They Might Be Giants, "The Mesopotamians"
A lethally catchy song, I'll be humming this for the next several days. I feel like The Else gets really kind of ignored in the TMBG catalog. By that point, they were really kind of becoming known as a kids' band, and they just slipped in this really lushly produced thing right in the middle of three kids' albums.
[looks at "kids'"] That looks wrong. I think it's right? Ain't gonna look it up!
The Flaming Lips, "Vein of Stars"
While it doesn't feel quite as coherent as the previous two records, At War With The Mystics is a fine companion to those albums, and kind of the close of an era for them. After this record, they did less of this kind of soaring, symphonic pop stuff, and wandered into a more moody, atmospheric direction. This stuff is my favorite period of the Lips, and I love all three of these albums.
The Reindeer Section, "I've Never Understood"
A bunch of folks from a bunch of different Scottish bands got together to make a record, and Y'all Get Scared Now, Ya Hear! was the result. Super groups can sometimes fall really flat, because there's not always someone directing the vision, but this record is really solid. Turns out the secret is that everything was pretty much written by one person, Gary Lightbody (Snow Patrol).
All Natural, "Renaissance"
A heavily jazz-influenced hip-hop record (obviously), Second Nature is further a rarity for appearing on Thrill Jockey, which is mostly known as a place for cerebral post-rock and underground rock. But, they've never really been just that, and it does make sense for them to have this record given the influences.
Game Theory, "Dripping With Looks"
That is some seriously 1987-ass production right there. Listen to how fuzzy and echoey everything is!