Q#166 - February to March 2026

 

Download mix from https://www.mediafire.com/file/s915mt4gev512uh/Q#166.zip/file

Please note that the zip file has a password: QCOMPS.BLOGSPOT.COM 

                            Spotify link at end of notes, follow/subscribe to playlists here  

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 3^rd 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 40^th 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 20^th 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 1^st 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 27^th.

06) Lande Hekt - Favourite Pair of Shoes: Lucky Now is Lande Hekt’s third solo album and was released on the 30^th 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 8^th 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 6^th 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 27^th 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 22^nd 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 17^th 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

Q#165 - December 2025 to January 2026

Download mix from https://www.mediafire.com/file/93ar57ekuf5uw1n/Q#165.zip/file

Please note that the zip file has a password: QCOMPS.BLOGSPOT.COM 

                            Spotify link at end of notes, follow/subscribe to playlists here  

Q's Compilations

Vol #165 – December 2025 to January 2026

With 2025 behind us, it’s time for the usual “best of” the year mix in January. Musically I’d say the year was solid overall with some obvious highs. Maybe a little less weird and definitely not as heavy as previous years. Maybe that just means I mostly stuck to my comfort zone… I’ve just looked at my notes for last year and it turns out I said very similar, maybe this is what mid-40s is really like.

01) Ryan Davis and the Roadhouse Band - New Threats From the Soul: Coming in hot with possibly my favourite album of the year, New Threats for the Soul came out in July and it just kept growing and growing on me with every listen. It’s an album that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, a folk/Americana record consisting of seven tracks across two vinyls with prog-rock-esque song lengths. I used Better If You Make Me on Q#163

02) The Beaches - Can I Call You in the Morning: There’ll probably be a few “this might be my favourite album of 2025”, to the point of annoyance, but No Hard Feelings, The Beaches’ third album, is pretty much all killer no killer and they seem to have perfected their sound that Blame My Ex introduced. I also used Last Girls at the Party on Q#162

03) Annie DiRusso – Legs: Perhaps the song of the year was Back In Town, which I used on Q#160. Annie’s debut record, Super Pedestrian, was released in March and I saw a very triumphant Webster Hall show in May.

04) Beach Bunny - Pixie Cut: Beach Bunny’s third album, Tunnel Vision, came out in April and BB might just be the best artist/band of the last 6 years. I also used Chasm on Q#161. 

05) Freezing Cold - Half Static: It wouldn’t feel right for a best-of the year not to have any representation from Don Giovanni Records, though perhaps surprisingly Freezing Cold are the only DG band on this mix (it does feel like there’s a bit of a Screaming Females shaped hole in the roster right now). Treasure Pool was released in August and I used Backlight on Q#162.

06) Curtis Harding - True Love Can't Be Blind: Curtis Harding’s fourth record,  Departures & Arrivals: Adventures of Captain Curt, came out in September and I used There She Goes on Q#162. The record is still growing on me and I was looking forward to seeing him live this month until the show was canceled. As always, this tune has a confident swagger to it that few can pull off.

07) Joyer - Tell Me: It would be wrong to call Joyer’s latest effort, On the Other End of the Line… an upbeat record, but they’ve upped the BPM slightly and some of the guitars have been brightened up. It’s one of those albums that you can sometimes forget about and when you come back to it you forget how much you enjoy it. This track closes the record and you can also hear Cure on Q#163.

08) The Dirty Nil - I Was a Henchman: Toronto power-trio The Dirty Nil never fail to deliver on catchy riffs and anthemic choruses. Their latest album, The Lash, doesn’t reinvent their very fine wheel, and neither should they try.

09) Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs – Stitches: Death Hilarious was released back in April and is the band’s fifth album. To me, they’re the best stoner rock band I know of at present.

10) Wipes - Good Luck in the Future: A great sludge record that came out this year was Wipes’ second album, Don’t Tell My Parents. It’s a real tour de force and maybe my favourite angry record of 2025, and there was a lot to be angry about. I also used Bleeding Bums on Q#162.

11) FACS - Ordinary Voices: Wish Defence was released in February and has the sad honour of being the last album that the legendary Steve Albini engineered before he died in May 2004. Naturally, the album sounds incredible, although it should be said that all FACS albums do. Brian Case’s guitar adds complex texture as always and the rhythm section of Noah Leger and Jonathan Van Herik are among the most satisfying around.  

12) Squid - Building 650: Sometimes records that get released at the beginning of the year can be forgotten when it comes to these kind of exercises, Squid’s third album, Cowards, was released in February and to be honest, I did almost forget about it! Their debut, Bright Green Field, was a highlight of 2021 and whilst I enjoyed follow-up O Monolith, it didn’t quite stick, but Cowards is a return to form.

13) The Reds, Pinks & Purples - What's the Worst Thing You've Heard: It’s probably no surprise given the rate at which he releases songs, but this is the fifth year in a row that The Reds, Pinks & Purples have appeared on a “best of the year” mix. This song appears on The Past Is A Garden I Never Fed, that was released in July. I used I Only Ever Wanted To See You Fail on Q#163.

14) Blondshell – Thumbtack: I’d say the two records I just kept coming back to were Blondshell’s If You Asked for a Picture and Samia’s Bloodless. Two albums that, in all honesty, aren’t really aimed at me, but maybe that’s a testament to the strength of the songwriting.

15) Ryan Allen - Anxious All the Time: The most unabashed power-pop track on this mix, and perhaps the most unabashed power-pop record I enjoyed this year was Living On a Prayer On the Edge, made all the more impressive due to him playing every instrument on the record (save for one song featuring a Rhodes piano). I also used Lost in a Daze on Q#162.

16) Friendship - Tree of Heaven: Caveman Wakes Up is Friendship’s second album on Merge Records (but 5^th in total). The record is intoxicating, it’s ragged and you sometimes wonder if singer Dan Wriggins is going to keep it together over the course of a song. It’s often bleak but the warts and all production offers moments of beauty as well.

17) Camp Trash - Cousin Zach (Born Lucky): After finishing the initial mix I had a couple of minutes leftover which left the door open for Camp Trash, who I’d only recently discovered (Signal Them In featured on previous mix Q#164).

18) They Are Gutting a Body of Water - baeside k: The last show of 2025 I had the privilege of seeing was TAGABOW at Bowery Ballroom in support of their latest album, Lotto, that came out in October (I used Trainers on Q#164).

19) The Beths - 'Til My Heart Stops: Straight Line Was a Lie saw The Beths become a little more low-key with their songwriting, I was enjoying the record but I took a much greater appreciation of it after seeing the band perform the songs live (I think they might have played every song).

20) Tunde Adebimpe - Somebody New: I’m not sure I’ve ever done this before, but while writing these notes I realised I have actually used this song before, on Q#161. That’s not a bad track record over the course of over 22 years, but it still feels like a bit of a failure on my part! Anyway, the TV On the Radio frontman released his debut solo album, Thee Black Boltz, on Sub Pop back in April.

21) Samia - North Poles: As I mentioned earlier, Bloodless was one of the records I played the most in 2025 alongside Blondshell. Previous record Honey introduced some pop sensibilities and while it wasn’t a bad record at all, this album seems to be a continuation but ultimately much stronger. 

As always, Peace and Love, and hopefully a happy 2026 to all - Q