Big Boys, "We Got Soul"
An early hardcore band in Austin, the Big Boys inspired a bunch of bands that followed them, including folks like the Butthole Surfers. It's also where Rey Washam (Scratch Acid, Rapeman) and Tim Kerr (Poison 13, The Monkeywrench) got their start. All of the Big Boys' catalog was helpfully compiled into two discs, with The Skinny Elvis comprising the first half of their career and The Fat Elvis (which gave us today's track) the second half. Among other things that made them great, they were totally unafraid to just straight up play some funk, which is delightful.
Ludacris, "Diamond In The Back"
Ludacris records are really about the highlights, as they can get kind of shaggy with some of the down songs. But Chicken-N-Beer contains fewer of those iffy songs, so I like it the best of his records. This tune is one of the highlights on the album.
Inez Foxx, "Circuit's Overload"
Funky today! Goddamn, those horns. Just wanna roll around in it and strut around the house like a dog that found a dead squirrel.
Jurassic 5, "The Influence"
HELL YEAH. The first Jurassic 5 album is absolutely crushing, just an incredible slab. Perfect verbal architecture indeed. Sorry we ended up with the clean version here, by the way, at some point through library matching or something it snuck in there.
Idles, "Heel/Heal"
The opener of the 2017 Idles record, which is punk in a way that has more in common with the experimentation of the original scene of the 70s than most of the following bands who settled into more recognizable genres. There's a rawness here that isn't amateurish or haphazard, but instead feels exposed and honest. It's an excellent record, well worth the listen if you haven't tried it before.