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Q's Compilations
Vol #166 – February to March 2026
It has been a busy start to the year - we endured a couple of snowstorms and a polar vortex, but hopefully spring is in the air at this point. Just about getting these notes done before the end of March which feels like a win!
01) Rocket Bureau - Don't Take Too Long: This is a one-man-band (Kyle Urban) from Madison, Wisconsin. This track closes out recent EP Maybes of Gold, which came out on the 3rd of February. This sounds like it could have been a radio hit in the late 70s, ripping guitar solo and all.
02) R.E.M. - These Days: It’s the 40th anniversary of Life’s Rich Pageant, which is probably my favourite REM album. Jason Narducy and Michael Shannon have been touring as a tribute band for the last few years, doing each album in turn so far. I tend to shy away from tribute bands, but the band themselves have turned up on occasion and fully endorse this project, so I figured I’d check out the show in Brooklyn. The tribute band don’t really have any right to sound as good as though do, even if they include fabulous musicians such as Jon Wurster on drums. To top it all off, Michael Stipe did turn up and sang this song (plus The Great Beyond) at the show and he sounded perfect. I did pick this song for the mix before the show for what it’s worth!
03) Gladie - Future Spring: Philadelphia’s Gladie just released new record No Need to Be Lonely on the 20th of March. I’d previously used lead single Car Alarm on Q#164 and am looking forward to seeing the band in May. The record was produced by Jeff Rosenstock and it’s another banger.
04) Weird Nightmare - Might See You There: This is the solo venture of METZ frontman Alex Edkins, Weird Nightmare’s self-titled debut came out in 2022, but now that METZ sadly disbanded in 2024, perhaps this will be his main output. New record Hoopla will be released on the 1st of May via Subpop and while this project has a little more pop and sunshine to it, under the hood it feels like there’s still some METZ spirit.
05) Stuck – Instakill: Having previously been signed to Born Yesterday, Chicago trio Stuck have now landed on Exploding In Sound Records for their third album, Optimizer, which just came out on March 27th.
06) Lande Hekt - Favourite Pair of Shoes: Lucky Now is Lande Hekt’s third solo album and was released on the 30th of January via Tapete Records. It’s a lovely record filled with wistful and jangly guitars that fans of Veronica Falls will certainly take to. This was the lead single for the album.
07) PONY - Middle of Summer: Three songs in a row that happen to be an act’s third albums… PONY put Clearly Cursed in February via Take This to Heart Records. I had a hard time picking between a few tracks on the record for this mix so I’m sure they’ll be making more appearances.
08) Cola – Hedgesitting: Tim Darcy formed Cola after Ought broke up and they are now also on their third record. Cost of Living Adjustment comes out on the 8th of May via the ever-great Fire Talk Records and this track has really been growing on me. I like Cola but am usually left pining for Ought, but this track gives me hope that they might be coming into their own.
09) Robber Robber - The Sound it Made: Another Fire Talk artist, this track opens upcoming album Two Wheels Moves the Soul, I’d previously used lead single Talk Back on Q#164. I’ve tried a few times to come up with a way of describing them, they’re an interesting mix of krautrock/industrial/indie.
10) Mandy, Indiana - Life Hex: Formerly of Fire Talk records but now on Sacred Bones, the band’s second record, URGH, was released on the 6th of February. The band have retained their intensity and oddity on this album. Where I’d described debut album I’ve Seen a Way as sounding like you’re on a construction site, Urgh is a bit more like an underground bunker.
11) Holy Fuck – Evie: Toronto’s Holy Fuck have been a favourite of mine since hearing their second album LP back in 2007. Event Beat is their first album in six years and they have been dearly missed, few bands create a groove quite like they do.
12) JB Dunckel & Jonathan Fitoussi - Ghost Town: You might know Jean-Benoit Dunckel better as one half of French act Air, while I’ve been a fan of Jonathan Fitoussi since hearing his wonderful record Plein Soleil in 2020. This album, Mirages II, is their second collaborative album (you’ve guessed it, the debut was called Mirages), and was released in March 2025. To tell the truth, you could be forgiven for simply thinking this was an Air track.
13) Asian Glow - The Note: South Korean artist Asian Glow’s latest album, Arin Cot, was due to be released on bandcamp on the 27th of March, but is still only showing 2 tracks as available. Asian Glow has appeared on numerous q-comps at this point, and I hope you’re all keeping track!
14) Langkamer - Crows: Bristol’s Langkamer released No via Breakfast Records on the 22nd of January, the record will appeal to fans of slacker rock acts. I love how this song just chugs along and somehow manages to sound urgent and chill at the same time.
15) Place Position – Camber: Hailing from Dayton Ohio, the land of Guided By Voices, of course. Place Position are more Fugazi than GBV, however, and I think I’d purchased this album by the time I’d finished hearing this song, I love the interplay between the bass and drums throughout the record.
16) Jejune - Meteorite: Most q-comps seem to feature a recently unearthed band that the Numero Group are re-issuing, this time it’s the turn of Jejune. The label just put out their first two records, 1996’s Junk and This Afternoon’s Malady from 1998. This track opens the former.
17) Deathcrash - Stay Forever: I had the pleasure of seeing Deathcrash’s first show in North America in February when they played at Nightclub 101 to promote their new album Somersaults. The record was produced by Stanley Gravett, who has worked with the likes of Idles and High Vis, and mastered by Heba Kadry (who has worked on records by Mandy, Indian, Gorrilaz, Bjork and more).
18) Accessory - Calcium: Accessory is the solo project of Dehd’s Jason Balla, he’ll be releasing Dust on the 17th of April. It’s hard to shake the Dehd comparisons but that’s also not a bad thing considering they’re one of my favourite bands of the last 7 years.
19) Craven Faults - Ganger: This is a new artist to me, though new album Sidings is the fifth Craven Faults full length. When it comes to ambient music I tend to know if I’m going to like something within a few seconds, and I ended up ordering this album within about 2 minutes of this 16-minute opening track.
As
always, Peace and Love - Q
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