Please note that the zip file has a password: QCOMPS.BLOGSPOT
Download mix from http://www.mediafire.com/file/y5sgaugadtjjdyu/Q121.zip/file
Q's Compilations
Vol #121 – August to
September 2018
Greetings.
Apologies for the latest I have ever been in releasing a mix (and I think, late
for only the second time in 15 years)… Summer is over but it has been a pretty
good one! There’s no theme or a whole lot of thought put into this, just mostly
brand new tracks that I’ve stitched together. Hope you enjoy.
01)
Ron Gallo – It’s All Gonna Be Ok: Ron Gallo’s third album, Stardust Birthday Party, is going to be released on the 5th
of October and this is the lead single. If it’s half as good as Heavy Meta then we’re in for a treat.
02)
The Beths – Great No One: New Zealand quartet The Beths may have released the
catchiest record this year (Future Me
Hates Me), which also blends two of my favourite opposites, sad lyrics but
bright, upbeat music!
03)
Bad Moves – Spirit FM: Washington DC’s Bad Moves just released their debut
album, Tell No One, via Don Giovanni
Records (which you may have been able to guess by listening to this track). If
you want no-frills power-pop (as I often do!) then look no further.
04)
Billy & Dolly – Everything is Off: I’m such a sucker for jangle guitars and
arpeggios like this; I’m sure there are hundreds of songs that are note for
note the same, but there’s something to be said for winning formulas. I don’t
know a whole lot about this San Francisco duo other than they used to be in
another band together called The Monolith.
05)
Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever – Talking Straight: It’s hard for Australian
jangle-pop bands to steer clear of comparisons to the Go-Betweens but let’s not
act like it isn’t a good thing anyway (and this song is about as Go-Betweens as
it gets). The band released their debut album, Hope Downs, on Sub Pop in June and is filled with catchy tunes like
this one.
06)
Deeper – Trust is Yours: My buddy Felix sent me a song by this Chicago
four-piece, which in turn led me to Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever (previous
track) as they were playing together at the Bowery (I decided not to go,
however).
07)
Weeping Icon – Jail Billz: Rough Trade had a 75% off end of summer sale on some
records, one of which was Weeping Icon, who I had seen last year opening for
Yvette. I’m trying to cut down on impulse purchases these days but my
recollection of their unrelenting psych-noise from that show made me feel
confident.
08)
Nothing – Blue Line Baby: Dance on the
Blacktop is Nothing’s third album, it sounds like a continuation of their
previous album, 2016’s Tired of Tomorrow,
with it’s heavy-shoegaze sound and loud-quiet-loud pattern. As I said earlier,
there’s something to be said for winning formulas.
09)
The Spirit of the Beehive – Hypnic Jerks: I can’t quite remember how I came
about this Philly band originally, but I’d seen the name a bunch of times
without actually listening to them. Thankfully I rectified that recently by
giving their latest record a try (this is the title track), which is their
third album and a wonderful mix of influences.
10)
Big Bliss – Constants: I was impressed with Big Bliss when I first saw them
years ago at Cake Shop (RIP) and after a few singles and an EP, they’re about
to release their debut full-length, At
Middle Distance.
11)
Anna Calvi – Don’t Beat the Girl Out of My Boy: The years between Anna Calvi
albums can be hard at times, but Hunter was
released at the end of August (five years after the release of One Breath), and it really is a triumph.
Managing to become more pop-oriented and arty at the same time (perhaps at the
expense of some jaw-dropping guitar playing), I suspect it will be my favourite
record of the year.
12)
Mint Field – Ciudad Satellite: Keen listeners may remember this Mexican
psych-pop band from Q#112 (“of course!” I hear you cry), and they have since
released their excellent debut album, Pasar
de las Luces. Having missed their live shows last year I was determined not
to make the same mistake again and saw them at Baby’s All Right, which I’m sure
will end up being one of my favourites of the year. I promptly ordered the
record from Innovative Leisure and if you can find a more gorgeous sounding
album this year then please let me know.
13)
TV On the Radio – Family Tree: Dear
Science turned ten years old this year, and the band just played it in full
at Knockdown Centre to celebrate. It was a good show, but it does seem like they
can only get their live sound right about 50% of the times I’ve seen them.
Anyway, it’s clearly a phenomenal record (and not even their best!), and you
can’t fall in love with a record again if you never stopped in the first place,
but it has seemed like a treat revisiting it.
14)
Shannon Shaw – Broke My Own: Releasing a solo album (Shannon in Nashville) outside of your main band (when you are the
front person) often screams “these songs weren’t good enough for the band but I
wanted to put them out anyway”, but Shannon Shaw has managed to sound distinct
enough from her day job to fully warrant the decision, in fact, I probably
enjoy it far more than anything Shannon and the Clams have released to date. I
caught her debut solo show at Coney Island on a scorching day last month, which
for the most part was under-rehearsed and lost some of the magic in this production,
but it was still very good.
15)
Molly Burch – Wild: Molly Burch’s second record, First Flower, will be released by Captured Tracks on the 5th
of October and is a little brighter than her so-relaxed-it-was-horizontal debut
Please Be Mine.
16)The
Mountain Goats – Song for Ted Sallis: John Darnielle doesn’t release as many
Eps these days as he used to but having confessed that in the press-release for
Hex of Infinite Binding, it seems
like we might be able to enjoy a resurgence of the format in the Mountain Goats
discography.
17)
Adrianne Lenker – Symbol: Big Thief’s Adrianne Lenker is doing her best to fill
the Mark Kozelek void in my life since he hasn’t been able to write a coherent
song in years. This beautiful finger-picked song doesn’t really stray from what
Big Thief do but Capacity was one of
my favourite albums of last year.
18)
Ricky Lewis – See You in the Morning: This is the title-track to Ricky Lewis’
debut album that just came out. I loved this song to begin with, then something
bothered me about it, which was that I couldn’t place who I was getting it
mixed up with, then I realised that it sounds exactly like Withered Hand, then
I liked it again having gotten over that mental hurdle.
19)
The Babe Rainbow – Supermoon: Another Aussie band graces this mix with this
effortlessly groovy psych-pop from their record Double Rainbow (there’s a lot of rainbows going on here).
20)
Thou – In the Kingdom of Meaning: Baton Rouge sludge/doom-greats Thou have had
a very productive year, putting out three excellent Eps and a full-length
record, Magus. This song showcases
everything great about the record in just under ten minutes (but really, check
out the album, you can’t have too much of a good thing).
As
always, Peace and Love - Q
Please note that the zip file has a password: QCOMPS.BLOGSPOT
Download mix from http://www.mediafire.com/file/y5sgaugadtjjdyu/Q121.zip/file
