Click to listen to Tristen's "Baby Drugs" and "Heart and Hope To Die"

When Tristen Gaspadarek belts "show me how your daddy and your mama made you" on the twangy rocker "Heart And Hope To Die," it takes a second for the come-on to register. Her addictive debut is full of such moments: catchy refrains with multiple meanings, ear-tugging melodies with hidden hooks. She flaunts a philosophy major's palette amidst echoes of vintage rockabilly and girl group pop: Gods battle, queens bid their rule, girlfriends enable druggy lovers. The romantic metaphor "Tadpole" pivots on the psychodramatic line "hate me oh boy." It suggests two things: dangerous girlfriend material, and an artist worth watching.

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“Tonight's the Night”

The lead cut and title track from this girl group's debut album, "Tonight's the Night" was written by 19-year-old bandmember Shirley Owens, who sings lead, and producer Luther Dixon. The band from Passaic, New Jersey met in high school, first calling themselves the Pequellos. The song's frank thoughts about sexual and emotional surrender was racy for the time, but that didn't stop the Chiffons from cutting a similar version immediately after the original came out. "We were the first female group to write some of our own material," band member Beverly Lee recalls. "We did have some say-so in our writing."