Q's Compilations
Vol #134 – October to
November 2020
Happy…
lame duck season? Whilst a delusional child is still residing in the white
house, there is comfort that Joe Biden ultimately won the election by a
handsome margin by any metric, and this is actually the first time in 19 years
that something I voted on actually went the way I wanted it to! Anyway, we’re
probably in for a rough end to the year with the pandemic so please stay safe.
This mix consists of mostly new music but also a few golden oldies and things
that were inspired by my concert-going-otd-archives.
01)
Jonathan Fitoussi – Oceans: Whilst browsing Bandcamp a few weeks ago an article
about “best new ambient music” was on the homepage, and while I’d have loved to
be able to buy the vinyl, it doesn’t seem like it’s available here so I paid
for the download. I’m a sucker for analog and modular synths and his record Plein
Soleil is about as classic as can get.
02)
Lael Neale – Every Star Shivers in the Dark: Recently signed to Sub Pop who
will release her upcoming album presumably next year, so far there have been
two promotional singles, this tune and For No-One Now. Both songs are a
bit of a departure from her sultry country-tinged debut I’ll Be Your Man from
2015 and while this song might come across as bleak to some, I find it
comforting and beautiful.
03)
Porcupine Tree – Sleep of No Dreaming: Going through my concert spreadsheet, I
noticed that I’d seen Porcupine Tree in October/November five times, so they
wormed their way into the mix. Of the dozen times I saw them, I never got to
hear this song live, though it was on the setlist and not played one time… I
just felt like this tune flowed well between tracks. From one of their best
efforts, 1996’s Signify.
04)
Besnard Lakes – Raindrops: Another OTD mention, one of the great by-products of
going through my concert spreadsheet by day is thinking about bands I otherwise
hadn’t thought of for a while, and even more gratifying when it just so happens
that the act in question has just put out some new music. The band will put out
their first album in five years in 2021, called The Besnard Lakes Are the
Last of the Great Thunderstorm Warnings, and this is the lead single, which
has all their classic elements.
05)
Supercrush – Get It Right: I can’t resist power-pop, there’s just something
irresistible about sugar-filled guitars and harmonies. Supercrush have been
releasing 7” singles for a number of years now and they finally put together a
full-length called SODO Pop that came out in October via Don Giovanni
Records and the whole thing is hit after hit like this.
06)
Beach Bunny – Dream Boy: If there’s a band I’ve been obsessed with in the last
few months it’s Beach Bunny. Debut album Honeymoon came out back in
February and I have basically played nothing else since I heard this track at
the start of October.
07)
The Posies – Sideways: The band’s first song since 2016 with a new album to
come in 2021, every new Posies tune is a gift and there’s little to say other
than this has their signature sound.
08)
Teenage Fanclub – Home: Speaking of bands with new music, who also last put out
a record in 2016, hitting their signature sound… yep it’s Teenage Fanclub. Endless
Arcade will come out in March and this is the lead single. As someone who
has reconciled to not getting home to see friends and family this year, this
song has more than a tinge of sadness to it. “I sometimes wonder if I’ll
ever be home again, I just don’t know when I’ll open that door again”
09)
Riff Doctors – Say Goodbye: Captured Tracks just put out a compilation titled Strum
& Thrum: the American Jangle Underground 1983-1987, and all you should
need to know is in the title! Considering this is fully in my wheelhouse, I
didn’t know most of the acts across the double-record, which I guess speaks
volumes to the experts at Captured Tracks.
10)
Seam – Halo Redux: Speaking of hidden gems of yesteryear, Seam were active
between 1991-2000, fronted by Bitch Magnet’s Sooyoung Park, and I have to
confess I only came across them recently while I was thinking about being lucky
enough to see Bitch Magnet a few years ago. This track is on the band’s third
album, Are You Driving Me Crazy?
11)
Fruit Bats – Disarm: There seems to be a lot of covers that have cropped up
during the pandemic, or maybe it just feels that way. Anyway, Fruit Bats
covered the entire Smashing Pumpkins album Siamese Dream, but you could
only get the whole thing on vinyl, and hence a late night drunken purchase was
made. It’s a pretty good low-key rendition of the album!
12)
Fleet Foxes – A Long Way Past the Past: I loved Fleet Foxes’ debut album back
in 2008 and could barely stop listening to it, felt like 2011’s Helplessness
Blues was pleasant and enjoyed it at the time, but only listened a handful
of times, then aside from the odd listen again to the debut, I didn’t think of
them much (and possibly didn’t know 2017’s Crack Up ever existed), but I
instantly enjoyed new album Shore, that just came out at the end of
September. It’s possible it ends up being another Helplessness Blues in
that I may not listen to it again but it was exactly what I wanted to hear when
it came out.
13)
The Flaming Lips – Flowers of Neptune 6: The Flaming Lips could do little wrong
for me in their discography between 1990 – 2009, which is quite an achievement
in its own right, they had been releasing decent records since then but nothing
that quite captured the magic, this year they released American Head,
I’m not even sure what number record this is in the discography, wiki claims 16
but that doesn’t seem right… anyway, it’s a little more together, for
want of a better word, than recent records.
14)
Julia Jacklin – To Perth, Before the Border Closes: Crushing was
one of my favourite records of 2019, and she’s released a couple of delightful
singles in 2020, with this tune being the latest.
15)
Cool Ghouls – Sundial: Another “oh I should see what they’re up to now” moment
when going over my concert spreadsheet, I saw this California psych-pop band a
couple of times in 2015 and loved them but had missed a couple of releases in
the ensuing years. This song is from their 2016 album Animal Races, West
Coast jangle doesn’t get much better.
16)
The Appleseed Cast – Cathedral Rings: During the first Bandcamp Friday I
purchased a few records by The Appleseed Cast as I’ve always loved seeing them
live but didn’t really know their recorded output much, it’s been gratifying to
rectify that even though I’m still missing a lot. This song instantly jumped
out as one I’d heard live a handful of times.
17)
Hypnotic Kingdom – Would You Be There For Me?: A concert-spreadsheet-adjacent
act, I’ve seen British heavy-shoegaze act Cheatahs a couple of times, they last
released a record in 2015 but while trying to find what they’re up to
currently, it turned out that one of the band vocalist/guitarist Nathan Hewitt
released a solo album under the moniker of Hypnotic Kingdom in 2018, this is
the title track.
18)
bdrmm – Is That What You Wanted to Hear?: A few “best of 2020” lists have
started coming out, I think Rough Trade might have been the first and Bedroom
was a record that I had no knowledge of before reading their list. Just
listen to those guitars that kick in around the 2-minute mark, that’s some pure
Kitchens of Distinction / Ride heavenly shit going on right there. The whole
record is really great too. The band are from Hull
19)
Fuck Buttons – Colours Move: When I opened the mix with Jonathan Fitoussi I was
immediately drawn to closing out the mix with a Fuck Buttons tune, I think I
just wanted to bookend the mix with two extremes of the same genre. I’ve
mentioned being lucky enough to see an act elsewhere on this mix, but seeing
Fuck Buttons in 2013 was definitely an all-time high. I may have even used this
tune on a mix over the years, this song closes out their 2008 debut Street
Horrsing.
Keep
being safe!
As always, Peace and Love - Q
