The Transmissions- Over Wires

When the term "post-punk" is bandied about these days, the recent wave of countless heavily Joy Division inspired bands springs to mind. However, while there's a bit of that here, The Transmissions largely skirt that comparison on their full-length debut, On Wires. Christian Biel's vocal work sometimes has a timbre remotely reminiscent of, and a slight warble a la, PIL-era John Lydon, while the music ranges from bouncy, rhythmically interesting alt rock to moody, guttural ballads to punchy bass and noisy guitar recalling Bauhaus's more diverse later work. The resulting blend of late-70s/80s rock/post-punk with 90s alt rock and grunge elements is both musically interesting and captivating.

The disc's moody guitar ballads are certainly among its best tracks. "Haunt All Living Things" is a particularly lovely mellow offering, while "Idle" and "Thor for Odin" both explode with unexpected rock intensity. Other notable songs include the bouncy bass groove-driven opener, "Traffic", the dreamy alt rock of "The Magus", and the spacey guitar and intense rock stabs of "Devil Song".

While The Transmissions' Over Wires is a bit of a retro throwback, it's also relatively original. Both diverse and consistent, it's an album that's highly melodic but also nicely left of center, featuring interesting songwriting and an occasional underlying quirkiness. Anyone looking for something of a foray into retro post-punk that's a bit different from the modern norm should give this one a try.