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Q's Compilations
Vol #152 – October to
November 2023
It
completely passed me by that Q#151 was the 20th anniversary of the
first Qcomp! Back when they were monthly and purely on burned CD-Rs with
printed notes and artwork… a lot has changed for the better and I’m very
thankful for my current circumstances. It has been a busy couple of months with
a work trip to Toronto (first time in 21 years I had been there), a quick jaunt
back home and even a reasonable amount of shows lately. As always, I hope there’s
something for everyone here.
01)
Weakened Friends – Awkward: I’ve been a fan of Portland, Maine trio Weakened
Friends since their 2018 debut Common Blah and managed to see them open
for Laura Jane Grace in the summer. They haven’t released an album since 2018’s
Quitter but this single was just released, which is supposed to be an
upbeat/joyful song by comparison to their other work!
02)
Rodeo Boys - Feel the Same: Home Movies was released back in June but I
only just recently noticed it in my bandcamp library from Don Giovanni Records.
This song opens the record and has some fun guitar licks including a spaghetti
western riff in parts and a killer solo.
03)
Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs - Ultimate Hammer (live): Probably the
best stoner rock band around at the moment. I recently got to see Pigs Pigs
Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs at Elsewhere, but I also saw them at Mercury Lounge
earlier in the year which just got released as a live album, which is obviously
where this is taken from.
04)
The Holydrug Couple - Light or Night (live): One of the Chilean psych-rock
heavyweights, the band (which is for the best part, a solo project of Ives
Sepulved) followed up 2018’s Hyper Super Mega with a couple of
soundtracks and lo-fi records, just released a live record from Berlin,
recorded in August which is pretty great. This track originally appears on
2015’s Moonlust.
05)
Squirrel Flower - Full Time Job: Ella Williams aka Squirrel Flower released her
new album, Tomorrow’s Fire, on Polyvinyl Records, and her current run of
full length albums (2020’s I Was Born Swimming, 2021’s Planet (i) and
now this one) is outstanding. It’s a bit strange that she’s often advertised as
a folk/acoustic singer, but a lot of her recorded work is filled with
scorching, almost volcanic sounding guitars like this one.
06)
Leaving Time – End: There are a few shoegaze tracks on the mix (that’s probably
true of most mixes), I recently ordered this I + II on bandcamp, which
as the name somewhat suggests, is a collection of two Eps (you guessed it, I
and II, released in 2020 and 2022 respectively). This track is from
the second EP.
07)
Rocket - Pipe Dream: Another recent bandcamp purchase, which happens to be the
LA act’s debut EP, and that’s about all the info I have!
08)
The Beths - Watching the Credits: A fairly recent pet peeve is when bands
release deluxe editions of albums a short while after the normal album is
released, and it slightly pains me when bands I love do it. I almost always
pre-order the “deluxe” or otherwise limited releases when a new record is
released, which I did for Expert in a Dying Field, purchasing the Rough
Trade exclusive that came with a flexi disc. Less than a year later the band
released a version with an entire record’s worth of demos and extra tracks,
which of course I had to buy…
09)
Ducks Ltd - The Main Thing: One of the best jangle pop bands of the last few
years, Toronto’s Ducks Ltd just announced new album, Harm’s Way, which
will come out in February. I don’t have anything insightful to say about this,
it just sounds like joy to me.
10)
Small Crush – 5: This track came up on Emily’s daily spotify mix one time, and
then wouldn’t stop playing. This song is featured on their second album, Penelope,
which was released in September.
11)
Tennis Courts - Yellow Lays: This Brooklyn quartet put out their debut album, You
Won’t Find It On Your Own, in September and while I haven’t properly
digested it, this track got in my head a lot in the last couple of months.
12)
Gigolo Aunts - Mrs Washington: File among bands I never thought I’d get to see
live, I was slightly amazed to read that power-pop greats Gigolo Aunts were
opening for Letters to Cleo. Flippin’ Out was a staple record for me in
the 90s and the band played an amazing set (to me, anyway!). I try not to
re-use songs on Qcomps and I’m almost certain that I used Where I Find My
Heaven probably on an early mix (if I do a power-pop specific mix I may
re-use it!). They did open their set with this tune.
13)
Ron Gallo - Foreground Music: Ron Gallo is one of those artists I’ve conspired
to miss a few times, including one of the rare times I’ve been persuaded with
the “we don’t know who the opener is, let’s have another beer before the show
instead” argument, and is a great reason why you should never do that. Anyway,
I finally got to see Ron Gallo in November and Brooklyn Made in support of his
most recent record, Foreground Music, which was released in March this
year and where you’ll also hear this song.
14)
Hotline TNT - I Thought You'd Change: Sometimes records end up in my bandcamp
wishlist and I honestly couldn’t tell you how they got there. That’s true of
Brooklyn’s Hotline TNT, who released their third album, Cartwheel, last
month.
15)
Oceanator - The Last Summer: When bulking out an order on Polyvinyl for
Squirrel Flower’s latest record, I threw in Oceanator’s two records for good
measure (well, I wanted the free shipping, which is how they get you). This is
taken from the most recent record, 2022’s Nothing’s Ever Fine.
16)
Snarls - Big Fish: Columbus, Ohio act Snarls released one of my favourite
records in 2020 (Burst), and followed up with an EP (What About
Flowers) in late 2021, and they seem to be gearing up to a new album with
the release of this song that was released in October.
17)
Occult X – Dead: I really don’t have much information on this Nashville artist
aside from the dozen or so individual tracks on Bandcamp that are all pretty
delightful bedroom pop ranging from March 2020 to September 2023 (which is when
this song was released).
18)
Josh Ritter - Bright Smile: We recently caught Josh Ritter in London while
spending a few days in the UK, he’s currently on tour celebrating the 20th
anniversary of his third album, Hello Starling, and he played the album
in full. I’d have used Snow is Gone on the mix but for time constraints
so you get the album opener. Originally he didn’t have any US dates but since
announced shows in February, so we’ll see him do the record again!
19)
The Reds, Pinks and Purples - Build Love: I feel like I use a Reds, Pinks and
Purples track on every mix, such is the rate at which Glenn Donaldson has
released albums and Eps lately, but it turns out I don’t, so I should really
rectify that! This is the title track from a four song EP that was released in
September and has more of an acoustic/slowcore/sadcore vibe than most of his
releases, and I’m absolutely here for it.
20)
Helena Deland - Saying Something: Montreal singer/songwriter Helena Deland just
released her second album, Goodnight Summerland, on the 13th
of October, following up her low-key but beautiful debut, Someone New from
2020. The record should appeal to fans of Big Thief’s early work and folk side.
21)
Deathcrash – Unwind: March feels like an age ago when Deathcrash released Less,
their second album (I closed out Q#149 with Dead, Crashed). At the time,
their debut album, Return, from 2022 was out of print already but I
managed to snag a repress a couple of months ago, and so here’s a track from
it!
22)
REM – Parakeet: It’s hard to think that REM haven’t been a band for 12 years at
this point… Their eleventh studio record, and first without drummer Bill Berry,
Up, is celebrating a 25th anniversary. I’ve always loved it, although
it’s pretty hard for me to objectively think about REM albums, and it’s been
gratifying to revisit.
This
is the last normal mix of the year. The next one will be a roundup of my
favourite releases of 2023. In the meantime, I hope everyone has a great time
over the holiday season.
As
always, Peace and Love - Q
