Senyawa, "Menuju Muara"
Indonesia duo Senyawa are avant garde in just about every possible way. They play homemade instruments. The music is experimental. The album was released by a bunch of different labels across the globe with no ownership rights to any of them, to challenge the way music is distributed today. And it's truly unusual stuff, with a sensibility that is at odds with a lot of what I listen to. I genuinely enjoy listening to things that surprise me, so I really like this record.
Guided by Voices, "Exit Flagger"
This tune is on Propeller, which is the earliest GBV album that has really gotten much traction. It's certainly not as big as Bee Thousand or anything, but Discogs lists 12 version of Propeller, and nothing earlier has more than 6. And it's easy to see why Propeller works for people, it has plenty of the ramshackle charm and tunefulness of the later records.
K.C. Bowman, "Cactus League Game"
K.C. Bowman was one of the leaders of Lawsuit, a band obscure enough to not even appear in Discogs, and that I only know of because a friend saw them open a show in California and sent me a couple records from them. Bowman only made this one solo record, but I like it a ton, there's a lot of charm to his songwriting. And Lawsuit was amazing.
Lollipop, "Whey Face Down"
Lollipop made two albums of absolutely primal gutter rock for Amphetamine Reptile Records in the mid-90s. Music with no pretense, no higher ambitions, no grace, just all sneer and grime and racket. I mean, this album is called Dog Piss On Dog, you pretty much know what you're getting.
Is there any equivalent label to AmRep these days? I miss them.
Rage Against the Machine, "Without a Face"
Twitter has a lot of problems, but one thing in its favor is that it surfaces a constant stream of people somehow only now discovering that Rage Against the Machine is a political band, which is always a delight.