Q#127 - August to September 2019

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Now with added Spotify playlist at end of notes.

Q's Compilations

Vol #127 – August to September 2019

Well this one is significantly late and I have some gall to call this mix August/September but here we are, three weeks late so these notes will be rushed.

01) Amyl and the Sniffers - Some Mutts (Can't Be Muzzled):Aussie rock band released their self-titled debut album in May, this track closes the record but it sounded like a compilation opener to me.

02) Vivian Girls – Sick: Five years after their “final” shows, I always held out hope that the trio would return and they duly did in September with new album Memory, which might just be their best record to date. I saw them play at Warsaw recently and it was like they’d never been away.

03) Katie Ellen – Lighthouse: I saw Katie Ellen open for Cayetana (more on them later) and enjoyed her set enough to check out her recorded material. This song jumped out.

04) Oso Oso - Basking in the Glow: Long Beach’s Oso Oso released Basking in the Glow in August (this is the title track) and as far as the current trend of 90s-influenced alt-rock goes, this is one of the best examples.

05) Young Guv - Patterns Prevail: I’ve been a big fan of Young Guv since debut album Ripe 4 Luv (first featured in Q#103), and new album Guv II takes him in more straight-up power-pop territory, at times bordering on a Teenage Fanclub tribute, which is no bad thing from my point of view.

06) Jay Som – Superbike: Another 90s-tinged tune here, Melina Duterte has released her second album Anak Ko in August and it’s a dreampop delight.

07) Pronoun – Run: I’ll Show You Stronger is a treble-heavy bedroom pop record of which this is probably the highlight.

08) Long Beard - Getting By: Pretty music and downbeat lyrics is the middle of the venn diagram for me so when this song turned up in a PR email I was pretty captivated instantly. I haven’t listened to the album this comes from yet, Means to Me was released on the 13^th of September.

09) Lower Dens – Galapagos: Another new album I haven’t had the chance to listen to, The Competition was also released in September, but this is a nice tune.

10) HAIM – Forever: I managed to get some free tickets to see HAIM in August, I hadn’t really listened to them prior but came out a convert, they put on one of the best shows I’ll see this year.

11)  Girl Band - Going Nowhere: Irish quartet Girl Band have been releasing intensely genre-busting records for seven years (I first heard them in 2014), and I recently described new album The Talkies as like being on a chaotic construction site, and I mean that as a huge compliment.

12) Cursive - Pick Up the Pieces: I saw Cursive band in May and I’m writing these notes having just seem them two times in a weekend opening for Against Me! at Starland Ballroom in New Jersey.

13) Cayetana - Bus Ticket: Philly trio Cayetana called it a day in August with a tour that included a show at Music Hall of Williamsburg. I first saw the band in 2015 and four times in total, their second album in particular, New Kind of Normal is very good and it’s a shame they’ve called it quits.

14) Dehd – Lucky: Chicago psyche trio Dehd released Water in May on Fire Talk Records (who are celebrating a ten year anniversary). The new album is a bit more, dare I saw pop-oriented than previous efforts but does not suffer for it at all.

15) Future Teens - Emotional Bachelor: I saw Future Teens open for Oso Oso and they reminded me of the kind of band I’d see at Glasslands (RIP). Emotional Bachelor was released on the 30^th of August via Take This to Heart Records.

16) Josh Ritter - Old Black Magic: Perpetual smiler Josh Ritter released his tenth album, Fever Breaks, in April, and it’s perhaps my favourite in his discography. It’s definitely a more band-focused record and keeps a fairly steady path, sometimes it’s ok to own the middle of the road.

17) Slaughter Beach, Dog - Heart Attack: While Modern Baseball remain on hiatus, we’ve been treated to some solo/side-projects. Guitarist/vocalist Jake Ewald’s Slaughter Beach, Dog just released a delightful and breezy new album, Safe and Also No Fear on Lame-O Records.

