This is a singles compilation from the Tranzmitors which actually sounds coherent enough to be a standalone LP. I never heard the band’s full lengths, but this is a great chunk of power-pop. These guys strike me as the modern successors to the driving power-poppery of the Pointed Sticks and the Exploding Hearts. A lot of the songs are built around a foundation of keyboards, crunchy Rickenbacker style jangle, and lyrics about girls. Plus, you get the vocal variety pack of the croony dude and the more gravelly dude. I would name names as to who has which voice but without seeing them live I couldn’t tell you. These guys would be the perfect band to play a punk rock prom along with the Undertones. My main problem with the disk is that for me it’s frontloaded with my favorite track, “Bigger Houses, Broken Homes,” being the very first song. It’s one of the greatest, driving, upbeat songs about suburban breakdown I’ve heard since the Briefs cover of “Dead in the Suburbs” and the Buzzcocks’ “Something’s Gone Wrong Again.” Don’t get me wrong, most of the rest of the songs are solid gold, but for me “Bigger Houses…” is platinum.
–Adrian (Deranged)