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Q's Compilations
Vol #141 – December
2021 to January 2022
Happy new year! It’s fair to say that 2021 was not one for the ages and 2022 has made an ominous start. Still, I’m trying to remain positive and I hope these mixes have proved useful to anyone who listens to them (putting them together always help me get through a year). In good news, Emily and I are getting married at the end of the month! The 4th of January also marked 10 years in NYC for me, a lot has changed… Anyway, these are some of my favourite things from the last 12 months.
01) Del Amitri - You Can't Go Back: For all 2021 took away, it did bring Del Amitri’s first album in 19 years, Fatal Mistakes. Recording finished the day before the first UK lockdown and it was finally released in May 2021, reaching number 5 in the UK album charts. It’s hard to be truly objective about Del Amitri but for me the album is a triumph, this track opens the album and while there might be songs I prefer, this one gets into my head all the time. Also see Q#136 (It’s Feelings) and Q#138 (I’m So Scared of Dying). I was fortunate enough to get back to the UK for the first time in two years in October to coincide with a show at the London Palladium, which was certainly an improbable highlight of the year. Lyrically this song is typically masterful from Justin Currie and there are so many beautiful guitar flurries in this song I keep coming back for more. “They can't destroy us, we put the seal on it, so be joyous 'cause once the fuse is lit, you can't go back”
02) Beach Bunny - Good Girls Don't Get Used: Beach Bunny’s Blame Game EP was released on the 15th of January 2021 and the title track also appears on Q#136. I was lucky enough to see the band twice in 2021 and have tickets to see them again in May when they will hopefully have a new album (new song Oxygen was released as a single in October).
03) The Dirty Nil - Blunt Force Concussion: Canadian power-trio The Dirty Nil released their third album, Fuck Art, on the 8th of January and it’s another triumph of anthemic and crunching pop-punk, the album is consistently good to the point it’s hard to pick individual tracks. I also used Doom Boy on Q#136.
04) Parannoul - 아름다운 세상 (Beautiful World): Thanks to Pete for telling me about this record, To See the Next Part of the Dream, earlier in the year (it was released in February). Parannoul is a solo artist from South Korea and has to date produced two albums in a DIY fashion, the production values have that perfect and impressive charm that leaves you wondering how it would sound with a huge budget but also not wanting to change a thing.
05) FACS - General Public: Chicago trio FACS have a pretty impressive trajectory, although that shouldn’t be surprising given the calibre of the band, fronted by Brian Case (formerly of The Ponys). Present Tense is the band’s fourth album since their formation in 2017 and they keep getting better. I used album highlight Strawberry Coughs on Q#139 but the whole album is excellent, drummer Noah Leger and bassist Alianna Kalaba form one of those powerhouses of a rhythm section that perhaps aren’t flashy on first impression but the more you listen the more they pull you in.
06) Curtis Harding - I Won't Let You Down: It’s fair to say that Curtis Harding doesn’t rush things, If Words Were Flowers is his third studio album in seven years and was released on the 5th of November. The record is effortlessly cool with a perfect blend of breezy soul awash with call and response vocals and accompanying brass. It’s a mystery that he isn’t selling millions of records. I had tickets to see him at Bowery Ballroom this month which was understandably been postponed
07) Squirrel Flower - Flames and Flat Tires: My discovery of 2021 is probably Squirrel Flower, certainly between 2020’s I Was Born Swimming and this year’s Planet (i). Another record that was very difficult to pick a song for the mix (I used Hurt a Fly on Q#137 plus the cover of So Hot You’re Hurting My Feelings on Q#139). This song has a smouldering bassline and slowcore guitar parts that just melt my heart. “But I'm getting back on track soon enough, and you better watch out for me, flying down the road in flames and flat tires, baby, flames and flat tires”
08) Dark Tea – Deanna: One of the great things about doing “best-of-the-year” compilations is it makes you think of the low-key records that you maybe didn’t immediately think “this is a great record” but you just kept coming back to and Dark Tea’s April 2021 self-titled record is possibly the best example of that. The kind of Sunday morning, relaxed listen that rarely gets out of second gear but you discover nuances each time you play it.
