Obits, "Spun Out"
Who is making music with this kind of reverbed out surf guitar these days? Honest question, I have no idea, and I like it a lot. Comment down below! Or don't! I'm not the boss of you.
People Under The Stairs, "Montego Slay"
This song is actually assembled out of a bunch of micro samples of music from commercials for Jamaican tourism, which is pretty impressive given how coherent it all sounds. This sort of careful, detailed assembling is something that always impresses the hell out of me.
The Smiths, "Unhappy Birthday"
One of the all-time great songs to oversing, just a great time to ham it up along with the ridiculous lyrics. When I first played this song for my buddy Bill, he couldn't stop laughing, it's a magical piece of comedy.
Daughters, "City Song"
This menacing little ditty is the opening to You Won't Get What You Want, which was one of my very favorite albums from 2018. It melds metal and industrial in a way that gets at the best parts of both, and it's one of the ugliest albums around. In a good way.
Fluf, "The Ocean"
I can't help but feel like San Diego's Fluf should have been bigger than they were. The formula of huge guitars powering basically pop songs is one that the Foo Fighters rode to huge success, but Fluf never even came close to denting the public consciousness. But they were very good at what they did, and all four albums they made are excellent. If you like Sugar or Torche, you should check them out.