On an unrelated note, anyone going to see Mission of Burma in Austin this weekend? If you want to drink an awkward beer with someone who posts mp3s on a website and writes about the Supremes, I’m your guy.

Immigrants ‘66 - Reuben Rubin

A warning: it’ll be rough in 2040, when every turn-o’-the-century high school band reissues their 2-track masterworks on a weary populace. There’ll be record-buying guides on every aisle; the market price for cover blurbs will run to much ducats or euros or something. We get a taste of that here in the Immigrants ‘66, a Kansas City garage band from a certain year who’ve seen reissue on Starburst records. While few tracks are of interest beyond pure time capsulism, one standout would be the moody/bright surf original “Reuben Rubin”. Hang onto yr masters, kids.

[buy stuff here]

Need New Body - Land Hobo/Monkey Dancer

Gang vocals. I’m a sucker for ‘em. The best part of the WPP’s (admittedly rocking) 2004 set We Have the Technology was when the band dialed the spazzpunk down a few to sing sweet about troglodytes. Need New Body is most fun - for me, mind you - when they supplement their kraut grooves with them nasty fascist chants. From the self-titled LP.

[buy stuff here]

Rollerball - Spine Delay

Gots me a serious soft spot for the kitchen-sink post-rock of Rollerball. Last year, “Wyoming” was one of my most-repeated tracks, and having just bought 2003’s Real Hair, it looks like “Spine Delay” will duplicate the feat of its precessor (follower?). Besides or despite being the first song I’ve ever come across to sample Mr. T’s immortal Be Somebody… video, it’s a banging melange of coin-on-dictionary faux-rap lyricism and windy, organ-rooted vistas.

[buy stuff here]