Hot Snakes, "Plenty For All"
Hot Snakes! Hot Snakes! Hot Snakes!
The Wedding Present, "Flying Saucer"
Compare this tune with the Cinerama song from yesterday. It's a simpler arrangement, but fundamentally the same type of song. But this feels so much better because the focus is where it belongs, on Gedge's voice and guitar. This comes from Hit Parade 2, which documented the second half of the Wedding Present's 1992. They put out a single every month, collecting all the tunes on two records. While a bit uneven compared to the albums from that time (as you might expect), they still have a bunch of great material on them and are both worth your time.
Spent, "Stumble Up The Stairs"
An indie rock band from the mid-90s, Spent put out a couple records on Merge before calling it done. Spent distinguished themselves by having three songwriters, which provided some nice variety on the records. If you are looking for some more indie pop, you can certainly do worse.
Badly Drawn Boy, "The Shining"
I was just poking fun at orchestration yesterday, wasn't I?
But Badly Drawn Boy is a good study here - he does it both really well and less so, depending on the record. I wish I were smart enough to pinpoint the differences, but I'm just kind of an ape hooting when something I like comes on.
Oozing Wound, "Diver"
I'm always kind of interested in how bands that are in genres very different from their labelmates end up where they do. My favorite example might be the Arsonists on Matador. How did that happen? Oozing Wound on Thrill Jockey is another good example. Is it just that they're from Chicago? I think of Thrill Jockey as home to really cerebral stuff, to have something this visceral show up is just incongruous. Excellent band, though.