18) The Mountain Goats - No Children: I saw the Mountain Goats play a free show at East River State Park and they played a much better set than the last time I saw them at Brooklyn Steel two years earlier. Their latest album, In League with Dragons, is a Dungeons and Dragons-influenced album, which is pretty good but I haven’t given it a whole lot of time. This is an old song though, from 2002’s Tallahassee but they played it at the show and it’s one of my favourites.

19) Withered Hand – California: I was thinking of putting together a California-based playlist for a recent trip to the state for a wedding, and I got about as far as this song and the next one…

20) The Magnetic Fields - Come Back From San Francisco: Another track from the two-minutes I spent thinking about a California playlist…

21) Built to Spill - Broken Chairs: Cult indie legends Built to Spill are celebrating the 20^th anniversary of their best album, Keep It Like a Secret (if you put a gun to my head I might say that 2006’s You in Reverse is slightly better). They played the album in full at Webster Hall recently and it was an amazing show, I don’t always love the play-an-album-in-full idea but it seemed to work great this time.

And there we go, only three weeks late. One more time before the end of the year!

As always, Peace and Love - Q

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

Download mix from  http://www.mediafire.com/file/mdg9xleblx5ibbk/Q%2523127.zip/file 

Q#118 - February to March 2018

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

Download mix from: http://www.mediafire.com/file/2ngercqazuojnnc/Q%23118.zip

Q's Compilations

Vol #118 – February to March 2018

Greetings and welcome to the first real mix of the year, I’ve got mostly brand-new releases for you in what is hopefully a year of being able to celebrate new things.

01) Superchunk – What a Time to be Alive: This is the title track to Superchunk’s first record in four years, and it might even be their first politically-tinged release. Wonder what could have led to that! It’s another triumphant and anthemic record in the vein of their last few records since Majesty Shredding. I can’t wait to see them twice in April. “To see the rot in no disguise, Oh what a time to be alive, The scum, the shame, the fucking lies, Oh what a time to be alive”

02) Jawbreaker – Jinx Removing: Having appreciated their influence but not really paid too much attention to the band over the years, their reformation still seemed like something I shouldn’t miss when they announced a show at Brooklyn Steel in February. The band didn’t disappoint and this tune in particular struck a chord. “I love you more than I ever loved anyone before, or anyone to come, Someone said your name, I thought of you alone, I was just the same twenty blocks away”

03) Hot Snakes – Death Campy Fantasy: Speaking of bands getting back together, I saw Hot Snakes back in November and they just released their first record since 2004’s Audit in Progress with Jericho Sirens via Sub Pop. This was one of the singles off the album (which I have yet to hear at the time of writing) which continues to prove that if you put Rick Froberg and John Reis together then little can go wrong.  

04) Screaming Females – I’ll Make You Sorry: The New Brunswick trio just released their 7^th studio album, All At Once, and it’s a double record (I picked up the 3LP set with bonus demos), once again released via Don Giovanni. It’s their poppiest record yet, interspersed with perhaps some of their least commercial work to date, but All at Once is definitely about pop hooks and melody.

05) Jessica Lea Mayfield – Offa My Hands: Whilst scouring show-listings recently for inspiration I enjoyed a bunch of tunes by Jessica Lea Mayfield, her songs seem to have a perfect mix of melody and melancholy. She released her fourth record, Sorry Is Gone, last year. I ended up missing her shows at the Mercury Lounge and Bowery Electric recently but can hopefully catch a future show. “Every single DNA strand, Gotta wash you offa my hands”

06) Ruby Boots – Don’t Talk About It: Ruby Boots is an Aussie currently based in Nashville and this is another new release from February (this is the title track). While Rolling Stone called her one of the ten new country artists you should listen to, there’s plenty of rock and pop on a nicely varied record.

07) Rilo Kiley – Wires & Waves: The first song on the mix that isn’t from this year, and I can’t really tell you why I thought to put it on the mix, it just seemed to flow. Originally released in 2001, Take Offs and Landings captures the band at their most charming. While the band has officially broken up, one still hopes for a reunion.

