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Q's Compilations
Vol #142 – February
to March 2022
Happy Spring! A lot has happened since the last compilation was released, I got married, spent some time in New Orleans, have managed to catch a few shows, and will also have a trip to California to catch Del Amitri (plus also seeing them in Philly and NYC). Full steam ahead. As is typical for the first “normal” mix of the year, it mostly consists of brand new songs plus a bunch of stuff that didn’t make it onto the “best of 2021” mix. I took the cover image walking back to work over the Brooklyn Bridge after a jury summons (which amounted to sitting in a room for most of the day without anything happening), it’s very easy to love this city.
01) Current Joys - American Honey: On Q#124 I used Fear from Current Joys’ 2018 album, Fear, which I really enjoyed, but for one reason or another, he fell off my radar until I saw the current release, Voyager, in a sale. Released May 2021, it’s a double record that would certainly have been on my best-of mix if I’d heard it in time. The production has gone up a few notches between releases but there’s also a new found confidence in the delivery as well as the recording.
02) Anna Fox Rochinski - Party Lines: Another 2021 record that didn’t quite make it onto the last mix, Cherry is the kind of alt-pop album that should have been a hit with the critics. There’s enough of a psych-tinge from her former band (she fronted an act called Quilt who I saw a bunch before their break-up), but has the focus of a solo alt-pop album.
03) Indigo De Souza - Pretty Pictures: I was looking over the concert listings last month and noticed a name I didn’t recognise because the openers were Horse Jumper of Love, who I really like, so gave a few tracks a spin and I think Any Shape You Take is probably the album I’ve listened to the most since. Released last August on Saddle Creek, the album is a low-key masterpiece for those who like pop as much as scuzzy guitars, a great follow-up to debut album I Love My Mom from 2018.
04)
HOORSEES - Weekend at Bernie's: This time last year I used Overdry from
this Paris quartet’s debut album, and they just put out a couple of songs for
their next album, A Superior Athlete, that comes out in April. There’s
just something endearing about this somewhat nonsensical indie-pop anthem, I
love it.
05) Kids on a Crime Spree - When Can I See You Again: Kids on a Crime Spree certainly take their time, following a few singles since 2013, the band have just released their debut album, which races through ten tracks in about twenty-five minutes (old-school me queries if 25-minutes qualifies as an album). You could probably guess this is released on Slumberland Records within 10 seconds. The band is fronted by Mario Hernandez, who will crop up again a bit later. “When can I see you before our world ends, when can I see you again?”
06) Ex-Void – Churchyard: Ex-Void features a couple of former Joanna Gruesome members (guitarist Owen Williams also released a pretty good EP with his band, The Tubs, last year). It’s more jangle than fuzz, but it feels like the same band in many respects. The album comes out on the 25th of March (Bigger than Before) via Don Giovanni records.
07) Bliss Fields – Away: Another returning band, I used What Kills You a couple of mixes back from their self-titled EP, and the Toronto shoe-gazers haven’t wasted much time in getting out their debut album, Slowly Forever was released in January. It’s hard to ignore the Ride influence here but since I love Ride and this sound in general, I will happily devour it.
08) Horsegirl – Billy: Chicago trio Horsegirl were also featured fairly recently (Q#139) and have since announced a debut album, Versions of Modern Performance which will come out in June. This track closes the record (but is only one of two songs released so far) and I love the scuzzy but soaring guitars.
09) DEHD - Bad Love: Another Chicago band, DEHD have been one of my favourite acts of the last few years (featuring on Q#127, #132 and #135), they just announced a new album and a change of record label, Blue Skies will be released in May on Fat Possum Records, who are an excellent label, but it feels odd for them not to be on Fire Talk. This is the only song released so far and is obviously excellent, without straying from the vibe of the last couple of records. They’re playing a couple of shows at Bowery Ballroom in May and I’m hoping to go since I’ve yet to see them. “I was a bad love, now I can get some, I got a heart full of, I got a heart full of R-r-r-redemption”
10) Fawning – Wait: 2021 saw my end up buying a lot of Appleseed Cast vinyl, which brought me to Graveface Records and Curiousities in Savannah, Georgia, for a few releases, at which point I randomly browsed most of the other acts and stumbled on a few I really liked, one of which was this record, Illusions of Control, released February 2021.
11) Howless – Levels: I can’t remember how I came about this act from Mexico City but it turned out to be an album I pre-ordered well ahead of its release after hearing this song and was then pleasantly reminded when it popped into my Bandcamp collection when it finally came out.
