Following multiple changes in personnel after the release of Last Splash (1993), singer and songwriter Kim Deal was the only remaining constant member of the Breeders by 1996.

Title TK was compiled from the output of these sessions and supplemented with two tracks recorded in Los Angeles with engineers Andrew Alekel and Mark Arnold.

The reception of Title TK has been generally positive; appraisal has included commendation for Albini's contributions to the sound of the album, and for how the recordings isolate individual instruments.

[3] Engineers and musicians on the project found that Deal's behavior and demanding musical standards created a difficult working environment.

[1][5] Deal began recording again in 1999, first in Austin, Texas, and then at Electrical Audio studio in Chicago with Steve Albini,[3] with whom she had previously worked on Pod,[9] Pacer,[4] and the Pixies' album Surfer Rosa.

[1] After a chance meeting with members of Fear,[1][12] she invited drummer Andrew Jaimez, bassist Mando Lopez, and guitarist Richard Presley to jam with her at the studio she was renting.

[5] About a month after Kim Deal's arrival,[15] Jose Medeles replaced Jaimez, who decided he did not have enough time for the Breeders because of his involvement in other musical projects.

[12] Kelley Deal has stated that "Little Fury" and "Sinister Foxx" started as "just ideas" by the sisters that turned into full collaborations by the group[12]—all five musicians received songwriting credits on these tracks.

[11] Kim Deal is credited as sole songwriter on the remaining ten tracks,[11] although other band members contributed musical ideas as well.

One reviewer described the way "keyboards buzz from out of nowhere, guitars hit bum notes intentionally, basslines amble up and down the scale, sometimes two at a time.

[29] On the call and response track,[21][26] the Deal sisters sing over a heavy bassline,[21][23] a funky drumbeat, and guitar sounds influenced by surf music and grunge.

[23][25] J.R. Moores wrote for Drowned in Sound that "Somebody considers unleashing a guitar solo, yet its notes are few and the vocals kick back in before it has the chance to go anywhere.

[30] In the Japanese release's liner notes, critic Mia Clarke described the slow ballad "Off You" as having a lackadaisical feel;[23] Pitchfork Media's Will Bryant was struck by the song's creepy quality, and compared it to the mood of the Pink Floyd album The Wall.

[21] Rolling Stone's Arion Berger said "Off You" is "as direct and heartbreaking as an eighty-five-year-old blues recording, and Kim, her voice clear and full of hope, can't help sounding like a young woman who's lived ten awful lifetimes.

[23] Bryant found the track's keyboard part reminiscent of Stereolab's music,[21] while AllMusic's Heather Phares likened the entire song to Jefferson Airplane's "White Rabbit".

[19] Cibula mentioned that the "creepy/cool ... sound [fits] the characteristic Kim Deal familiar/strange lyrics: 'Sorrow blowin' through the vents / I'm over Houston / You're over the night we met.

"[21] The Breeders re-recorded "Son of Three" in July 2002 for its release as Title TK's third single; this version is faster than the album track, and reflects the speed they were playing the song in concert that year.

[25][32] Berger wrote that Kim Deal's "voice grinds sweetly, weariedly, sloppily inside your brain,"[26] as she repeats twelve words over the course of the song:[25] "Better I better I stayed up / Better mono, put on a side.

[33][d] Bryant opined that both versions of "Full on Idle" sound almost the same,[21] but The Village Voice's Jessica Grose wrote that the Breeders' rendition is noticeably slower.

[25] The Guardian's Betty Clarke cited the line "Obey your colorist, bleach it all away" as an example of Title TK's amusing, off-center lyrics.

[37] Betty Clarke of The Guardian wrote that Title TK is "a welcome return to punky pop that knows how to flex some melodic muscle", and singled out the isolation of different sounds as the best aspect of the album.

[59] In The Village Voice, Robert Christgau called the music "skeletal, fragmented, stumblebum", and applauded Kim and Kelley Deal's tuneful songwriting.

While noting "they've been away so long they still think alt is a sloppy lifestyle rather than an embattled ethos", Christgau concluded that, "Through the imagistic baffle of their lyrics, they leave the impression that they subsist off their modest royalties, scattered gig fees, and compromised advances—mostly on beer.

[60] Spin magazine's Steve Kandell characterized Title TK as "a little unsure of itself", and pointed to the Breeders' re-recording of "Full on Idle" as evidence that "the creative coffers weren't exactly spilling over" for Deal.