Calexico, "Voices in the Field"
For a split second, at the beginning of this track, there's a burly menace to the sound that the seasoned Five Songs reader/listener would suspect is going to descend into some nightmare basement howling and guitarpocalypse. But no, it's just Calexico being a little dramatic at the start of this tune.
Calexico has always taken inspiration from their surroundings, and they've taken on the habit of recording their albums in different places in order to change up that inspiration. As a result, they've moved away some from the habitual desert sounds some on their latest records.
Silver Scooter, "Terrorism Lover"
No! Bad indie band!
Big Lad, "With Thanks Rave On"
Electronic noise act Big Lad were originally known as Shitwife, and I'm sorry, but I have trouble getting past that fact to say much more about them. Shitwife! Incredible.
Bob Marley & the Wailers, "African Herbsman"
The collected The Complete Wailers compilations, gathering together basically everything Marley did from 1967-1972, are absolutely chock full of fantastic tunes. The quality of a lot of the recordings are ragged, of course, and there are demos and things that aren't fully baked. But those misses overwhelmed by the sheer quantity of charming stuff on the records.
Crackerbash, "Human Alarm Clock"
Portland, OR's Crackerbash lasted for only one album, an EP, and a handful of singles, but they were really good while they lasted. Like a lot of their contemporaries in Portland at the time, there's a little more tunefulness going on with their rock than what was going on up I-5. Portland was never really going to be Grunge City South, despite what people were saying at the time. But because it wasn't, a bunch of these records have gotten lost in the shuffle, and that's a shame.