Wilco, "ELT"
You know, this might be the first time I've had a song come up on Five Songs after I had listened to it by choice earlier that day. This is not an interesting fact.
Anyway, Summerteeth is fantastic. Tweedy made a basically clean break entirely from the alt-country that had been present on all of his albums up to this point, and made just a straight up pop record. And it's so good! Lush and orchestral at times, slow and contemplative at others, it's a tour de force.
Jawbreaker, "Outpatient"
OK, holy shit, y'all. 24 Hour Revenge Therapy is one of the masterpieces of the 90's rock underground, a deeply emotional punk record that hit me like a ton of bricks then and still sounds amazing today. And this song is the center of the storm. From the start, counting backwards from ten, all the way through, Blake Schwarzenbach has never sounded more committed to a song. I just cannot recommend this album highly enough.
The album was tremendously successful, as people responded to the great songs and the hard work the band was putting in to support it on tour. This was the album that convinced Geffen to sign the band, with all the drama that that led to.
Doreen's Jazz New Orleans, "I've Found A New Baby"
More of the jazz from this band featuring the clarinet and about which I'd love to say more, but you know. Qualifications and all.
Xzibit, "Last Words"
Ahh, an interlude. Um, not much to say here.
John Boy, "10w40"
Now forgotten noise rock band John Boy put out two albums in the early 90s, both of them excellent. They specialized in a punishing, layered sound that in some ways blurred into the territory of shoegaze or even black metal at times. It's another one of these bands that doesn't deserve to be lost to history.