Vs. by Mission of Burma

Vs., released by the small Boston label Ace of Hearts in October 1982, was the first and, for more than two decades, the only full-length album by Mission of Burma, following their 1981 EP Signals, Calls, and Marches. It's post-punk that refuses to sit still: Roger Miller's guitar grinds and swerves, Clint Conley's bass lunges, Peter Prescott hammers the drums, and Martin Swope, working the tape machines as well as the band's sound, loops and warps it all from behind the desk into something eerie.

Miller, Conley and Prescott split the songwriting and the singing, so the record keeps shifting shape, from the brooding "Secrets" to all-out assault. It was also the end of the line for a while: the band's live shows were so loud that Miller developed tinnitus, and they broke up in 1983. The band reunited in 2002, but its next studio album wouldn't arrive until 2004.

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