Throbbing Gristle, "Beachy Head"
Industrial pioneers Throbbing Gristle's third album, 20 Jazz Funk Greats, is their best and most influential album. Ranging widely around the musical map, the restlessness is part of what makes it great. This song, for instance, is just a bit of atmospheric disquiet named for Beachy Head, a notorious suicide location that the band is actually pictured standing on for the cover. It's easy to forget that this is from 1979.
Slant 6, "Eight Swimming Pools"
Slant 6 were out of Washington D.C., puting out a couple of albums in the mid-90s on Discord records. If you're thinking to yourself, geez, this sounds a lot like Sleater-Kinney, I think you're right, but Slant 6 actually preceeded them by a year or so.
Kool and the Gang, "N.T."
This is how Kool and the Gang's third album opened. Like the previous one, Live at P.J.'s is a live album, but it hardly matters that it's not a studio record. It's such a tight set of material, and one of their essential albums. I don't know how you can listen to something like this and not feel good.
Presidents of the United States of America, "Meanwhile Back In The City"
The other day, we had a tune off their second record, which was put out in the wake of their peak popularity. It did basically nothing in the market, and resulted in the band being dropped from Columbia Records. It was several years before their next record appeared on an indie label, but Freaked Out and Small basically continues in the same vein. I don't think it hits quite as hard as the previous one, but it's still chock full of fun, hooky pop.
Al Green, "I've Never Found a Girl"
Goddamn, shuffle delivering today! What can you say about Al Green? I mean, just listen to this! If "N.T." didn't do it for you, you're clinically dead, so you can't enjoy the pure sunshine pouring into your ears now. My condolences to your loved ones.