The Terminals, Little Things (side A)

1995's Little Things marks the apex of the Terminals' mature work.  The group evolved out of theearly-80s New Zealand band the Victor Dimisich Band, whose recordings were fortunately reissued on CD in the late-90s.  Singer/guitarist Stephen Cogle and drummer/lyricist Peter Stapleton formed the Terminals in the late-80s, and their early releases moved in more of a garage rock direction.  With 1992's Touch, guitarist Brian Crook of the Renderers introduced a noisier and more chaotic element that pulled the Terminals closer to Pere Ubu and Roxy Music.  Through their whole career, Cogle's deadpan vocals reference Joy Division and other vaguely goth-leaning post-punk bands.  Stapleton's simplistic drumming recalls the Velvet Underground.  The Terminals are more than the sum of these influences, and through Little Things they combine careful songwriting with a powerful roar.  The recording captures the power of the band riding in crests over an appropriately understated drum kit, and it's slightly primitive quality flatters the music, and especially the singing, without standing out.  The layered typewritten text on the cover is a beautiful design — it hints at the music's darkness and subtlety without relying on reference in its appearance.

Dog Faced Hermans, Mental Blocks for All Ages (side A)

Dog Faced Hermans' first two albums placed them in a more overt punk tradition, with similarities to contemporaries like Bogshed and the Shrubs.  With 1991's Mental Blocks for All Ages, they leapt toward the artier style for which they're best remembered.  The parts no longer fit together neatly in their song structures — instead a more shifting approach allowed parts to move between each other in a field.  The resultant tracks still have elements of song structure, but the individual parts fight the overarching structure as much as they help to define it.  Each musician's playing is neatly defined and uses repetition within its own logic.  While the timbres retain the distortion and impact of punk rock, they use these qualities as much for reference as to create a sense of power or propulsion.  The relatively primitive recording quality manages to capture both the bristling energy and the more diffuse traits of the music.  The simple cover image emphasizes Dog Faced Hermans' punk rock roots more than the abstraction that they began to explore here.