Q#116 - October to November 2017

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Download mix from: https://www.mediafire.com/file/rqz2rf2iuwrp585/Q116.zip

Q's Compilations

Vol #116 – October to November 2017

Greetings to the final mix of the year… seems weird to type but here we are. It has been a topsy turvy year but I would not change the highs for anything.

01) Pinkwash - No Real Witness: I went to Princeton recently for hopefully the final time (work-related) and finally managed to time it for a visit to Princeton Record Exchange. Managed a reasonably-restrained $100 supermarket-sweep style run which included Pinkwash’s Collective Sigh album for a bargain $10 on vinyl. This tune opens the record and the pace doesn’t really let up from there.

02) Against Me! - Dead Rats: Took a friend to see Against Me! for their birthday recently at Brooklyn Steel. The only other time I had seen the band was at a surprise show at Saint Vitus and it was a bit of a hardcore-fans-only shitshow (from my perspective of never having heard a note of the band by that point). Anyway, fast forward a few years and I enjoyed this show a lot. This is from the Shape Shift With Me record from September 2016.

03) Bleached – Flipside: One of the opening bands for the Against Me! show was Bleached, who I hadn’t seen since my birthday in 2013, the band have gone a little more in a pop-rock, cleaner direction since then and, if anything, all the better for it. “I’m a basket case with a warm embrace”

04) Worriers - Future Me: Worriers just released their third record, Survival Pop, and it’s another dose of melodic pop-punk to follow-up the Laura Jane Grace-produced second album Imaginary Life (hey, that’s three Against Me things in a row). “When I leave you’ll never notice it. But I relive those years like phantom limbs”

05) Hazel English - Never Going Home: A bit of a change of pace here, Hazel English is an Oakland-based Aussie who makes the kind of treble-heavy, gorgeous synth and guitar music that was all the rage a few years ago but you don’t hear so much anymore. That might not be quite true, it’s just that Glasslands hasn’t existed for four years and that’s where I’d hear this kind of music the most. “Falling in, Inch by inch, I'm not resisting, And I'm addicted tonight”

06) Tim Darcy - Still Waking Up: Tim Darcy is the frontman of the magnificent Montreal band, Ought (who just signed to Merge Records), his debut album, Saturday Night, was released in February via Jagjaguwar. This is one of the more immediate tracks and has somewhat of a lullaby quality to it, I picked it up at Princeton Record Exchange and it’s different enough from Ought to justify the solo release. “Waking up alone, Was always a hard day's night, Oh-Ohh, Cause my head is full of popular songs, Old ones I never sang along to, Along to, Isn't it funny how that happens?”

07) Lee Ranaldo – Circular: Lee Ranaldo is my favourite member of Sonic Youth, and he continues to release interesting and challenging music that simply isn’t harking back to former glories (having said that, I do like Thurston Moore’s solo stuff too!). Electric Trim is Lee’s latest solo record and was released via Mute in September.

08) Josh Ritter - Thunderbolt's Goodnight: I bought a Josh Ritter album (Historical Conquests) when it came out probably ten years ago and liked it but never kept it in rotation and probably didn’t give him another thought until this year. I saw him live last month and he put on a good show, his lyrics really came to the fore. This tune in particular resonated pretty strongly and comes from his latest record, Gathering, which was released in September this year. “I see your face, In the window, I see your face in the reflections of the moon, I feel my own, Ancients shadows disappear when I am near to you, So take this heart, Take this feeling, take my dark and reeling mind, From these poor words, Find a meaning far deeper than these clumsy lines, And all my life, Before I met you, when I was trying hard in love, I thought the sun, Was going down, but the sun was comin' up”

09) Bill MacKay & Ryley Walker - Stretching My Dollar In Piano: I decided to get out of town for a few days so headed to Asheville. As always when I decide to go somewhere I scour for shows to attend and noticed that Bill MacKay and Ryley Walker were doing a show, I’d never heard of the former but admire Ryley’s work. Turns out the two of them have released two records together of instrumental acoustic music and thankfully it was exactly what I was in the mood for (earnest singer-songwriter lyrics would not have been welcome on yet another solo holiday).

10) A. Savage - Indian Style: Parquet Courts’ Andrew Savage just released his debut solo record, Thawing Dawn, and it’s a more melodic, often sombre offering than anything they’ve released. In one of those lost-in-translation moments between US and UK vernacular, I didn’t know that “indian style” meant sitting cross-legged until I heard this song.

