Blackalicious, "World of Vibrations"
It wasn't clear if there would be a follow-up to the masterful Blazing Arrow, but three years later, The Craft showed up. And while it's not quite as good, that's an unreasonable expectation. It's an excellent record, Gift of Gab was a master, and the beats are urgent enough to provide a strong platform and not disappear.
Caspar Babypants, "Cotton Eyed Joe"
I think last time we had the Presidents of the United States of America on here, I mentioned that Chris Ballew was occupying himself with making kids' records under the moniker Caspar Babypants. Well, here he is, and it's a testament to his basic affability and deft hand with a tune that he managed to turn the curdled anthem of canned baseball stadium antics from a rancid abomination to a totally pleasant listen.
It enterains me to no end that my two autocomplete suggestions for a tag when I type "Caspar" are this and Caspar Brötzmann Massaker.
Buzzcocks, "Alive Tonight"
To be clear about that last statement: we here at Five Songs Agglomerated are generally a fan of rancid songs, as long as it is the good kind of rancid. Intentional ugliness, not oafish tunelessness.
Edward Holland, Jr., "Leaving Here"
This song sounds like it's from earlier in Motown's run to me, not from 1963, where things were generally sounding a little bit more like the Motown we're all familiar with.
Bim Skala Bim, "Go Back"
Much to my surprise, the first Bim Skala Bim record in 21 years (!) showed up last year, with Sonic Tonic strolling onto Bandcamp like nothing happened. Dan Vitale sounds like he's got some more miles on the ol' voice, but other than that, it pretty much picks up where Krinkle left off. Pretty good! That is a vintage trombone solo.