It’s July 4th! Doesn’t feel right to celebrate anything, though.

Fugees, “Ready or Not”

This album was really huge, driven by a rapturous critical reception (and, of course, some seriously bangin’ singles). It represents a little bit of a path not taken for hip-hop at large, though, as the Bad Boy Records era was really taking over around this time, which didn’t leave a lot of commercial space for other approaches. That it didn’t generate a lot of followers is no comment on the quality, of course, as it remains a classic.

New Bomb Turks, “Girl Can’t Help It”

Pissing Out The Poison is a compilation of the early 90s singles and miscellaneous appearances by the New Bomb Turks. As that’s their garage-iest period, this is my second favorite release by them. As you would expect from a comp, it’s pretty uneven, but they’re always bashing away, so it’s never boring.

Floor Baba, “Neon Sands”

There’s kind of a Prefuse 73 feel to this track, with the way that the bass line sounds kind of inverted in parts of it, and the initial spastic rhythms. As the track evolves, it kind of loses that feeling, but it’s kind of a fun connection to make at first.

Gob, “Cleansing”

This song sounds weird in only one earbud.

Green Day, “Nice Guys Finish Last”

nimrod. is the Green Day album I listen to the least. It’s not because of the songs that break out of the pop punk mold, but because the punk songs on it just sound kind of worn out. This song, for instance, sounds like a third-generation xerox of a thing from Dookie. Even on their final record, American Idiot, they brought more energy to the tunes.

Torche, “Reverse Inverted”

For how often I mention Torche, it’s nice to actually get the band in here. Always loud, always delightful.

Samiam, “Factory”

Just going full-on big rock today. With luck, everything we get will soar, and it’ll be a rare feel-good Five Songs list. But, knowing my library, we’ll probably get Einstürzende Neubauten mic-ing up a construction site and hammering on it with a ladle instead.

The Slackers, “Wasted Days”

Well, it doesn’t exactly soar, but it’s still a summery thing, so I’ll count it. The spare guitar in the opening, the gentle unison of the sax and the trombone, all leading to Vic Ruggiero’s plaintive question is one of my favorite moments by the Slackers. They’re willing to just let this languid bouncer cook, resisting the temptation to layer on too much, and it’s such a great tune as a result. The hottest it gets is Hillyard’s solo, but even there, the extra ornamentation is really just limited to some “oooooohhhs” in the background. And bonus points for Ruggiero’s tremendous delivery of the word “sober”. Great tune.

Prefuse 73, “Eve of Dextruction”

Way, way back in probably 1995, I remember making fun of some prehistoric website where someone clearly wanted to be a music reviewer but had no idea how to approach it. He attempted to a bunch of songs, but after writing a sentence or two for the first couple tracks, he just devolved into saying “CLUB BANGA” for the rest of the songs. And that simple phrase, all-caps, CLUB BANGA, has stuck with me now for twenty seven years or whatever. A friend and I used to just text that phrase to each other sometimes, and it never failed to hit.

Public Enemy, “LSD”

Flavor Flav belting out “cancer!” in the first verse always kills me. Also, I always appreciate it when rappers Remember A Guy, with Nick Van Exel getting name checked here.

The Grifters, “Spaced Out”

I’m pretty sure that I’ve lamented this before, but it’s a real shame that the Grifters managed to get to Sub Pop, the relative big time, and only released one record there before breaking up. I suppose they didn’t exactly fit into the general grunge aesthetic (grunty guitars and gruntier singers), but they at least fit pretty well alongside both Pond and the Afghan Whigs, both of whom made the majors. Well, anyway, all five of the Grifters records are worthwhile, with this one being the most polished of the bunch.

Uzeda, “Female”

You know, there’s more than a little similarity between Uzeda and the Dog Faced Hermans. There’s no personnel connection between them, but there’s a shared space of a kind of arty noise rock. Excellent stuff.

Squirrel Bait, “Kick the Cat”

No! Squirrel Bait, I just said nice things about you the other day. Don’t kick the cat!

N.W.A, “Express Yourself”

When I worked at WRCT, there was shelf in the DJ booth with all the new releases that the program manager wanted us all to work into our shows. We were required to play a couple songs from that shelf each hour. You could choose whatever you wanted and there were always plenty of things across genres. To assist us with the task, every new release that came into the station was listened to by a member of the staff and we wrote up some quick notes on an index card to help DJs make good choices. A key thing to note on those cards was which songs were safe to play outside “safe harbor” - in other words, which ones didn’t have profanity.

Elvis Costello, “Turpentine”

I have largely ignored Costello’s work past his salad days. Imperial Bedroom is more or less the last of his records I regularly listen to. No real reason for it, honestly, I just kind of feel like I have enough Costello. I broke that rule of thumb with Momofuku, his 2008 release, after I heard it was banged out in a matter of a few weeks. I thought the urgency might be fun to listen to. And, it’s fine? It’s a Costello record, there’s nothing wrong with it. But I still just go back to his earlier records.

Cap’n Jazz, “Little League”

Analphabetapolothology gathers together Cap’n Jazz’s one LP with their non-album releases onto one delicious record, capturing the entire work of one of the great but forgotten bands of the mid-90s underground. Like Squirrel Bait, they’re more known for their successor bands than their actual work, as both Joan of Arc and the Promise Ring came out of Cap’n Jazz. But also as with Squirrel Bait, ignoring the parent band’s output would be a huge mistake, as it’s bursting with ideas and energy. This comp really is one of the highlights of the 90s, and if you haven’t listened to it, my goodness, you’re in for a treat.

David Bowie, “Heroes”

I know that as an underground rock dork, and a fan of experimental music, I should really regard Heroes (or at least the Eno years) as Bowie’s peak. But I just can’t do it. Gimme the Ziggy Stardust stuff first, please.

Daft Punk, “Revolution 909”

Daft Punk’s first LP (Homework) took house music and brought it to disco, and by resurrecting that sound of the 70s, managed to sound fresh. I think they’d do a lot more with the formula later, but this is where it started.