11) The Beatles - Here, There and Everywhere: I saw Paul McCartney recently at Barclays Centre and he put on another excellent show, I was a little hesitant to see him again after the spectacular show I saw in 2010, but it was more than worthwhile. It got me thinking about underrated Beatles tunes and this might even be my second favourite song by them (after Here Comes the Sun). “Here, making each day of the year, Changing my life with the wave of her hand, Nobody can deny that there's something there, There, running my hands through her hair, Both of us thinking how good it can be”

12) Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Cheated Hearts: I’ve almost certainly used this song at some point, probably a decade ago so I’m not going to be feel too precious about repeats… anyway, the band played at Kings Theatre a few weeks ago and being the only venue I’ve ever been able to walk to, it was rude not to go. They played a blinder (graciously ignoring their only dud of a record, 2013’s Mosquito, almost entirely) and this has possibly my favourite YYYs song.

13) The Rubinoos - I Want to Be Your Boyfriend: One of the great powerpop songs, I’ve had this in my head a lot for the last couple of months so figured the best way to deal with it was to throw it on the mix. The Berkeley, California quartet played a couple of shows in New York in the summer and I’m pretty bummed I had to miss them. “Late at night when I, when I can't sleep, Picture in my mind, I see you and me, I, I'm telling you what I wanna be, You, you're saying you're in love with me, And oh, it feels so good in a dream, That I know in life it's just got to be, I wanna tell you...”

14) The Final Solution – Brotherman: Brotherman was to be a blaxploitation pic in the mid 70s and Final Solution were all set to do the soundtrack, but unfortunately the film was cancelled even before a single roll of film was shot. Thirty years later, the Numero Group did their thing and pulled the record together and it stands up wonderfully on its own.

15) Jackie Shane - Any Other Way: Another obscure treasure unearthed by Numero, Jackie Shane briefly made some waves in Toronto in the 60s. Born in Nashville in 1940 when being black and transgender alone would have been difficult, Shane identified as a woman in a man’s body by the time she was 13 and emigrated to Canada in 1959. This cover of the William Bell classic was her biggest success, reaching number 2 on the charts in Toronto, but since the early 70s she has been very much a mysterious recluse.

16) Betty Harris - Hook, Line & Sinker: Another Princeton purchase was Soul Jazz records 2-LP set The Lost Queen of New Orleans Soul, I already had one greatest hits package of hers on CD but couldn’t help myself. Both Mean Man and There’s a Break in the Road are two of my favourite songs of all time and this song just jumped out at me when it hadn’t distinguished itself before.

17) The Mountain Goats – Shelved: Despite not being hugely into the band’s latest effort, Goths, in comparison to other records, The Mountain Goats might be my second-most listened to act of the year and I caught them for the first time in a couple of years recently at Brooklyn Steel. This track is probably my favourite from the new record. The Peter Hook-esque bassline in the second half of the song is a pure delight.

18) The Afghan Whigs - Arabian Nights: Afghan Whigs are one of my favourite bands but their latest release, In Spades, was released in May and mostly passed me by. The record is pretty good but sometimes missing a band on tour when they’re supporting their latest efforts means I barely get round to listening to the album itself.

19) Super Static Fever - Areness For Fun: Here’s yet another Numero re-issue of a band that could scarcely have been more obscure. Existing for a couple of years and only playing a handful of shows, unfinished tapes from two recording sessions were mixed by Steve Albini.

20) L.A. Witch - Baby in Blue Jeans: Five years after the band released their demos and after a handful of single releases, the Los Angeles trio finally released a debut full length (self-titled) via Suicide Squeeze. If you like your rock from the reverb-drenched desert, then this should tickle your fancy.

21) Grizzly Bear - Sky Took Hold: Yet another band I like who released a record I’ve been a little underwhelmed by, Grizzly Bear released Painted Ruins, their first effort in five years. This tune is an absolute delight, however, and I probably owe the record a few more passes.

And there you go. I have to admit, this was somewhat hastily put together and I’ve written these notes on a pretty reclusive thanksgiving weekend

As always, Peace and Love. Hope everyone had a good 2017 and here’s to a better 2018 for all - Q

Please note that the zip file has a password: QCOMPS.BLOGSPOT

Download mix from: https://www.mediafire.com/file/rqz2rf2iuwrp585/Q116.zip