Today's featured shit

One of many from the pre-Lilith Fair/post-riot grrl era, Tuscadero, along with the Breeders and Veruca Salt, set the table for acts such as Magnapop and, later, the Reputation and Damone.
“Latex Dominatrix” is more than a clever name. It has the perfect mix of guitar and vocals. Everyone gets something they want out of this one. “Just My Size” and “Dime a Dozen” also have some fun lyrics. This band is especially admirable because it does not take itself too seriously.
“Mt. Pleasant” is not about the high school in San Jose. I think it’s a euphemism of some sort, and who are you to disagree, after all? You can imagine what “Nancy Drew” is about. This record is the stuff dreams are made of, or at least were in 1994.
“Crayola” is the last track and one of the best. I wonder what Tuscadero are doing today. If they worked on a TV show theme song, I would watch the show no matter what. The liner notes say, “Foxy is as foxy does.” I’ll say.

This album is so old that when it came out the president was George Bush — the first one. You might not have been alive. Maybe your mom played this when she thought you were taking a nap.
Your mom must have been pretty cool if she were doing that. Pixies were up-and-coming back then. For me, an early rendition of “Head On” is the highlight of this groundbreaking record. They sound so much younger — so much more sober — here. It’s kind of cute and kind of depressing at the same time, just like the rest of the ’90s would turn out to be.
I’d recommend “Lovely Day,” although this album taken as a whole is a nice trip down memory lane. It wouldn’t be right to favor one track over another arbitrarily. “The Navajo Know” is last and is more upbeat than the rest. The band never went in this direction, but if they had, it would have been just as good.
So bask in the goodness and put on a pair of stirrup pants while you’re at it.

More of that mid-’90s sound. This likely came out right before Suicide Machines had their one hit, whatever it was. Maybe I am thinking of Suicide Kings.
At any rate, this is a double record with the first half featuring Rudiments and the second half featuring “Jack Kevorkian and the Suicide Machines.” Maybe they went by that back then. I was too busy working at Arby’s in Southland Mall to pay attention to these things.
All your favorites are here. I enjoy Rudiments’ “Spoon” the most, but they all pretty much do the same thing: slightly angry, slightly-inspired-by-the-Clash ska, with subdued or nonexistent horns.
If you want horns, then turn the page over to Suicide Machines. They use the horns with near regularity. I’d say they are one laxative away from being completely regular. Sometimes they yell, too. It was the ’90s after all. “Green World” was no doubt inspired by Green Day, which I am sure is quite insulting. So be it. You can hear the happiness in the music, even when the band’s name has “suicide” in it. We were a happy bunch back then, for sure.
“Inside/Outside” is one of my faves. It could be about the cat that always wants to go out, and then you let her out, and all she wants to do is come back in. I can’t tell, because the lyrics are mixed too low, as was the style at the time.