Hepcat, "You And I"
Hepcat could really straddle the line between ska, rocksteady, and even something like soul. This song is just a low-key delight.
Wu-Tang Clan, "Shame On A Nigga"
I love it when rappers deliberately use a bogus word and correct themselves in their rhymes, like Method Man does in his verse. This song, of course, comes from Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), one of the revolutionary records of rap, and one of my very favorites. I listened to this song a second time when I put together the play list. And then YouTube pulled up "Da Mystery Of Chessboxin'", so I listened to that too.
Unsteady, "Bad Attitude"
There aren't that many third-wave ska bands that I still listen to frequently. I've kind of collapsed onto just the very best of the bunch. The Slackers, of course. Hepcat, just above, is on that list as well. And, the most obscure of my regulars is probably Unsteady. I only wish they had lasted more than just two albums.
Guided By Voices, "A Good Flying Bird"
Alien Lanes is Guided By Voices at their most organized, for what it's worth. And it still contains songs that sound like this. Not that it's a bad song, it just sounds like it was recorded in a bathtub.
Calexico, "Voices In The Field"
New music! New-ish music, anyway. This is from The Thread The Keeps Us, which came out a couple weeks ago. I haven't totally digested it, but you know, Calexico rules.