clipping., "Story 2"
CLPPNG, the first full record from clipping., was a record with the band still kind of piecing together what they had. It would be on the next album (Splendor & Misery) that everything would come together perfectly, but there are still times on this album where things still seemed a little awkward. The individual pieces, especially Daveed Diggs, were often spectacular, but the best was yet to come.
Green Day, "When I Come Around"
Speaking of bands reaching their full potential. 39/Smooth and Kerplunk! (especially the latter) were great pop-punk albums, but it turned out that Green Day were one of those bands that could thrive with a fancy big studio production. Dookie was a massive, massive hit for good reason: it's incredibly catchy and sounds fantastic. It's not a complex pleasure or anything, but it's fine to have some ear candy. Green Day continued to put good records for a while, but they wouldn't ever beat this.
Primus, "Hail Santa"
Primus's third studio record, Pork Soda, continued on the band's trajectory of ever more obtuse songs, both in lyrics and in the compositions. It was around this point that I felt like the diminishing returns (I had liked each record less than the previous one) probably didn't justify continuing to follow the band, and these days I mostly only listen to the first one and occasionally the second.
Last Exit, "Pig Freedom"
Last Exit were a free jazz group featuring Peter Brötzmann on sax, Sonny Sharrock on guitar, Bill Laswell on bass, and Ronald Shannon Jackson on drums. If you know anything about those folks, it's no surprise that this is as abrasive as it is. This album is live and all improvised, and it's a bracing record. There's kinship here with the sort of extreme metal that I listen to, and while I'm not broadly a free jazz kinda guy, if it's loud, I'm in.
Sicko, "The Sprinkler"
What a delightful day!