Pezcore

One of the very few third-wave ska bands to escape the wreckage of the genre’s late-1990s implosion, Less Than Jake have been purveying catchy ska-punk pretty much nonstop for more than 30 years. Pezcore, their debut album, is a great place to start. Notice how the straight-up punk of “My Very Own Flag” gives way to a sort of speed-ska style on “Johnny Quest Thinks We’re Sellouts,” and how that dynamic repeats again on the transition from “Black Coffee” to “Throw the Brick.” They sound very young here, but that’s not a bad thing – the energy is infectious and you can hear strong hints of how they would develop over the next few decades.