08) The Men – Rose on Top of the World: Back to new releases, back on Sacred Bones following 2016’s self-released Devil Music, Drift is the group’s seventh album. This song could scarcely sound more like Meat Puppets if they tried, which is a good thing given how much I love them.

09) Anna Burch – Tea-Soaked Letter: Quit the Curse is Anna Burch’s debut record (via Polyvinyl) and I caught a lovely show at Rough Trade back in February in support of its release. There’s no re-inventing the wheel here, just nice jangle-pop.

10) Nada Surf – Stalemate: Celebrating the fifteenth anniversary of Let Go (or the sixteenth if, like me, you are far more used to the European release), New York’s finest band played the record in full at Brooklyn Steel recently. The performance was fantastic, but the second set was even better as they delivered a bunch of songs I had not heard them play in a decade (or more), including Stalemate from the band’s debut album, Let Go. Performed live, they even threw in their short cover of Love Will Tear Us Apart just like they used to do in the old days as well. It was perhaps the most fun I’ve ever had at a concert (they played a 31-song set in total) and try as I might, I feel like I always fail to convey how much the band mean to me.

11) B Boys – Discipline: This song was supposed to go on the last mix (my best-of-2017), I haven’t seen B-Boys play live since Death By Audio closed in 2014 and that seems like a gross oversight. Their debut album (Dada) was released last year on Captured Tracks.

12) Fletcher C Johnson – Summer: Whilst flipping through the discounted vinyl at Rough Trade I picked up Lesson in Tenderness for $5, which is fitting since I also bought his debut record for $5 at Rough Trade too. There’s a little more variety on this record but I seem to have chosen the song that sounds like it could have been on the debut!

13) Squeeze – Pulling Muscles (From the Shell): I’ve had a real Squeeze itch for about six months and I’m not sure where it came from (other than always liking Squeeze), so I picked up one of the numerous greatest hits packages. I’m a little bummed in hindsight that I didn’t catch a recent show at the Beacon theatre, but hopefully there will be future chances. 2017’s The Knowledge was a pretty good record, though this opens the classic ArgyBargy from 1980.

14) Anya Marina – Ordinary Dude: I was introduced to Anya Marina’s music on a trip to New Jersey last year and am catching a show in a few weeks, this tune is from her last record, 2016’s Paper Plane and appeals to the pop-sensibility of this mix. “You’re not some formula that I set out to prove”

15) David Byrne – Everybody’s Coming to My House: Having managed to get tickets to see David Byrne at the magnificent Kings Theatre in September, it probably seemed like a good idea to check out the single for his new record. Thankfully it’s a good one! “We're only tourists in this life, Only tourists but the view is nice”

16) Gaz Coombes – Deep Pockets: Supergrass main-man Gaz Coombes is set to release his third solo record, World’s Strongest Man, in May and he played a couple of shows in March in support of it. While the set was mostly devoid of Supergrass songs, the quality of his solo material meant it didn’t seem missed (though the biggest cheer of the night when I saw him was Moving by some distance!).

17) Ought – Desire: The Montreal quartet just released their third fantastic record, Room Inside the World, and their first on Merge Records. Desire is the second single from the record and shows how the band are growing as songwriters, it has a triumphant feel to it

18) Destroyer – Hey, Snow White: I bought a mystery vinyl bundle from Merge Records around Christmas time which ended up including Destroyer’s 2002 record This Night. He didn’t play this song when I saw him at Brooklyn Steel in January, but I just felt like throwing it on this mix. After the show I felt like I’d had my fill of rock-based saxophone, however (it was a good show)!

19) Cayetana – Easy to Love: Another song that I meant to put on last month’s mix (there are usually more than two, to be fair), New Kind of Normal was released last year via Plum Records and I saw the band twice, once opening for Waxahatchee and once opening for The Hold Steady. Keen listeners will remember Mesa from Q#113.

