DJ Shadow, "This Time (I'm Gonna Try It My Way)"
DJ Shadow's third album, The Outsider, is kind of a mess. It was four years after The Private Press and ten after Endtroducing, and all that time apparently created a lot of ideas that all tried to burst out at the same time. That doesn't let the whole thing hang together as an album, but it does have plenty of fun songs. It's also an album that I have learned to appreciate more as time has gone on. It turns out that he didn't need to make another Endtroducing!
Mix Master Mike, "Rebel Enforcer"
Hell yeah DJ tracks! There's a nice menacing rumble on this one.
Bim Skala Bim, "Wandering Soul"
The other day, I mentioned that Eyes & Ears was Bim Skala Bim's poppiest album, but Bones is pretty close. This track, for instance, is very smooth and clean, and the aesthetics of it would present no problems for radio play circa 1991. Nice trombone solo also!
El-P, "Up All Night"
This is from El-P's best album before Run The Jewels, a record where his skills on the mic had continued to improve while his beats were those post-apocalyptic masterpieces that we are all used to now. If you haven't explored El-P's stuff but are a RTJ fan, this is the record to start with.
YOB, "Marrow"
YOB is Mike Scheidt's doom metal band, one of the true titans of the genre. Scheidt uses his albums to try and address his problems, and Clearing the Path to Ascend is him grappling with his depression. All four songs on the album are over 11 minutes, and this one is the album closer. It takes a long time to develop, as you might imagine, but is such an incredible song.