PJ Harvey, "Hair"
Last time we heard from PJ Harvey, we got "Sheela Na Gig" from Dry. That song smokes, of course. And this is the song right after it on that album! What I'm trying to say here is that this record is amazing.
Ne'er Do Wells, "Green Blooded Love"
I think I've mentioned this before, but there was a period of time where I bought more or less everything Lookout Records put out. This wasn't a great policy. Aside from ending up with considerably more pop punk than I needed, there was some pretty low wattage stuff down roster on that label. This album being a good exhibit. This is from a split LP, and as you can hear, this is just straight ahead vintage rock. It's inoffensive, but also pretty unexciting.
(NB: I don't actually think this is the same recording I listened to. This is a better, more energetic version of the song.)
Jurassic 5, "Improvise"
Can't believe we haven't had Jurassic 5 yet! We've heard from band members Cut Chemist and Chali 2Na with Ozomatli, but here's the actual band. Old school revivalists Jurassic 5 came out of a very productive underground scene in Los Angeles at the turn of the 2000s. The first Jurassic 5 album, Quality Control (from which this song comes) is actually the best album from that scene, and is just an outstanding album front to back. J5 put out one more great album (Power In Numbers) and then fell off really fast.
Steady Earnest, "Out of Line"
See, if you're going to evoke old rock music, this is a much better way to go about it!
Metallica, "Ride The Lightning"
While Kill 'Em All was the album that invented thrash, Ride the Lightning is the album that really perfected it. The songs are more ambitious, the playing is amazing, and it's all just headbanging perfection. It was so good that they basically made the album again with Master of Puppets, and it's still amazing the second time around.