Please note that the zip file has a password: QCOMPS.BLOGSPOT
Now with added Spotify playlist at end of notes.
Q's Compilations
Vol #127 – August to
September 2019
Well
this one is significantly late and I have some gall to call this mix
August/September but here we are, three weeks late so these notes will be
rushed.
01)
Amyl and the Sniffers - Some Mutts (Can't Be Muzzled):Aussie rock band released
their self-titled debut album in May, this track closes the record but it
sounded like a compilation opener to me.
02)
Vivian Girls – Sick: Five years after their “final” shows, I always held out
hope that the trio would return and they duly did in September with new album Memory, which might just be their best
record to date. I saw them play at Warsaw recently and it was like they’d never
been away.
03)
Katie Ellen – Lighthouse: I saw Katie Ellen open for Cayetana (more on them
later) and enjoyed her set enough to check out her recorded material. This song
jumped out.
04)
Oso Oso - Basking in the Glow: Long Beach’s Oso
Oso released Basking in the Glow in
August (this is the title track) and as far as the current trend of
90s-influenced alt-rock goes, this is one of the best examples.
05)
Young Guv - Patterns Prevail: I’ve been a big fan of Young Guv since debut
album Ripe 4 Luv (first featured in
Q#103), and new album Guv II takes
him in more straight-up power-pop territory, at times bordering on a Teenage
Fanclub tribute, which is no bad thing from my point of view.
06)
Jay Som – Superbike: Another 90s-tinged tune here, Melina Duterte has released
her second album Anak Ko in August
and it’s a dreampop delight.
07)
Pronoun – Run: I’ll Show You Stronger
is a treble-heavy bedroom pop record of which this is probably the highlight.
08)
Long Beard - Getting By: Pretty music and downbeat lyrics is the middle of the
venn diagram for me so when this song turned up in a PR email I was pretty
captivated instantly. I haven’t listened to the album this comes from yet, Means to Me was released on the 13th
of September.
09)
Lower Dens – Galapagos: Another new album I haven’t had the chance to listen
to, The Competition was also released
in September, but this is a nice tune.
10)
HAIM – Forever: I managed to get some free tickets to see HAIM in August, I
hadn’t really listened to them prior but came out a convert, they put on one of
the best shows I’ll see this year.
11) Girl Band - Going Nowhere: Irish quartet Girl
Band have been releasing intensely genre-busting records for seven years (I
first heard them in 2014), and I recently described new album The Talkies as like being on a chaotic
construction site, and I mean that as a huge compliment.
12)
Cursive - Pick Up the Pieces: I saw Cursive band in May and I’m writing these
notes having just seem them two times in a weekend opening for Against Me! at
Starland Ballroom in New Jersey.
13)
Cayetana - Bus Ticket: Philly trio Cayetana called it a day in August with a
tour that included a show at Music Hall of Williamsburg. I first saw the band
in 2015 and four times in total, their second album in particular, New Kind of Normal is very good and it’s
a shame they’ve called it quits.
14)
Dehd – Lucky: Chicago psyche trio Dehd released Water in May on Fire Talk Records (who are celebrating a ten year
anniversary). The new album is a bit more, dare I saw pop-oriented than
previous efforts but does not suffer for it at all.
15)
Future Teens - Emotional Bachelor: I saw Future Teens open for Oso Oso and they
reminded me of the kind of band I’d see at Glasslands (RIP). Emotional Bachelor was released on the
30th of August via Take This to Heart Records.
16)
Josh Ritter - Old Black Magic: Perpetual smiler Josh Ritter released his tenth
album, Fever Breaks, in April, and it’s perhaps my favourite in his
discography. It’s definitely a more band-focused record and keeps a fairly
steady path, sometimes it’s ok to own the middle of the road.
17)
Slaughter Beach, Dog - Heart Attack: While Modern Baseball remain on hiatus,
we’ve been treated to some solo/side-projects. Guitarist/vocalist Jake Ewald’s
Slaughter Beach, Dog just released a delightful and breezy new album, Safe and
Also No Fear on Lame-O Records.
18)
The Mountain Goats - No Children: I saw the Mountain Goats play a free show at
East River State Park and they played a much better set than the last time I
saw them at Brooklyn Steel two years earlier. Their latest album, In League
with Dragons, is a Dungeons and Dragons-influenced album, which is pretty good
but I haven’t given it a whole lot of time. This is an old song though, from
2002’s Tallahassee but they played it
at the show and it’s one of my favourites.
19)
Withered Hand – California: I was thinking of putting together a
California-based playlist for a recent trip to the state for a wedding, and I
got about as far as this song and the next one…
20)
The Magnetic Fields - Come Back From San Francisco: Another track from the two-minutes
I spent thinking about a California playlist…
21)
Built to Spill - Broken Chairs: Cult indie legends Built to Spill are
celebrating the 20th anniversary of their best album, Keep It Like a Secret (if you put a gun
to my head I might say that 2006’s You in
Reverse is slightly better). They played the album in full at Webster Hall
recently and it was an amazing show, I don’t always love the
play-an-album-in-full idea but it seemed to work great this time.
And
there we go, only three weeks late. One more time before the end of the year!
As
always, Peace and Love - Q
Please note that the zip file has a password: QCOMPS.BLOGSPOT