20) Aimee Mann – Paper Boats: To celebrate Let Go’s 15^th anniversary (again… 16^th if you’re European…), Nada Surf put out a charity album of bands covering its songs. The biggest name involved is Aimee Mann, who puts her own spin on the albums’ closer. It’s one of those covers that 100% captures the spirit of the original. “Sit on a train, reading a book, Same damn planet every time I look, Try to relax and slow my heartbeat, Only works when I'm dead asleep, Been thinking and drinking all over the town, Must be gearing up for some kind of meltdown”

I’m pretty pleased with this mix, it’s usually the ones with completely new songs that I’m most excited about and I hope you heard something that pricked your ear. Speaking of new, I’ll be living in a new apartment by the time the next mix gets released.

As always, Peace and Love

Q

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

Download mix from: http://www.mediafire.com/file/2ngercqazuojnnc/Q%23118.zip

Q#113 April - May 2017

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Download mix from: http://www.mediafire.com/file/1v446a3c64a9yqt/Q%23113.zip

Q's Compilations

Vol #113 - April to May 2017

Greetings once again. This is the first time I have ever missed a deadline which would have been the 31st of May (my own fault as I didn't bring the files with me on holiday so couldn't package it all together until I got back). Having spent just shy of three weeks back home (with a short jaunt in Lisbon), I'd like to say I'm pretty refreshed, but I spent a fair chunk of time wishing I was in New York still. This collection was thrown together pretty quickly just before I did go away but it has mostly new stuff on it and I'm very happy with how it turned out, aside from not paying attention to the levels in any of the songs, there are some fairly unforgivable moments in that regard.

01) Wyatt Blair - Pop Your Heart Out: Wyatt Blair is one of those people you think should be playing to 1000s of people, writer of infectious sugary pop hits, this tune is particularly reminiscent of the best bubble-gum 80s rock.

02) Rips -Break: You could probably be forgiven for thinking this was Parquet Courts if you just heard it without any context. Indeed, the record was actually recorded by Austin Brown of Parquet Courts.

03) Guided By Voices - Overloaded: The ever prolific Robert Pollard just released his 100th album, which is pretty staggering. Another milestone is Guided By Voices first double-album, August By Cake, the current line-up includes "Mark II" GBV legend Doug Gillard. “The situation has me I’ve gotta grab it”

04) Priests - Nothing Feels Natural: Priests' debut full length (this is the title track) departs from their punkier eps and has more of a post-punk sheen to it, it's a great fit and change of direction although on ocassion one does miss Katie Alice Greer's snarl.

05) Matt Kivel - Velveteen: I somehow snoozed on knowing Matt Kivel released two records last year, I'd acted just in time to pick up the vinyl for Fires in the Plain, but missed out on XXXX. This track is from Fires in the Plain, and while double albums are generally hard to digest initially, the record seems an instant winner.

06) Terry Malts - Gentle Eyes:  There's something about this song that reminds me of Modern English, and that's clearly not a bad thing. Terry Malts have gone for a shinier sound on their latest album although when I saw them at the Mercury Lounge in April they still play with the same garage rock fervor of the first album. “I hate to see you cry, it broke my heart to find pain in those gentle eyes. What can I do? All my thoughts and my dreams I see gentle eyes”

07) Ryan Adams - Prisoner: Ryan Adams is one of those people I've known about for many years and just never gotten round to listening to. He was playing a show at the Beacon Theatre and so I got day-of Stubhub tickets to go with a friend, he was fantastic and this has, became somewhat of an anthem for me recently. The title track of his latest record, I've also since purchased Gold and Heartbreaker. “Free my heart, Somebody locked it up, Still waiting on parole, I can taste the freedom just outside that door, Same grey walls, Same grey clothes, I know my friends all know, Can't keep it under control. I know our love is wrong, I am a criminal, Mmm, I am a prisoner, Mmm, I am a prisoner, For your love”

08) Snail Mail - Slug: I hadn't heard of Snail Mail until it was announced that they are supporting Waxahatchee in Brooklyn in July so I went through their bandcamp releases and they are obviously a very appropriate fit. “And oh is it easiest to hide? Under covered rocks, Or would you rather cut it all down? Just to keep it from dragging you around”

