Q#119 - April to May 2018

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

Download mix from http://www.mediafire.com/file/hbc423usfhwpg78/Q119.zip

Q's Compilations

Vol #119 – April to May 2018

Greetings! Lots of changes recently, a pending divorce, a new apartment, an upcoming trip to see Del Amitri, and all of that is good news, and more! Anyway, enough with the important stuff, I’m pretty with this very hastily put together mix, there is plenty of new stuff, so please enjoy. Shout out to my buddy Felix, who sent me a bunch of stuff just after I’d already put this mix together, I suspect they will make an appearance soon!

01) Guided By Voices – Space Gun: GBV released their 1,384th record (actually only their XXXth), and there’s little that can be said about them anymore. There’s maybe a hint of this being a slower version of I am a Tree to this, but since that is one of GBV’s (and Doug Gillard’s) finest, that’s not a bad thing. I keep missing them lately and will hopefully get to see them in August.

02) Shame – Tasteless: Every once in a while I go on a download spree from my inbox and Shame’s Songs of Praise peaked my interest. The influences here are pretty much worn on their sleeves and it was also no surprise to read that they have toured with Protomartyr lately either.

03) The Royal They – Sludgefucker: Whilst searching showlistings for some influence I stumbled on The Royal They, whose record Foreign Being is one of my favourite records of the year so far. As far as no-frills 90s influenced rock goes, it’s a damn fine album. Somewhat annoyingly, I have yet to see the band live, despite championing their shows multiple times on Free Williamsburg!

04) The Messthetics – Serpent Tongue: This math-rock trio feature drummer Brendan Canty and bassist Joe Lally, who you may recognise as members of Fugazi (indeed, this is the first band they have played in together since Fugazi’s hiatus), the band are completed by guitarist Anthony Pirog and the trio weave a nice balance of technical wizardry and pummeling riffs.

05) Watchout! – Slow Burning Brother: Almost at a monthly rate, I have to stop myself spending a stupid amount of money on Chilean acts on the Blow Your Mind record label… this month was even harder having seen Follakzoid and Goli Gaete (more on him later), but so far I’ve held off. What hasn’t helped is this track from the upcoming Watchout! Album, which is filled with all their signature rhythms and bouncey bass lines.

06) Los Roban – Papel en Blanco: Another Chilean band, although I don’t have many details about this record (Portofino) other than another Chilean band I like, Vuelveteloca, posted the whole record on their youtube page, they do sound similar, so it’s possible that the two bands share some members. Regardless, what’s not to love about this?

07) Preoccupations – Disarray: It doesn’t feel like two years since the band’s last record but the Calgarian quartet seem to do little wrong on record, their latest effort, New Material, continues the more synth-influenced second album, but seems more like a progression than treading old ground.

08) Eternal Summers – Forever Mine: In complete opposition to the previous track, it seems a lot longer than two years since Eternal Summers blessed us with some new music, and Forever Mine is a substantial change from their previous efforts. While the band have always had a strong sense of melody, this tune is pure pop.

09) Monogold – Cinnamon: A band that makes me think of Kitchens of Distinction will always be welcome, especially when they pull off the sound so perfectly. Babyfood was released last September and I’m not entirely sure how I didn’t hear this at the time.

10) Mr Ray – You Can Only Be Yourself: Another Blow Your Mind release, though this is just a 7” and has that perfect, hazy psych guitar sound that BYM excel at.

11) Fujiya & Miyagi – Transparent Things: It’s the tenth anniversary of the Brighton band’s second record, Transparent Things, which is getting a vinyl run for the first time. While they have a history of dorky references in their music and titles, they may well have outdone themselves with a new song

released recently, Subliminal Cuts, which is apparently inspired by an episode of Columbo. Anyway, this is from a decade ago and it’s hard not to bounce along to.

12) Forth Wanderers – Had Me Suckin: This New Jersey act recently signed to Sub Pop, and their self-titled effort certainly smooths out some of the edges from their earlier material. The upgrade in production values seems to have given the group an extra layer of confidence rather than stifling any creativity in the hope of selling a few extra records.

13) Modern Time Machines – Failsafe: It seems like we hit peak-shoegaze a couple of years ago and that suited me fine, so while the influx of bands seems to have slowed down, I still get excited when I hear tracks like this. Based in LA, their self-titled record was released in April and features all the Swervdriver, Ride and Slowdive nods your heart could desire.

14) La ciencia simple - Echos: Another Chilean band (and if you’re late to the party on this, you can search for Q#89 for my Chilean-themed mix), I found this post-rock band by searching for Blow Your Mind on bandcamp, I don’t even know if they’re on BYM records, but

15) Mercury Rev – Holes: I bought tickets to see Mercury Rev play Deserter’s Songs in full in October and while it’s one of my least favourite records by them, I’m still pretty excited to hear them play it, not to mention it’ll only be the second time I’ll have seen them play.

16) Bonny Doon – A Lotta Things: There should be no surprise to read that Bonny Doon are signed to Woodsist, despite the slow pace and utterly downbeat lyrics, I can’t help but find the bright guitars thoroughly uplifting.

17) Hovvdy – In the Sun: Despite the silly double-v instead of a w in the name, which was boring and stupid the first time a band did it, it’s hard not to love this song. If anything, this reminds me a lot like Waxahatchee but with male vocals (indeed, it’s the vocal delivery as much as anything that reminds me of Katie Crutchfield).

18) Goli Gaete – Abajo Abajo Abajo Amor: Goli Gaete is a Chilean singer/songwriter best known for fronting the garage rock band Tsunamis. With one solo record to his name as well, I was delighted to find out that he would be playing a show in Brooklyn, which turned out to be in a small Vietnamese restaurant, with no promotion, I felt like this could be the time I was the only person at a show… indeed, that was the case until minutes before showtime, when there were literally half-dozens of us. It was a fun show, and he played this tune, I hope he comes back to play a proper show at a more traditional venue.

19) Catherine Howe – Let’s Keep It Quiet Now: Numero had a pop-up shop in Brooklyn a few weeks ago and so I spent my customary amount of money… I’m running out of things to buy but always had a curiousity about this record that needed to be quenched. This turned out to be my favourite song which was actually a bonus 7”, but the album itself (What a Beautiful Place) is a breezy Sunday afternoon listen.

20) Willie Wright – Nantucket Island: Another purchase from the Numero pop up that I just hadn’t gotten round to picking up. In true Numero fashion, Telling the Truth is very much the tried and tested story of a decade lost in obscurity for over 30 years and just felt like the perfect way to end this mix.

And there you have it, I hope there have been plenty of new acts for you to enjoy, summer is finally here and it’s time to start looking forward.

As always, Peace and Love

Q

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

Download mix from http://www.mediafire.com/file/hbc423usfhwpg78/Q119.zip