The Hives, “Veni Veni Vicious” (Burning Heart, 2000)Swedish garage-punk with a dynamic, ‘90s-style Stooges influence, raw, heavy and melodic. Still ranks as the most brutally abrasive guitar sound ever to break on MTV.Try 1, 4, 6, 78/23/12
Hoku, “Another Dumb Blonde” (Geffen, 2000)A lost classic from the golden age of 21st-century teenpop. Hoku was the daughter of Hawaiian-exotica crooner Don Ho, and this music – written by Antonio Armato and Tim James, who went on to fuel Disney’s teen-idol domination later in the decade – is its own kind of beach-pop utopia. […]
Hollows, “Vulture” (Trouble In Mind, 2012)Mostly-female garage-punk band with a light, psych-folk-inflected approach, and even hints of surf music. This has a nicely sparse, haunted and subtly luminous feel, somewhat reminiscent of some K stuff, and the songs are excellent.Try 3, 4, 64/30/12
Holograms, “Holograms” (Captured Tracks, 2012)This is straight-up hard-driving, angular post-punk. Think Joy Division + Gang of Four + Ruts. What makes these Swedes stand out from the similar crowd is a superior melodic sense and some genuine muscle.Try 3, 68/23/12
The Hombres, “Let It Out” (Verve/Forecast 1968)Memphis garage-rockers, so sparse and laid-back in spots, you’ll wonder if you’re awake sometimes while it’s on but with a tense rhythm-guitar counterpoint almost reminiscent of labelmates the Velvets. Nice four-in-the-morning-in-some-random-suburb-at-the-end-of-the-decade feel here, with Staxish organ that adds a faint tinge of gospel illumination to the soundscape.Try 1/ 2, […]
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, 41/29/12
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 […]
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, 108/16/15
The Human Expression [et al.], “Your Mind Works In Reverse” (Collectables, 1998; original releases 1966-68)Really frayed-edge psych-garage-punk, lots of mind-shattered bad-trip drone guitar, minor-key pop melodicism twanging the chords of melancholy with bone-rattling intensity.Try 1, 5, 711/10/16
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