09) Aimee Mann - Goose Snow Cone: Aimee's latest record, Mental Illness, seems like a response to everyone thinking all she does is write slow, sad, acoustic songs, as if she has double-downed on what people expect, it's arguably her slowest and saddest record to date. I just saw her play at the Town Hall and hadn't realised it was 12 years since I had last seen her, I certainly hope it isn't another 12. “Gotta keep it together when your friends come by, Always checking the weather but they wanna know why, Even birds of a feather find it hard to fly”

10) Justin Currie - This Is My Kingdom Now: Del Amitri will always be my first love and Justin Currie has just released his fourth solo record (this is the title track), though this is his first self-release. It took me a couple of listens for it to gel but as usual it is filled with unmatched prose and is closer to his first solo release, What Is Love For. I was lucky enough to catch him live on the 3rd of June during my recent trip home. Still the greatest. “I was sure that I could hear applause, And that I should take a bow, But no-one seems to care in here, That this is my kingdom now”

11) Digable Planets - Where I'm From: 90s hip hop greats Digable Planets got back together last year, and I’m excited to hopefully see them at a free show in Red Hook in June. Their two records (1993’s Reachin’ and 1994’s Blowout Comb, this song is from the former) aren’t really talked about with such heady frequency as say, De La Soul or A Tribe Called Quest, but they’re definitely in the same league, perhaps this reunion will call for further evaluation.

12) Main Source - Just a Friendly Game of Baseball: Speaking of great 90s hip hop, Main Source released Breaking Atoms in 1991 which was reissued this year and is also of note for containing Nas’ first recorded delivery (on Live at the BBQ), the group have played a couple of reunion shows this year (including opening for George Clinton, which sadly I missed), “Instead of innings, we have endings, What a fine way to win things, And hot-dog vendors have fun, Sellin you the cat rat and dog on a bun, And when you ask what is all of this called? It's just a friendly game of baseball”

13) Follakzoid feat. J Spaceman - Electric: After spending some time in London, Chilean psych/kraut masters Follakzoid collaborated with J Spacemen for a 2-song remix of tracks from the third album (strangely enough, called III). The trance-like nature of the tracks from that record were ripe for a remix treatment and the results are not disappointing.

14) The New Pornographers - Whiteout Conditions: I saw The New Pornographers recently at Terminal 5, and this was the first time I'd seen them with Neko Case. They started off on fire, playing my favourites songs within a 5-song opening, but the new material sounded like long-term favourites too.

15) Future Islands - Aladdin:  New album, The Far Field, certainly isn't breaking any ground for the Baltimore band, and that's ok, for a band that's on the cusp of being majorly succesful, they just need to keep doing what they're doing.

16) Laura Stevenson - Life is Long: I saw Laura supporting Juliana Hatfield in April and her solo set really blew me away (I had drank many, many margaritas before the show), her recorded output is a little more punky and she is on the wonderful Don Giovanni label.

17) Cayetana - Mesa: I saw Cayetana at the Northside Festival a year or two ago and despite enjoying their set a lot didn’t give the band a whole lot of thought until hearing their new album, New Kind of Normal, which came out in May via Plum Records. Like Snail Mail, the trio are supporting Waxahatchee on upcoming dates. “we can only hurt ourselves for so long”

18) Anna Calvi - Love Won't Be Leaving (live): A "record store day" release, supposedly (I'm sure all these end up with regular distribution), Anna Calvi played the Meltdown Festival backed by a choir and the results are stunning. She doesn't rush things when it comes to new material so this document is an excellent stop gap. “I hope this letter finds you well, Been in the desert for so long, Sometimes I see faces, Comin' out of the dark”

Apologies once again for the hastily put together notes, but as I said earlier, I’m really happy with the selection and I hope you find something to enjoy too.

As always, Peace and Love

Q

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

Download mix from: http://www.mediafire.com/file/1v446a3c64a9yqt/Q%23113.zip