Three days, when will it stop? NOT TODAY! HIT IT, YOUTUBE!
The Microphones, "I Want To Be Cold"
There's something almost shoegaze-y about this track from the Microphones, with the buried vocals and washes of noise. I love it when everything lays out about a minute in as well. It's a short tune, but it packs a punch.
Kid Koala, "3 Bit Blues"
Kid Koala assembled the entirety of 12 Bit Blues out of layers and layers of samples of old blues, adding scratching over the top when everything was put together. It's a fascinating experiment, as with just about everything he does, sounding ancient and dusty while simultaneously modern.
Calexico, "Contention City"
Calexico's Carried To Dust is, overall, great as you might guess. It's towards the more mariachi end of their albums, along with The Black Light, rather than the dreamy pop end of things, like Garden Ruin. If you're listening to this track and thinking this sounds like post-rock, congratulations on your ears! Or for reading about the song! Doug McCombs, bassist for Tortoise, shows up on the song to help out.
Buck-O-Nine, "Water in My Head"
Buck-O-Nine's Barfly is mostly pretty charming and up-tempo, as you basically hope for from any third-wave band that's folding in punk influences. And this song is a pretty good example of what they could do when they're on.
The Replacements, "Bastards of Young"
Beloved underground rock band The Replacements made a huge leap forward with Let It Be, replacing the sloppy hardcore of the first couple records with a much more nuanced take on rock. The band continued on their roll with Tim, their major-label debut (and the album featuring this song). Paul Westerberg's songwriting was easily strong enough for the band to have broken into the mainstream, but they continually shot themselves in the foot at every opportunity. For instance, they refused to make videos that were worth a damn. The video for this song was just a video of a stereo playing the song (as you can see). As a result of their self-sabotage, the band pretty much stayed on the fringes of the mainstream, despite being one of the greats (when they weren't fucking around).