Painful

The long-running Hoboken, New Jersey, trio's favorite devices are neatly evidenced on this 1993 disc: barbed guitar freakouts by Ira Kaplan, breathily exquisite Georgia Hubley vocals ("Nowhere Near"), an obscure but excellent cover choice (the Only Ones' "The Whole Of The Law"), and a love for sonic texture that's backed up by first-rate songwriting. Subtle at its loudest and vital at its most subdued, Painful is built around a series of hovering, dreamy bass and organ drones matched by the singers' purr, but propelled by Hubley's insistent rhythms and Kaplan's prickly guitar leads. --Douglas Wolk