The B.U.M.S., "When She Walked"
We've had this record show up before, but In Wanna Smash Sensation should have been an absolute classic pop punk record. Cheerful and breezy, great tunes, great production from Kurt Bloch behind the boards, it's just a delight all the way around.
Hum, "Pinch & Roll"
This comes from the second Hum LP, but the first one that really started to get them attention. Electra 2000 was distributed by Cargo Records, getting it into a lot more hands. It would lead to a major label deal, a couple of well-recieved records, and eventually an outstanding reunion record after 23 years. But going back to this album, it's a very good indie rock record, a good picture of where the underground was in 1993, and worth a listen to see where a long-lived band really got rolling.
Thundercat, "Show You The Way"
In 2017, Thundercat was coming off a string of amazing collaborations with a bunch of great artists, most notably Kendrick Lamar and Flying Lotus. After those successes, he put out Drunk, which brings together his usual eclectic set of influences. This song is a great example, a fine soft rock song featuring vocals from legends Kenny Loggins and Michael McDonald. It's proof that even a genre like this can be great in the right hands.
Cavity, "Spine I"
Speed running the description here...uh...OUT OF TIME
Jawbreaker, "Gutless"
I remember very clearly buying Unfun, the first Jawbreaker album. It was during a trip to visit a friend in Philadelphia, and we were killing time, and wandered into a record store that she hadn't been in. I wasn't expecting much, it didn't seem like that interesting of a place, but much to my surprise, they had a copy of this album (which wasn't easy to find at the time). I didn't get a chance to listen to it there, but threw it on during the Greyhound ride back to Pittsburgh, listening to it before we got to Harrisburg. And then again on the other side of Harrisburg. To this day, I can still picture leaning against that bus window, watching the Pennsylvania landscape go by in the dark, reveling in getting to hear a new (to me) album from one of my favorites.