Q#90 – June – July 2013

Please note that the zip file has a password: Q90

Download mix from: http://www.mediafire.com/?04mam8z8dbhx5fy

Q’s Compilations

Volume #90 – June – July 2013

Greetings! The thing about doing a themed compilation (the Chilean mix of Q#89) is that you get a backlog of tracks from a regular mix, so chopping things down for this release was a bit of a pain! I hope you enjoy what is in store…

01) Books of Love - Space Time: We need more science in music! We also need more Katy Goodman, this song ticks both boxes. I’ll simply copy from the bandcamp page which paints the picture “While hiking past the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles, friends Katy Goodman and Greta Morgan were struck with the idea to record a song together: A song about physics and love, science and romance, space and time. Have you ever felt the lovesick pain of falling for someone from a different dimension? We have too.”.

02) Grand Resort - Night is Dark: I saw this band support No Joy at Glasslands and really enjoyed their set, they remind me a little bit of The Sound which can only be good. Songwriter Andres Pichardo grew up in the Dominican Republic before moving to the US and has since released a record called Vanguard Dreams, which I can’t seem to find much about.

03) The Drowners - Long Hair: Uncomplicated catchy indie-pop doesn’t come much more refreshing than this, they have only released a few songs so far so it will be interesting to see what else they put out.

04) Pop Zeus - Devils in the Details: Sorry for the not-so-clear quality on this at times, it’s from a cassette transfer. I’m a big fan of Pop Zeus and think he is putting out the best power-pop around right now. Just listen and then go to the bandcamp page http://popzeus.bandcamp.com/  “I tried my best I really did”

05) Parquet Courts - Borrowed Time: I got off to a weird start with this band because I heard the record last year and thought it was ok, then earlier this year I saw them live supporting The Men at the Bowery Ballroom and really enjoyed them and re-examined the record which is actually really good. I guess that happens sometimes…  “I was up to my neck in motivation neglect when I felt soft waves of purpose crashing onto the surface. “

06) Deerhunter - Dream Captain: It has seemed like an age waiting for Deerhunter to follow up Halcyon Digest (released 3 years ago), but Monomania hit the shelves in May and is a bit of an expected shift into dirty glam-rock which takes you by surprise at first but for me made complete sense after a few listens. I’m excited to be seeing them for the first time in September.  “Could you be, for me, what I see in you, Or would you give me wings so I could fly, fly, or sink and die please!”

07) Kurt Vile - KV Crimes: Wakin On a Pretty Daze sounds like you would think based on the title, it’s a chilled out and hazy record. I love the guitar sound on this song. Have seen Kurt perform twice so far this year, one time just before the album came out and most recently at the 4knots festival. “all right, what now? that's fine, i think i'm ready to claim what's mine,
rightfully, yeah...”

08) The Disciplines – Emily: The Disciplines are a Norwegian rock band than feature Ken Stringfellow of The Posies, who is one of my favourite songwriters. This is taken from the second Disciplines record, Virgins of Menace, released in 2011. I bought this at Ken’s solo show at the Mercury Lounge earlier in the year.

09) The Teen Age - Second Youth: The Teen Age are a new band from Brooklyn, I’ve been following them fairly closely as they drip-feed their songs to the public, this was the second one (out of three so far). I managed to catch the band do a short set at Muchmore’s recently and really like what they’re doing, hopefully they will have a full-blown release soon.

10) The Yellow Dogs - This City: I was pretty blown away by The Yellow Dogs after I saw them play at Glasslands with Sisu, their story is quite amazing, they are from Iran where their music was deemed illegal. This post-punk/dance will get your grooving.

11) Cheatahs - The Swan: Those pining for some Swervedriver-esque shoegaze should look no further. I just picked up Extended Plays which combines the band’s two previous EPs.

12) Meat Puppets - One More Drop: The Pups have released another fine album with Rat Farm. I managed to catch them at the Mercury Lounge earlier in the year (they played two shows, I really should have done both!) and played a great show. Long may they continue. “One more drop then I'm gonna stop it. Climb back on a one-way rocket now ... rocket now”

13) Teen – Electric: I finally got round to seeing Teen live earlier in the year, supporting Memory Tapes (more on them later) at Glasslands in February. This is from their debut EP, Little Doods, they have just recorded another EP called Carolina (which I have yet to hear).

14) Fear of Men – Seer: Hailing from Brighton, I was a bit bummed to find out I had just missed a show in New York in March (just before I heard of them) but thankfully they just returned to play a free show at the South Street Seaport. The band had released a few limited cassettes before compiling the best material onto Early Fragments, they are about to release a full length album this summer.

15) Sisu - Two Thousand Hands: I featured Light Eyes on Q#88, Sisu have since remastered and officially released their EP (now called Light Eyes) and are set to put out an album later in the year.

16) Memory Tapes - Thru the Field: After seeing Memory Tapes live, you have to adjust somewhat to the studio output, which is more of a one-man electronic project whereas the live experience is fleshed out with real drums, bass and guitar. This is taken from the most recent release, Grace/Confusion.

17) Mark Kozelek & Jimmy Lavalle - You Missed My Heart: I recently reviewed this record for my blog so I suspect it will just be easier to link to that, here you go: http://someothersuckersparade.blogspot.com/2013/05/mark-kozelek-and-jimmy-lavelle-perils.html to summarise, I really like it! “I rattled off a list with everything I missed, Like going to the movies with her, And the way she kissed me. Driving into downtown Wheeling, Showing her off the back yard barbecues, And reunions in the park, I said I missed her skin and she started laughing, And while I clinched down on her wrist, She said thats quite a list, But there is one thing you missed. You missed my heart, you missed my heart”

18) Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Mosquito: This is the title-track from the band’s latest album, which although solid, does not quite hit the heady heights of their previous three wonderful albums. It does have some highlights, however, including this song. I’ve seen the band twice this year and they are still a great live band. “They can see you but you can't see them, So are you gonna let them in? They're hiding underneath your bed, Crawling between your legs, They're sticking it in your vein, Were you itching when they called your name?”

19) The Flaming Lips - Look... The Sun is Rising: The Terror sees the Flips exploring their more morbid musical side, it is a record that has divided opinion as some claim it to be directionless and droning, personally I do not think that at all, it is a beautiful record with much more structure than people realise. I saw them recently in Prospect Park on a beautiful sunny day, which was a bit at odds with their set but I love them unconditionally. “Love is always something, Something you should fear, When you really listen, Fear is all you hear”

20) The Men – Supermoon: Contender for album of the year (so far at least) is The Men’s New Moon, which I also reviewed on my blog here: http://someothersuckersparade.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-men-new-moon-album-bowery-ballroom.html I thought this was a great closer and I ended up dropping a few tracks (and changing the Kurt Vile tune to a shorter one) to make sure I could fit it on. This is just a riot.

And there you have it, we are fully into summer here and New York is an amazing place to be for all the free summer shows that go on. The heat and humidity may be unbearable at times, however!

Until next time

Peace and love - Q