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Now with added Spotify playlist at end of notes.
Q's Compilations
Vol #128 – October to
November 2019
Well
here we are again, pretty much three weeks late. October and November were
pretty busy, I got my show count up to a more respectable number (though I
don’t think I’ll quite hit the 50-mark I had modestly set) and had a holiday in
Oxford/London/Paris. Not shabby.
01)
Superchunk - Driveway to Driveway (acoustic): To celebrate the 25th
anniversary of their best album, Superchunk decided to re-record the entire
record acoustically, and it’s unsurprisingly good! I managed to catch them on
tour in this setup and though I’d have preferred seeing it performed in its
original state, it was a treat nonetheless.
02)
Lux Prima - Turn the Light: Danger Mouse and Karen O put out a collaboration as
Lux Prima back in March, which I didn’t really listen to at the time but they
played a show at Kings Theatre just around the corner from my apartment so it
was rude not to go. It’s an effortlessly slick record.
03)
Torres - Good Scare: It has been a while since Torres released anything (record
company woes I think) but she recently signed to Merge records and will have a
new album out next year. She opened for Superchunk at the show I mentioned above,
albeit solo-acoustic so it was hard to get a feel for the new songs like this
one.
04)
Tool – Pneuma: Thirteen years after 10,000
Days was released, you’d have been forgiven for thinking Tool might not
release another record, but here we are. I have to admit, Fear Inoculum can sound a little boring at times and I haven’t been
wowed by it yet, but I did catch them live (for the first time in twelve years)
and the record did come to life in an arena.
05)
Maneka - Never Nowhere: You might recognise Devin McKnight as the guitarist in
Grass is Green and formerly of Speedy Ortiz, his latest project is Maneka, who
just released debut album Devin on Exploding in Sound Records and it’s a
genre-bending record that deserves to get some traction.
06)
Sheer Mag - The Killer: Philly quartet Sheer Mag put out their excellent new
album, A Distant Call in August and those with a hankering for Thin Lizzy-esque
rock should listen to it at your nearest convenience (or inconvenience, even).
Produced by Arthur Rizk, the record nails a classic sound and captures the band
at their most accomplished to date, while their previous efforts were somewhat
endearingly lo-fi in places, A Distant Call captures the band at their peak
that .
07)
Psychedelic Porn Crumpets - Hymn for a Droid: You might form a decent idea
about what Psychedelic Porn Crumpets sound like just by the name. The
Australian (Perth) quartet’s brand of psych is heavier on the BPM than most
with plenty of riffs and a bit more treble in the mix, and they nail it. Their
latest album, And Now For The Whatchamacallit, was released back in May.
08)
Follakzoid – II: My love for Chilean psychedelic rock will hopefully never end,
and one of the heavyweights, Follakzoid, put out their latest record I in August. The previous record went
off in more of a trance direction and the live tour went further that way, and I takes it to the extreme. A
double-record with one song per side, the songs were stitched together from a
series of single takes, by a producer who was not present during the recording.
It ends up having a remix-album type of feel, and it’s good, though I wonder
how much further the band can stretch the direction.
09)
Michael Stipe - Your Capricious Soul: REM nerds were treated to a Michael Stipe
solo track recently which feels a bit like an UP b-side, but I’ll take anything
I can get these days and it does leave you wanting more.
10)
Julia Jacklin - Don't Know How to Keep Loving You: February was so long ago now
it’s easy to forget that Julia Jacklin released the quite superb Crushing, she
seems so effortlessly at the top of her game. Steering away from the more
traditional folk of her debut album, Crushing reminds me a little of Sharon Van
Etten circa Tramp/Are We There with a few more BPM.
11)
Mikal Cronin - Show Me: Mikal Cronin released three near-perfect garage-rock
albums every two years between 2011 and 2015, so 2017 seemed like a cruel joke
when the run didn't continue. That's not to say the four years since III were
unproductive, Cronin is one of the busiest artists around and must have played
on a dozen albums in the last four years. Thankfully, 2019 has given the world
a little more balance with another of his solo albums, and this time he's
leaned into his inner-Neil Young (if you had to pick a record this is closest
to, it would be Neil's best - On the Beach). Trying to get over a bout of
writer's block, he turned to the tried-and-true approach of retreating to a
cabin in the woods to write, unfortunately that only lasted a month due to
forest fires, and the record does come ablaze more than most, but there's
certainly an earthy quality to it. Indeed the only song that screams
cabin-in-the-woods is the solo-acoustic closer On the Shelf.
12)
Big Thief – Not: The rise of Big Thief seems incredibly satisfying and it’s
hard to think of a band who have made their ascent so seamless. A second record
of 2019, Two Hands, was released on the 11th via 4AD, it’s a more
rock/band-orientated album than U.F.O.F‘s more traditional folk. While most
people don’t seem to think so, I think Two
Hands is the stronger of the two.
13)
Remember Sports - Tiny Planets: Philly act
Remember Sports celebrated the 5th anniversary of debut album Sunchokes (back
when the band were just called Sports) with an expanded re-issue, and this is
just one of the no-frills fun indie-pop tunes from it.
14)
Dude York – Falling: Seattle trio Dude York put out their second album,
Falling, back in July on Hardly Art records, and it is smack in the middle of
the Hardly Art venn diagram with pop harmonies and fuzzy guitars aplenty.
15)
Screaming Females - No More I Love Yous: Screaming Females recently put out a
compilation of non-album tracks, which I managed to snag on vinyl, the download
and CD versions came with a few extra covers tacked onto the end, one of which
is this Annie Lennox classic.
16)
Michael Nau - On Ice: Sometimes you just want a smooth, perfectly executed set
of melodic singer-songwriter tunes and Michael Nau & The Mighty Thread‘s
2018 album self-titled album is the middle of that venn diagram; like cruising
in the middle lane of a deserted highway, there’s something deeply satisfying
about how easy it is.
Phew,
done, see you in 2020!
As
always, Peace and Love - Q
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