Artists starting with T

The Original First Album!!

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The Pop Rivits, “The Original First Album!!” (Hangman, 1978; original recordings 1978-79)
Billy Childish (Mighty Caesars, Headcoats)’s punk-era group combines a post-punkish choppiness one wouldn’t necessarily expect from this ultra-traditionalist with a hard-driving mod beat one would, and an acute melodic sense (kind of music-hall-ish) to the pop. Cool as an artifact, and an exciting listen in its own right.
Try 1/ 1, 1/ 2, 1/3, 2/ 3
8/16/15

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Y

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The Pop Group, “Y” (Radar, 1979)
Deservedly legendary Brit post-punk explorers—coiled but fluid noise-funk that passes through dub-like open spaces and bursts of electro-acoustic racket. Parts are surprisingly tender and lyrical, abruptly juxtaposed with patches of twitched-out ferocity. These are people committed to living out complete political and artistic autonomy – and to collapsing the distinction between the two. This is what the 20th century sounded like at its furthest reach.
Try 3, 5

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Monkey On Your Back: Their Singles

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The Outsiders, “Monkey On Your Back: Their Singles” (Pseudonym, 2012; original release 1965-69)
Leading light of the Dutch take on Beatles/Brit ‘60s guitar-beat. The songs are excellent, complex, often minor-key, and delivered with precision and punch. Really distinctive stuff.
Try A/6, B/2, C/5, D/2, D/5
7/29/13

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Grab That Gun

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The Organ, “Grab That Gun” (Mint, 2004).
Mesmerizing indie-rock with girl-group beats driving a moody (86/ Smiths melodic sense and a general vibe of anxiety that sums up its moment in time very well indeed.
Try 1, 3, 10
2/14/13

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The Nixe

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The Nixe, “The Nixe” (Polly Maggoo, 2012, originally recorded 1980-81)
Early Dutch punk group with a sound/feel somewhere between Liliput and the Adverts – sprung, choppy rhythms, scrappy guitar, singalong tunes, and a great dancing-in-the-ruins-of-modern civilization attitude.
Try 1/1, ¼, 1/6
9/6/13

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Brilliant Colors

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The Neon Philharmonic, “Brilliant Colors” (Wounded Bird, 2016; original recordings 1969-71)
In the mold of VanDyke Parks, maybe even Randy Newman, a couple of studio pop pros with roots in the pre-rock Tin Pan Alley tradition take a leap into psychedelia, but what makes this particularly wild is that both the Tin Pan Alley and the psychedelia are particularly overt. Orchestral surges and cliffhanger-shifting melodies driven by harder drumming than you’d expect create a real sense ofolder outsiders hitting the late ‘6ps head-on in all its euphoric and/or sinister excess.
Try disc 1: 1, 4, 9, 16; disc 2: 6, 7
4/7/19

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The Very Best of

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The Move, “The Very Best of” (Metro Music, 2000; originally released 1967-70)
The Move embodied the transition from mod to psych to prog, but in heling to define those categories, they transcended them. This is wild, multi-dimensional rock and roll bursting with more melodic and rhythmic ideas than it can contain.
Try 2, 3, 6, 9.
4/19/13

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Blonder and Blonder

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The Muffs, “Blonder and Blonder” (Reprise, 1995)
This band was pretty much peerless in combining a classicist mid-‘60s sense of pop song structure (think Who/Kinks/Beach Boys) with the finest dynamic heaviness of ‘90s alterna-punk. This is their hardest, fastest and best.
Try 2, 10, 13
7/26/12

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Blonder And Blonder

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The Muffs, “Blonder And Blonder” (Reprise, 1995)
Melanie now gone (*sigh*), their second album puts Kim up front for the most explosive set of their career. Power-driven bubble-punk with huge guitars and Angry Barbie (as Ann Powers tagged Kim) blasting everything in her path with a big-ass Bazooka of hooks and snotty attitude.
Try 1, 2, 8, 10, 13, all
6/9/11

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Open Your Heart

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The Men, “Open Your Heart” (Sacred Bones, 2012)
This group represents (along with Ceremony) a first attempt at reconceptualizing the angular-yet-heavy US post-punk/HC sound of the late 80’s for our time, and they’re really good at it. Pummeling rhythm-section, thick, seething guitar power, and a solid command of dynamics and melody make for an exhilarating ride. These guys stand in relation to garage-punk now the way Hüsker Dü did to hardcore then, and if that intrigues you, check this out.
Try 2, 6, 9.
4/3/12

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