Prince, "Take Me With U"
Prince, yes please, take me with you.
The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, "'78 Style"
The first JSBX was really very much a transitional record between Pussy Galore and what the JSBX would become. There's just enough of the spastic, unpredictable energy in the proceedings to retain that gutter punk feel. Spencer would continue to draw on those sounds and attitudes throughout the JSBX run, but it's nowhere as overt as on the first record.
They Might Be Giants, "Burnice"
The Escape Team is an album and comic combo from TMBG released in 2018, with the songs about the characters in the book. As with many of these mixed-media projects, it does lose something if you can't look at the other end of things, but it's still a charming little record. Not their best stuff, but they're doing something different here, and I always appreciate that.
Moonsorrow, "Haaska"
The fascination with the past (imagined or otherwise) is something that unites folk and some black metal, and there are plenty of bands that kind of straddle the line and even move back and forth. Sometimes within the same song, as you can hear here. This stuff can be pretty hit or miss for me, but I have really liked some things in this category (like Panopticon's more Appalachian moments). So, I took a punt at Moonsorrow, with an album that supposedly started heading back towards black metal, and I dunno. It doesn't quite work for me, the seams between the styles seem too overt. And, well, Moonsorrow seems like one of the many bands in this category who are kinda sketchy, which I didn't learn until much later (this album is from 2005), so eh, screw 'em.
Fred Wesley & the J.B.'s, "Damn Right, I Am Somebody, Part 1 (7" Single Mix)"
Oh fuck yeah, listen to that trombone go!