Translator: Heartbeats & Triggers (1982)

San Francisco-based Translator were an earlier purveyor of the jangly guitar rock that would entrench the 1980s college radio scene, with shades of R.E.M. and Dumptruck. But they also had one foot more firmly in harder-edged post-punk, calling to mind Television and Dream Syndicate, as well as the offbeat new wave-infused power pop of the dB's and Plimsouls. Their debut album is highlighted by the killer single "Everywhere That I'm Not," a wonderfully catchy new wave-ish shoulda-been-massive tra...