09) Squid – Narrator: It has been really gratifying to hear two debut albums from British bands that are so good and, for want of a better term, arty, with Squid and Black Country, New Road (who follow this track). Both albums are probably tied for my favourite release of the year. I used Pamphlets on Q#137 but the whole record (Bright Green Field) works so well as a complete album it’s a bit of a shame having to pry out a single track. As I type the notes listening to this song I’m nodding in agreement that this is indeed the best album of the year, I suspect I’ll be doing the same on the next track.
10) Black Country, New Road – Opus: As stated above, it’s hard for me to separate Squid and Black Country, New Road for best album/band of 2021, and I’ve just spent this entire song nodding along thinking that this (For the First Time) is the best album of the year (Sunglasses appeared on Q#136). Where they have stolen a march is recording a new album, Ants from Up There, which is set to be released in February. I have tickets to see them next month which at the time of writing is still going ahead…
11) The Reds, Pinks & Purples - I Hope I Never Fall in Love: Felt like it was time for a little respite after that one-two punch… Uncommon Weather was released back in April and is one of those gloriously downbeat jamgle-pop records, really there’s not a whole lot of respite on the entire album but despite that it’s so utterly, utterly beautiful (The Record Player and the Damage Done appeared on Q#136).
12) Hurry - Where You Go, I Go: Continuing that forlorn jangle, Philly act Hurry released their sixth album, Fake Ideas, in June. Hurry don’t stray from their lane and sometimes that’s all you want, especially when that lane is like an affectionate hug. I also used It’s Dangerous on Q#137.
13) Moontype - About You: Chicago trio Moontype released their debut album, Bodies of Water in April via Born Yesterday Records, I fell in love with the song Ferry (that is featured on Q#137), and I suspect if I had the stats, I’d be surprised by how much I ended up listening to the record. “When you said "I love you" it caught me off-guard, You taught me to love so fierce and so hard, Fighting for the feeling like a healing charge, Burning like the gas of the only star”
14) Bat Fangs - Talk Tough: If you want unabashed, anthemic 80s hair metal then Bat Fangs’ second record, Queen of My World is the record of 2021 for you (the title track also appears on Q#139). “I act like I don't care but I don't wanna dance alone”
15) Mondaze – Concrete: Anyone wanting a Hum-esque heavy shoegaze album could do a lot worse than Italian act Mondaze, who snuck in their debut album, Late Bloom in December. I used Words Undone on Q#139 and the record as a whole has a nice mix of slow and brooding rockers like this with some higher BPM tracks.
16) Chime School - Wait Your Turn: San Francisco act Chime School probably got the wildcard slot on this mix, competing with a dozen or so other records that I loved but had to cut for time constraints. Their debut self-titled debut came out on the 5th of November and is flush with unabashed English-inspired jangle. “Staring up into the sky, Waiting for the sun to shine, Winter's cold all of the time”
17) Bnny – August: Chicago had another excellent year and Bnny’s debut album, Everything, was released on Fire Talk Records in August. The album is yet another example of the kind of low-key album that keeps pulling you in for more.
18) Fruit Bats - Gullwing Doors: Certainly one of my favourite songs of the year is Balcony (which appeared on Q#136), Pet Parade was released in March and is a great addition to the FB discography. I miss the days when I knew albums by heart front to back and this is one of those songs I was almost surprised by each time I listened to, but couldn’t remember which track it was (this happens a lot to albums I don’t own a physical copy of, which I’ve since rectified for Pet Parade…). A country drive out in the Poconos during the fall sealed the deal for the song to be on the mix.
19) Samia - Show Up: Speaking of connecting with artists more when you finally get around to buying physical media, I’ve dipped into Samia’s music in and out for at least two years, love it, then forget about it, rinse and repeat every three or four months… when Scout came out in July the same thing almost happened again but on a recent shopping spree I picked this up along with The Baby and Before the Baby, so I think Samia and I are here to stay at this point.
20) Arushi Jain - My People Have Deep Roots: I love ambient music but dropped the ball a little on the genre this year, I tried to rectify this a bit late in the game trying to find some records that landed and was stumbled upon Under the Lilac Sky by Arushi Jain. The record is astounding, and I’d have preferred to have used a few other tracks but for time constraints. Any vinyl lover knows keenly about the supply side issues right now, and my vinyl copy is not expected until around July this year, it’ll be worth the wait!
As
always, Peace and Love - Q
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