Thursday, 7 December 2023

Q#152 - October to November 2023

 


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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



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