Calexico, "Fake Fur"
The Black Light is the album where Calexico became CALEXICO. The dusty desert aesthetic was in full flower on this album. The recording is soaked in reverb, there's tons of space for the atmosphere, and it's just a lovely experience. It's not their best album, because they would marry this sound to better songwriting on later records, but this is still a fun album.
Elvis Costello, "Crawling to the USA"
This comes to us from the bonus second disc from the This Year's Model reissue. The bonus material on a lot of these types of reissues can be pretty dodgy, but Costello's songwriting in this period was so strong that even the leftovers are pretty darn good. I mean, this is an excellent tune!
High Back Chairs, "Swear"
You know, I don't know that I would have ever made this connection without the random juxtaposition here, but there's a little bit of Costello's songwriting going on here. It's not quite as dynamic, but the structure of the song feels kind of similar to me.
Barkmarket, "Grinder"
Yet another of those bands that got swept up in the Great Grunge Gold Rush, this is Barkmarket's third album but first that got a major release. To the extent they distinguish themselves from other bands, it's with a bit of noise rock mixed in to the formula. It's not exactly revolutionary, and the album didn't grab me enough to stick with them, but this is a decent tune.
The Strokes, "Someday"
The Strokes were one of the bands that briefly brought rock back to prominence in the early 2000s, thanks to a danceable take on Stooges-esque rock. The Stokes were hugely hyped, and largely delivered on it, with a truly compelling album.