The Shins, "New Slang"
I sort of mentally lumped the Shins in with a bunch of other indie bands (like Death Cab) as being "fine, but not for me". Who had the time to differentiate all these bands? It wasn't actually until I found "For A Fool" on Rocksmith and had such a good time playing it that I paid more attention, and hey - turns out I actually really like the Shins. We wander into the music we like through a lot of different ways, and it always pays to keep your ears open.
The Blood Brothers, "Every Breath Is A Bomb"
That is a hell of a song title. If you can deal with the yelling, the Blood Brothers really could bring it.
The White Stripes, "Black Math"
I wonder what percentage of rock band names start with "The". I feel like I could believe a pretty wide range of results on that one.
Unwound, "Scarlette"
2001's Leaves Turn Inside You was Unwound's swan song, and it was an incredible note to go out on. A double album packed full of uncompromising post-hardcore, it was the culmination of everything the band had been working towards. Unwound had always forged their own path, but on their final record, they were clearly just following their muse wherever it led. I'm not sure how much this stuff will sound out there to folks just encountering it today, but at the time, there wasn't a whole lot that sounded like them.
J Church, "Tide of Fate"
This is the title track to one of J Church's early EPs, which was later gathered on Nostalgic for Nothing, a comp that is one of their finest releases. Even from this early date, you could hear both the energy and Lance Hahn's fine songwriting at the front. If you take only one thing from Five Songs, it should be that there is tons of great ska out there, don't just dismiss it all. If you take two things, it's that, and the fact that I don't know shit about jazz. The third thing, though, is that J Church ruled.