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Led Zeppelin, “Since I’ve Been Loving You”

I dunno, I’ve just got a feeling, I’m not sure this band is really gonna ever make it big.

James Brown, “There It Is”

Awwww hell yes, if we’re going back, let’s get the Godfather of Soul! I always wonder a little bit with Brown, if his music sounds so fresh because so much of it was refreshed by hip hop making use of it. I don’t think so, but it’s also impossible for me to listen to this stuff totally clean.

Polyrhythmics, “The Mendo Mulcher”

I sometimes wonder if I’m going to look back on all the instrumental funk and soul that I listen to these days and think how a lot of it has aged poorly, in the same way that so much of the third wave of ska has aged poorly. But then I remember, none of this shit got popular, so it’s all good! And it allows me to get my horn fix without feeling like a dope! (I still love ska, though.)

Soundgarden, “Outshined”

Badmotorfinger was the big leap forward for Soundgarden, where they married the murky hard rock homage of their early stuff to clean enough productions and songs to really appeal to a broader audience. And, carried forward by the contemporaneous releases of Nevermind and Ten, that broader audience found them. Soundgarden had always had potential to be a big band, as the core of that Sabbath/Zeppelin sound had a built-in appeal to a bunch of folks, and they would be one of the breakout acts of the grunge scene.

Stephen Malkmus, “Discretion Grove”

Do you detect a little echo of “Wounded Kite” there in the aborted first bit of song on this track? No? Just me?

The Suicide Machines, “Our Time”

No, we’re leaving the “Days Since Last Listless, Anonymous Third Wave Song” sign alone on this one. There’s nothing listless about this! The Suicide Machines are very much a chip off the Operation Ivy block, and the energy here carries them plenty far.

Nation of Ulysses, “The Sound of Young America”

I need more art punk in my life. Nation of Ulysses was unafraid to just go for it, with their over-the-top political polemics, the atonal honking of the trumpet, the odd song structures, or whatever other pretensions they were willing to put on. They also carried it off with straight faces, which just helped carry things. As I get older, I’m happier with bands that staked out their own territory. Nobody really sounds like the Nation of Ulysses, and that’s really valuable.

De La Soul, “Church”

After the lackluster Art Official Intelligence: Mosaic Thump and the uneven AOI: Bionix, I was wondering if De La Soul were done. The answer was answered definitively by the next album, The Grind Date: no, they were not done. At least part of that was the production they got on the record, with good work from folks like J Dilla, Mad Lib, and 9th Wonder (who is on this track). It’s not groundbreaking in the way their early work was, but it’s a just a solid record all the way through.

Flying Lotus, “Eyes Above”

You’re Dead!, the incredible 2014 album by Flying Lotus, is a shimmering mass of fantastic ideas, with constant shifting across tracks, well-chosen guest artists, and lots of surprises across the length of the album. However, it’s one of those records that really works best as an album, and not as isolated cuts, as you miss the overall context of each song if you just listen to a piece.

Arsonists, “Session”

My favorite song on As The World Burns, powered by that savage bass line. I’m basically a sucker for any upright bass. And, of course, it’s fun to hear them trading verses back and forth.

Prefuse 73, “Last Night”

One of the less glitchy or fractured tracks on Vocal Studies + Uprock Narratives, that also makes it one of my least favorite songs on the record.

Dance Hall Crashers, “Street Sweeper”

An old song from Dance Hall Crashers, this was when their style could best be described as “straightforward” (or “boring”, if you’re not inclined to be nice). As they would go on, they would get more interesting, with songs that were less reliant on paint-by-numbers third-wave ska.

Killer Mike, “R.A.P. Music”

I often refer to Killer Mike’s R.A.P. Music as “Run The Jewels 0”, featuring as it does the core duo from RtJ. The approach that El-P takes on the beats is definitely on the continuum that would develop into RtJ, and of course, Killer Mike is on point. The only real difference between this and a full RtJ album is that El-P stays off the mic. Every fan of RtJ owes it to themselves to get this record.

Crackerbash, “Bad Karma”

I know we’ve had Crackerbash on here before, but by way of reminder, they’re a forgotten punk/power pop band out of Portland who were active for just a little while in the early 90s, producing a very good album and outstanding EP, along with a few singles. Then, right as the music scene in the Pacific Northwest blew up, they disappeared. Like fellow Portland band Pond, their stuff stands out by having more of a melodic sense than some of the more dour bands of that time and place.