Mary Wells, "You Beat Me To The Punch"
Lots of Mary Wells recently, which is OK by me!
Olivia Tremor Control, "The Opera House"
Music From The Unrealized Film Script, Dusk at Cubist Castle is one of the key documents of the indie pop underground from the mid-90s. Although it hasn't retained the level of enduring fame as In The Aeroplane Over the Sea, it's very much a peer to that one. The record nerds who went nuts over Neutral Milk Hotel at the time were already nuts over Olivia Tremor Control.
Jay-Z, "99 Problems"
When The Black Album came out, a friend of mine listened to it before I picked it up and told me "I wish I could see your face when you get to '99 Problems'". And sure enough, I was blown away. Raising Hell was the first record that I ever remember buying for myself, and in a lot of ways started my love affair with music. Rick Rubin's production on that album is burned into my brain, and to hear him come back 17 years later and drop a vintage track straight out of that era on a Jay-Z record was such a delight.
Bricks, "History of Lies"
Back to the indie pop! Bricks is Mac McCaughan from Superchunk playing with Andrew Webster of Tsunami into a four track, before either got their bands rolling. You can sort of hear how Superchunk in particular would come from this embryonic beginning. This is probably just of historical interest for most, but it's kind of nice to hear this early stuff.
The Pixies, "Where Is My Mind?"
Fuck me, the Pixies were so good.