Germany's 18th Dye came out of Berlin in the early '90s. Releasing a series of records on London's Che label, they didn't receive wide recognition until Matador signed them in '95 at the encouragement of Yo La Tengo. A pop band in the broadest sense of the word, 18th Dye incorporated strained, almost tuneless, bent chords over a tight, muscular rhythm that was, at times, equally skewed. Juxtaposing desolate minimal droning chords with intense feedback, they could frighten small children and nervous adults with their sudden switches into chainsaw-like effects. Lyrically, they could invent and manipulate symbolism just as easily, and to equally blissful effect. Their swan song was the '95 Steve Albini-produced Tribute to a Bus.