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Q's Compilations
Vol #148 – February
to March 2023
Happy
Spring! The year has started quite nicely, with a trip to Puerto Rico and some
great concerts in the book already (Unwound (three shows!), Codeine, The Beths
and White Reaper). The first “normal” mix of the year usually has quite a few
stragglers from the previous year that didn’t quite make the “best of” cut, but
this mix is almost entirely songs released this year. I hope there’s plenty to
enjoy!
01)
White Reaper - Fog Machine: Asking For a Ride was released on the 27th
of January, although as is fairly typical these days, the vinyl release is
lagging behind (my pre-order should come in April). The band’s first album
since 2019’s You Deserve Love, the riffs come thick and fast with guitar
solos aplenty as you’d expect. I caught their recent show at Irving Plaza which
was pure entertainment. “When my phone rings, Can't wait to hear what you
say”
02)
Screaming Females – Ornament: New Brunswick’s finest just released their eighth
studio album, Desire Pathway, once again on Don Giovanni Records. The
trio have also just completed a short tour of Alaska which means they’ve played
in every state in the US, quite the achievement! The new record is filled with
all the signature Screaming Females power trio elements and I can’t wait to see
them at Elsewhere in April, which will be my 13th time seeing them, but
it feels like an age since I last saw them in 2019.
03)
Purling Hiss - Yer All In My Dreams: Another great power trio, Philly’s Purling
Hiss put out their new record, Drag on Girard on the 24th of
March (just in time to make it on the mix). This track opens the record and
really sets the tone for singer/guitarist Mike Polizze to do what he does best,
shred.
04)
Hannah Jadagu - What You Did: First featured two years ago on Q#137 with bedroom
pop anthem “Think Too Much” when she was unsigned at the time, now she’s
about to release debut album Aperture via Sub Pop Records in May. There’s
definitely some higher production values as you’d expect, but the three songs
released so far still have all the charm of the early songs.
05)
Gum – Stallion: I can’t quite remember how I heard of this Brooklyn quartet but
they just put out their debut album, You’ll Never Know Yourself, in
January, and you’d be forgiven for thinking it was a long lost 90s gem. The
record mostly splits between Pavement-ish slacker rock and punchy numbers like
this one.
06)
Blondshell – Joiner: Half of Blondshell’s (aka Sabrina Teitelbaum) self-titled
debut album has been spoonfed as singles since June last year, so there won’t
be too many new songs to digest by the time the record is released on the 7th
of April, but it might end up low-key being one of the albums of the year.
07)
Samia – Honey: This is probably the song I most struggle to get out of my head
lately. Samia’s second record, Honey, was released at the end of January
and is definitely more on the pop side than the indie charm of The Baby,
but it seems like a natural progression.
08)
Parannoul - We Shine at Night: There’s a pretty cool bedroom/DIY shoegaze scene
from South Korea at the moment which I’ve barely touched, but I’m a big fan of
everything Parannoul has put out since his 2020 debut Let's Walk on the Path
of a Blue Cat. New album After the Magic just came out at the end of
January, his first available on vinyl I believe (though I’m not expecting that
until July…).
09)
bdrmmm - It's Just a Bit of Blood: You don’t hear about many bands from Hull! I
was a big fan of debut album Bedroom from 2020 so I’ve high hopes for I
Don’t Know which comes out on the 3rd of May.
10)
The Reds, Pinks & Purples - Life in the Void: I feel like The Reds, Pinks
& Purples have been on more mixes than not in the last couple of years,
which speaks to both the quality of the music and how prolific Glenn Donaldson
has been. New album The Town That Cursed Your Name, which features a few
songs with a fuzzier sound than their signature tone. I feel like The Reds,
Pinks & Purples are one of those bands that you run out of things to say
about but that doesn’t mean I don’t love the music dearly.
11)
Doe St. - Chasing the Scream: A few seconds into this tune and you could
probably guess they’re an Australian band (from Melbourne, to be precise), this
is from their self-titled
debut and was released in February 2022.
12)
Connections - In Space: Columbus Ohio indie vets Connections released new album
Cool Change
on the 24th of March on Trouble In Mind Records and you shouldn’t
really look too much further if you want some pure Guided By Voices / REM college
radio rock.
13)
R. Ring – Hug: A tale of two Dayton’s, R. Ring sees Kelley Deal (of The
Breeders) from Dayton Ohio, and Mike Montgomery (of Ampline), who lives in Dayton
KY. Their new album War Poems, We Rested was released on Don Giovanni Records
at the end of January and you could probably fool someone that this was a
Breeders song (that is to say, it’s fantastic).
14)
Noble Rot - Casting No Light: Two of the best Canadians bands of this millennium
are Holy Fuck and METZ, so I was pretty excited to hear about Noble Rot, which puts
Alex Edkins (METZ) and Graham Walsh (Holy Fuck) together. It’s definitely more
on the Holy Fuck side of the two, which is fine by me.
15)
FACS - When You Say: Chicago trio FACS’ latest album Still Life in Decay
comes out on the 7th of April, and if this lead single is anything
to go by then it’ll be another triumph. FACS are at their best when drummer
Noah Leger and bassist Alianna Kalaba are creating a racket (since playing on
the record, Alianna has since amicably left the band to be replaced by founding
member Jonathan Van Herik), while Brian Chase adds textures as much as melody.
16)
Kraus – Want: I think this was a bandcamp led “if you like this band, you might
like this band” discography, this album, Eye Escapes is
a pay-what-you-want download and turns out to be a collection of songs that didn’t
make it on a couple of their records. The record is a little disjointed which
is what you’d expect, but there are some highlights like this heavy shoegaze
tune.
17)
Codeine – D: The only tune that isn’t recent, but I was overjoyed to be able to
see slowcore legends Codeine recently at Union Pool before they took part of Numero’s
20th anniversary show in LA. They’ve since announced shows across
the rest of the US, UK and Europe. The show I went to was their first gig in
ten years and they’re truly a band I didn’t think I’d get to see. This might be
the obvious Codeine song to put on a mix, but it also essentially defines an
entire genre, and not many bands can say that.
18)
Hydrodate - Early Reflections: This song
ended up in my bandcamp collection because I subscribe to Fire Talk Records and
while I still don’t really know much about the band other than they’re from
Chicago and aside from this tune have an EP under their belt from 2022.
19)
Deary – Fairground: For having only released this one song to date,
there’s a little hyperbole around this London duo. This is almost too perfectly
put together for Cocteau Twins fans, but it’s hard not to fall for how
beautiful these almost four minutes are.
20)
Cindy - A Trumpet on the Hillside: San Francisco quarter Cindy’s new album Why
Not Now? Is out on the 14th of April via Mount Saint Mountain. I
used them on Q#140 with a song called My Friend from previous record 1:2
and while it’s hard to describe their music as enthralling, there is some kind
of comforting warmth that pulls you in for a hug, even if everything sounds so
down.
21)
Waveform – Lonely: If you thought things were going to pick up as the mix came
to a close, you’d be wrong. Connecticut’s Waveform will release new
album Antarctica on the 12th of May, with this song opening
the record.
Despite
being a little late, I’m really pleased with this mix and hope you found something
to like too!
As
always, Peace and Love - Q
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