Translator - Heartbeats And Triggers

this is a really good record! i had no idea. it's only been staring at me in the dollar bins for 25 years or more. i'd always liked the XTC-ish college hit "everywhere that i'm not", but there is some great, dark, itchy guitar-heavy new wave on this album that i dig a ton. "necessary spinning" is an AWESOME song. herky and jerky, but really powerful as well. kinda feelies, kinda every california late-70's new wave band ever, but with it's own punky thing going on. there are two drippy songs by the guitarist robert darlington, but mastermind steve barton pretty much rules the album. "nothing is saving me" and "dark region" are way cool guitar noise new wave anthems that i can't believe i've never heard.

i'm a fan of 415 records too. wire train, romeo void, and the earlier stuff by the nuns and the units and such. but this album passed me by. and, like i said, i've seen it everywhere for decades. and even remember when it came out. well, better late than never!

AAAAH! I used to have this record! Wish I still had it right now! Damn.

And yeah, it was in the used bins a lot! Like before it ever got started, it was in the fucking cutout bins! LOL

Between this and the Everything But The Girl poll, I love ilxors when they remind me of old records I'd forgotten <3 <3 <3 <3

watching later translator videos on youtube (none of which i remember) i now know where the mighty lemon drops got their entire sound from.

Translator and Wire Train are reuniting for a show in September: http://www.slims-sf.com/slims-bin/showcal?date=2009-09-05

Opening up: Deborah Iyall

Translator are so, so great. Since discovering them in the early 2000's, I've always thought Heartbeats and Triggers (dark jangle; Scott very OTM with the Feelies comparison) and No Time Like Now (with the goofy but great disco-not-disco single 'Break Down Barriers' and the sublime title track) were top tier american new wave. I even like their nice jangly MOR third album. Evening of the Harvest, I've always thought, was an unfortunate last album. But they had a great run initially.

Has anyone ever checked out the two rarities sets, Different Time and Sometimes People Forget?