A day late, a buck short.

1. See You Soon, a 2020 album by the Brudi Brothers. Jaunty guitar picking, doubled harmonies, and train-whistle style harmonica are the calling cards of this album, making it perfect for spring walks in nature or campfire nights. But don’t sell them short—it’s easy to get caught up in the rootsy grooves of this album and miss out on some outstanding lyricism. These guys have a real talent for making old songs sound new and new songs sound like old standards.
   
   Favorite tracks include “See You Soon” and “Chasing Paper”, but “Hanford Street” takes the cake. Maybe it just reminds me of VKB Band’s rendition of “Fannin Street”, but this one breaks your heart gently just the same.
   
   Hat tip to Toby for this one.
   
   
   
2. Get Born, Jet’s 2003 rock album, made famous for its hit single “Are You Gonna Be My Girl?” With all due respect to AYGBMG, which is undoubtedly one of the great rock songs of the 21st century, this album has much more to offer than catchy singles.
   
   I used to have this album on CD in my car in high school, and I played it until it got kicked around in the floorboards one too many times. Every track on the album is different, interesting, and worthy of a listen.
   
   I’ve long held the opinion that every song is ultimately Beatles or Rolling Stones influenced. For example, compare the hook in “Look What You’ve Done” to Lennon’s “Sexy Sadie”. For another, compare the lead guitar riffs in “Get What You Need” to those of the Stones’ “Can’t You Hear Me Knocking”. A fun car game is listening to the album and sorting the tracks into these two buckets.
   
   
   
3. “Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat)”, an excellent example of what hip hop could have been (and still shold be) from Diggable Planet’s 1993 album Reachin’ (A New Refutation of Time and Space). I rediscovered this one after the horn fill from the chorus was sampled by Doechii’s band in her Tiny Desk Concert (also well worth a watch if you haven’t caught it already).
   
   When you think about great hip hop, instrumentation is not always the first thing to come to mind, and rightfully so. But this track and the Doechii performance are a reminder of how the best music in any genre contains the best of all the genres. In addition to the horns, don’t miss the walking bass line, the collaborative vocals, and even the snaps—they all contribute to make this track unstoppable.