12)
Young Prisms - Self Love: I subscribe to a bunch of labels on bandcamp which
means I end up with more releases than I can keep up with, but I like the idea
of giving some labels money each month regardless and Fire Talk always put out
excellent music even if I can’t stay on track with them. Drifter will be
the band’s first album in a decade when it comes out at the end of this month.
13) Weird Nightmare - Searching for You: If you thought there was a bit of a METZ vibe to this song then that’s because it’s the solo project of singer Alex Edkins, it’s a little more sugary than METZ, but the intensity is still there (in this song at least). The self-titled debut is getting released on the 20th of May via Sub Pop.
14) The Sad Tomorrows - Long Vibration: Jeffrey Schroeck fronts the criminally underrated New Jersey punk band Black Wine, who sadly haven’t released a record since 2014’s Yell Boss, so I was delighted to hear his new band, The Sad Tomorrows, who released a self-titled EP in January. More please!
15) Artsick – Despise: Another Bay-area Slumberland artist, featuring Kids on a Crime Spree’s Mario Hernandez on drums. This is the lead single from the record, Fingers Crossed, which came out in January.
16) Young Guv - Only Wanna See U Tonight: Ben Cook has been on a bit of a roll with his Young Guv project since debut album Ripe 4 Luv came out in 2015. In 2020, as with I suspect a lot of touring musicians, his band became somewhat stranded while on tour (in their case, New Mexico), and ended up creating two albums worth of songs, the first set of which came out on the 11th of March (Guv III).
17) Springtime Carnivore - Keep Confessing: I’ve been a big fan of Greta Morgan since first seeing Springtime Carnivore in 2014, and love her two records (self titled in 2014 and Midnight Room from 2016). She was diagnosed with spasmodic dysphonia last Autumn so I don’t know what her future holds as a singer but I hope that she continues to release material. This song is from her debut album and I just wanted to have one of her songs on this mix, I love them all. “I want the dizzy freedom, Float above the ground, All my life. I want to ride the landslide, Don't want to wait around, Or be left behind. I saw paradise in your lonely eyes, And if I only get to see it once, Better be enough, better be fine”
18) Superchunk - On the Floor: Superchunk’s twelfth album, Wild Loneliness, just came out at the end of February (via their own Merge Records, of course). It’s a lower-key record than most of their second wave releases, with acoustic guitars featuring heavily, as well as a slew of high profile (in indie circles at least) guests. This song features the one and only Mike Mills of REM.
19) Lee Bains + The Glory Fires - God's a Workin, Man: Old Time Folks, the new album from Lee Bains, won’t be released until August, but this is a nice leading single. The kind of 7 minute jam that doesn’t feel that long at all. Of course, god’s not a workin’ at all since god doesn’t exist, but it’s hard to resist a southern folk drawl.
20) The Goalie's Anxiety at the Penalty Kick - An Olive Coat: One of those bandcamp “if you bought X you might like Y” recommendations that cropped up was this six-piece from Philly, and it was a hard band name to resist. This song opens Ways of Hearing that was released October 2020 (that seems SO long ago!), and is a lovely slowcore album, a genre that is low-key having an excellent revival. “Found the socks you lost, Wool and flecked with gold, But I traded them, For an olive coat, At least this way one of us is warm”
21) Squirrel Flower - Live Wire: I’ve waxed lyrical about Squirrel Flower on Q#137, 139 and 141 and Ella Williams just released Planet EP, a companion piece to one of 2021’s best albums, Planet i. I had the pleasure of catching a live show at Mercury Lounge in February which was also magical.
22) Karate - There are Ghosts: Numero have been working their reissue magic with the Karate discography lately, just putting out their third album, 1998’s The Bed is in the Ocean. A reissue campaign for a great band is not super surprising, but the band reforming to play some shows this summer certainly was and I can’t wait to see them at Music Hall Williamsburg in July (their first tour in 17 years).
23) Black Country, New Road - The Place Where He Inserted the Blade: I was so happy that Black Country New Road followed up my favourite album of 2021, For the First Time, with a new album so quickly with Ants from Up Here, that just came out in February. Sadly, vocalist/guitarist Isaac Wood announced he was leaving the band just before the album was released – the band will continue, though the show I had tickets for got cancelled, I’m intrigued by where they will go from here. The record is very good and I still feel like I’m digesting it (I also bought the 4LP version that came with a bonus live version, a lot to take in!).
As always, Peace and Love - Q
