Can you tell the Voodoo Glow Skulls and Suicide Machine apart? Most people can't.
Nicole Willis & The Soul Investigators, "Blues Downtown"
Soul revivalist Willis leans more towards the Motown end of things than the Stax/Volt side, although obviously there's still plenty of Stax influence here as well. And my god, those drums at the start of the song. Anyway, this album (Keep Reachin' Up) is fantastic.
Voodoo Glow Skulls, "Thrift Shop Junkie"
Voodoo Glow Skulls are usually at their least interesting in their generic hardcore mode. This is, um, a pretty generic hardcore song.
Suicide Machines, "Give"
The Suicide Machines are probably the band that has tried the hardest to emulate the great Operation Ivy. At times, they were reasonably successful in being Diet Operation Ivy, which honestly was enough for me for a while. Their first album is my favorite of their lot (Destruction by Definition).
McLusky, "Without MSG I Am Nothing"
We've encountered Andrew Falkous a couple of times around here, but here he is with his first band, Mclusky. Across three albums, Mclusky made a racket featuring Falkous's weird vocals, and they're all solid records. I think I like Future of the Left more, but Mclucky Do Dallas is as good as anything Future of the Left has made.
Raekwon, "Outro"
The last track of Raekwon's second album, which isn't as good as his first. Also: I'm amazed we don't get more rap skits around here.