The Smiths, "Miserable Lie"
The first Smiths album is the one I really don't listen to very much at all. I tend to want to belt along with the songs in my best Morrissey impression, and for that, I know the last few albums much better than this one. That's not a judgment on the quality of it or anything, just a recognition that I listened to The Queen Is Dead in high school enough to know the songs perfectly.
Royal Crown Revue, "Beyond the Sea"
Part of the problem that the various revival bands in the 90s had is that it's kind of hard to tell how much of this is tongue-in-cheek. I think they're playing it straight, but then you hear one of their originals, and it's kind of smirky, and I sort of feel like you can't go both ways with it. At any rate, taken at face value, sure, this is fun.
sexual jeremy, "Bowls of Fruit"
Some real US Maple vibes here, which is a very high compliment indeed.
Vattnet Viskar, "Dawnlands"
In the wake of Sunbather, there was a kind of boomlet in this sort of post-black metal, or "blackgaze" (ugh), or whatever you want to call it: music that took some of the ideas of black metal and melded them into more accessible and bigger songs. Still fairly offputting, but nowhere near as abrasive as pure black metal can be. Unfortunately, a lot of this stuff leaves me a little cold. I'd rather either listen to black metal, or I'd rather listen to more proper shoegaze, but the blur between them doesn't usually work for me even though on paper it should.
Quelle Chris, "So Tired You Can't Stop Dreaming"
Oh baby, listen to that piano!