordings 1956-60)
Smith was one of the pioneers of piano-driven New Orleans R&B. There is definitely as much “rock” as “roll” here, with breezy polyrhythms pile-driving into party paradise as ridiculous chants and laughter dance around on top.
Try 2, 8, 10
8/16/15

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Work (Work, Work)

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HTRK, “Work (Work, Work)” (Ghostly International, 2011)
Synth-pop without the pop, if you can imagine such a thing. Their m. o. is to create empty spaces in which clanging and whooshing of a sparse variety can occur. The beats are quite dancy, though, and the lead chanteuse is captivatingly melodic at times. One of the three members killed himself during the recording, and (perhaps in response) this is surprisingly affecting.
Try 2, 4, 7, 8
1/6/12

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Wilson Semiconductors

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Howling Hex, “Wilson Semiconductors” (Drag City, 2011)
New release from ex-Royal Truxman Neil Hagerty. This transposes the non-linear stutter of the Trux into laid-back, Southwestern-style grooves, long and meandering but with enough low-key kinesis and structural twister to generate a nicely hypnotic state in the listener.
Try 2, 3, 4
1/29/12

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