Jonathan Richman - "Give Paris One More Chance". Boy am I kicking myself for missing Jonathan when he was in Montreal a year or two ago. He's like the happiest punk ever, so punk that he needn't be. I love where he almost-sort-of-laughs, here, how he strums away with saxophone and backing vocals, how his goofy rhymes just tumble ever-forward, bad french and all. This track makes me dream a) of Paris, b) of Jonathan Richman playing "Dave" on a new-and-awesome Chimpunks record.

King Geedorah - "Monster Zero". This is the awesome sample-ridden interlude track from last year's MF Doom/King Geedorah record, Take Me To Your Leader. It's a strange little concept album, but this cut boasts Doom's sense of play at its best: oldschool sci-fi samples weave and build into an impressive little climax, and some of the quotes are absolutely terrific (from old records to 2002 anthrax-guy TV coverage). All of this, of course, over a smashy drum sample and a comfortable jazz organ-line. There's no rapping to be found (which means that it's not representative of the album as a whole), but "Monster Zero" should be a hit for the Kid Koala/DJ Food/DJ Shadow crowd.