Screeching Weasel, "The First Day Of Summer"
Bark Like A Dog is the first Screeching Weasel album that came out after I'd graduated from college. It was also the first record after Ben Weasel decided to end his Ramones worshipping band, the Riverdales. And, you know, return to his previous Ramones worshipping band. At any rate, this stuff wasn't quite hitting me totally right, and it was the first Screeching Weasel album where I found myself questioning why I was still picking up the records. I did last one more, though, because of course I did.
Earth, Wind & Fire, "Reasons"
What happened to the falsetto? Bring it back!
Trumans Water, "Aroma Of Gina Arnold"
Trumans Water, eclectic indie rock weirdos, were often exhausting and ostentatiously difficult. I don't mind difficult, as anybody will quickly figure out by following Five Songs for about a week, but it wasn't always clear to what purpose the difficulty was used for with them. But sometimes, they'd cough up a banger, and this eight-minute circuitous noisy epic is one of them.
Perturbator, "Neo Tokyo"
There's a lot that I like in the various *wave genres, and Perturbator is one of my favorites. I think it's probably because it kind of sounds a lot like an updated Nitzer Ebb, minus the cheesiness. Or, anyway, most of the cheesiness. There's an immediacy and aggression here that lets the melodies really shine.
Infesticons, "Monkey Theme"
When people talk about underground hip-hop, a lot of the time, that's artists that are just kind of below the radar, or playing music that's out-of-fashion, or similar. But sometimes, it's folks that are legitimately out there, with the Infesticons being a great example of the latter. Mike Ladd leads this band into some really experimental places, with plenty of noise and electronic music flourishes. It doesn't quite always deliver on the promise, but it's at least interesting and different.