''Tiger Trap'' is the only album released by the band

Tiger Trap Tiger trap may refer to: *Trou de loup In medieval fortification, a trou de loup (French for "wolf hole"; plural trous de loup, also commonly referred to as a tiger pit in the East) was a type of booby trap or defensive obstacle. Each trou de lo ...

. It was released in 1993 on K Records and was produced by Calvin Johnson. With about 10,000 copies sold, it was K Records' best-selling album until they released

Beck Beck David Hansen (born Bek David Campbell; July 8, 1970) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He rose to fame in the early 1990s with his Experimental music, experimental and Lo-fi music, lo-fi style, and became ...

's '' One Foot in the Grave'' the following year.

Composition

Along with twee pop, ''Tiger Trap'' is musically aligned with "energetic"

indie pop Indie pop (also typeset as indie-pop or indiepop) is a music genre and subculture that combines guitar pop with DIY ethic in opposition to the style and tone of mainstream pop music. It originated from British post-punk in the late 1970s and sub ...

and "romantic"

punk-pop Pop punk (or punk pop) is a rock music genre that combines elements of punk rock with power pop or pop. It is defined for its emphasis on classic pop songcraft, as well as adolescent and anti-suburbia themes, and is distinguished from other pu ...

Critical reaction

The ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

'' opined that "terrific three-part harmonies and a brace of killer melodies make ''Tiger Trap'' one of the year's more consistently pleasurable albums." In 2014, Andrew Earles called the album "quintessential", and wrote that Tiger Trap "packed each song with at least one pop hook."

Legacy and impact

Retrospectively, ''Tiger Trap'' has been held up as one of twee pop's most essential releases. In an 2005 essay called "Twee as Fuck", '' Pitchfork''s Nitsuh Abebe "highly recommended" the album and highlighted two of its tracks, "Puzzle Pieces" and "My Broken Heart". In 2014, ''

The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...

''s Paula Mejia dubbed it a "Possible gateway" into the genre. The following year, the site's Jason Heller wrote that the album "embodies twee," but added that "it’s also a forceful, potent, consummately melodic complement to the more strident sounds of riot grrrl that were raging around them at the time." On a 2013 '' Complex'' list, ''Trap'' placed No. 40 out of

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...

's 50 best albums of the 1990s. Writer Philip Cosores saw its impact carry into numerous later groups like

Allo Darlin' Allo Darlin' are an indie pop band based in London. Their self-titled debut album was released on the Fortuna Pop! label in 2010, with a second album, ''Europe'', appearing in 2012. A third album, ''We Come from the Same Place'', was released in ...

Veronica Falls Veronica Falls were an English indie pop band that formed in London in 2009. The band consisted of Roxanne Clifford and James Hoare, both on vocals and guitar, Marion Herbain on bass guitar and Patrick Doyle on drums and backing vocals. The mem ...

Colleen Green Colleen Green (born 23 October 1984) is an American indie pop musician from Los Angeles, California. She is currently signed to Hardly Art records. Career Green released her first album, ''Milo Goes to Compton'', in 2011, through Art Fag; it w ...

and

Swearin' Swearin' is a Philadelphia-based musical group made up of singer/guitarist Allison Crutchfield, singer/guitarist Kyle Gilbride, bassist Keith Spencer and drummer Jeff Bolt. They released two albums and an EP. The band split in 2015 and Crutchfield ...

. Writing for '' The Stranger'' in 2016,

Sean Nelson Sean Nelson (born June 12, 1973) is an American musician and journalist. He was the lead singer of the alternative rock group Harvey Danger and is the arts editor for '' The Stranger'' newspaper in Seattle, Washington. Music career Nelson i ...

credited it with "set

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the aesthetic standard for NW

forever after."

Accolades

Track listing

# "Puzzle Pieces" # "You're Sleeping" # "Eight Wheels" # "Supercrush" # "Tore a Hole" # "Words and Smiles" # "For Sure" # "You and Me" # "Supreme Nothing" # "Chester" # "My Broken Heart" # "Prettiest Boy"

References

{{Authority control 1993 debut albums K Records albums