Saturday 13 October 2018

Q#121 - August to September 2018




Please note that the zip file has a password: QCOMPS.BLOGSPOT  
Download mix frohttp://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 frohttp://www.mediafire.com/file/y5sgaugadtjjdyu/Q121.zip/file

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