Q#90 – June – July 2013

Please note that the zip file has a password: Q90

Download mix from: http://www.mediafire.com/?04mam8z8dbhx5fy

Q’s Compilations

Volume #90 – June – July 2013

Greetings! The thing about doing a themed compilation (the Chilean mix of Q#89) is that you get a backlog of tracks from a regular mix, so chopping things down for this release was a bit of a pain! I hope you enjoy what is in store…

01) Books of Love - Space Time: We need more science in music! We also need more Katy Goodman, this song ticks both boxes. I’ll simply copy from the bandcamp page which paints the picture “While hiking past the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles, friends Katy Goodman and Greta Morgan were struck with the idea to record a song together: A song about physics and love, science and romance, space and time. Have you ever felt the lovesick pain of falling for someone from a different dimension? We have too.”.

02) Grand Resort - Night is Dark: I saw this band support No Joy at Glasslands and really enjoyed their set, they remind me a little bit of The Sound which can only be good. Songwriter Andres Pichardo grew up in the Dominican Republic before moving to the US and has since released a record called Vanguard Dreams, which I can’t seem to find much about.

03) The Drowners - Long Hair: Uncomplicated catchy indie-pop doesn’t come much more refreshing than this, they have only released a few songs so far so it will be interesting to see what else they put out.

04) Pop Zeus - Devils in the Details: Sorry for the not-so-clear quality on this at times, it’s from a cassette transfer. I’m a big fan of Pop Zeus and think he is putting out the best power-pop around right now. Just listen and then go to the bandcamp page http://popzeus.bandcamp.com/  “I tried my best I really did”

05) Parquet Courts - Borrowed Time: I got off to a weird start with this band because I heard the record last year and thought it was ok, then earlier this year I saw them live supporting The Men at the Bowery Ballroom and really enjoyed them and re-examined the record which is actually really good. I guess that happens sometimes…  “I was up to my neck in motivation neglect when I felt soft waves of purpose crashing onto the surface. “

06) Deerhunter - Dream Captain: It has seemed like an age waiting for Deerhunter to follow up Halcyon Digest (released 3 years ago), but Monomania hit the shelves in May and is a bit of an expected shift into dirty glam-rock which takes you by surprise at first but for me made complete sense after a few listens. I’m excited to be seeing them for the first time in September.  “Could you be, for me, what I see in you, Or would you give me wings so I could fly, fly, or sink and die please!”

07) Kurt Vile - KV Crimes: Wakin On a Pretty Daze sounds like you would think based on the title, it’s a chilled out and hazy record. I love the guitar sound on this song. Have seen Kurt perform twice so far this year, one time just before the album came out and most recently at the 4knots festival. “all right, what now? that's fine, i think i'm ready to claim what's mine,
rightfully, yeah...”

08) The Disciplines – Emily: The Disciplines are a Norwegian rock band than feature Ken Stringfellow of The Posies, who is one of my favourite songwriters. This is taken from the second Disciplines record, Virgins of Menace, released in 2011. I bought this at Ken’s solo show at the Mercury Lounge earlier in the year.

09) The Teen Age - Second Youth: The Teen Age are a new band from Brooklyn, I’ve been following them fairly closely as they drip-feed their songs to the public, this was the second one (out of three so far). I managed to catch the band do a short set at Muchmore’s recently and really like what they’re doing, hopefully they will have a full-blown release soon.

10) The Yellow Dogs - This City: I was pretty blown away by The Yellow Dogs after I saw them play at Glasslands with Sisu, their story is quite amazing, they are from Iran where their music was deemed illegal. This post-punk/dance will get your grooving.

11) Cheatahs - The Swan: Those pining for some Swervedriver-esque shoegaze should look no further. I just picked up Extended Plays which combines the band’s two previous EPs.

12) Meat Puppets - One More Drop: The Pups have released another fine album with Rat Farm. I managed to catch them at the Mercury Lounge earlier in the year (they played two shows, I really should have done both!) and played a great show. Long may they continue. “One more drop then I'm gonna stop it. Climb back on a one-way rocket now ... rocket now”

13) Teen – Electric: I finally got round to seeing Teen live earlier in the year, supporting Memory Tapes (more on them later) at Glasslands in February. This is from their debut EP, Little Doods, they have just recorded another EP called Carolina (which I have yet to hear).

14) Fear of Men – Seer: Hailing from Brighton, I was a bit bummed to find out I had just missed a show in New York in March (just before I heard of them) but thankfully they just returned to play a free show at the South Street Seaport. The band had released a few limited cassettes before compiling the best material onto Early Fragments, they are about to release a full length album this summer.

15) Sisu - Two Thousand Hands: I featured Light Eyes on Q#88, Sisu have since remastered and officially released their EP (now called Light Eyes) and are set to put out an album later in the year.

16) Memory Tapes - Thru the Field: After seeing Memory Tapes live, you have to adjust somewhat to the studio output, which is more of a one-man electronic project whereas the live experience is fleshed out with real drums, bass and guitar. This is taken from the most recent release, Grace/Confusion.

17) Mark Kozelek & Jimmy Lavalle - You Missed My Heart: I recently reviewed this record for my blog so I suspect it will just be easier to link to that, here you go: http://someothersuckersparade.blogspot.com/2013/05/mark-kozelek-and-jimmy-lavelle-perils.html to summarise, I really like it! “I rattled off a list with everything I missed, Like going to the movies with her, And the way she kissed me. Driving into downtown Wheeling, Showing her off the back yard barbecues, And reunions in the park, I said I missed her skin and she started laughing, And while I clinched down on her wrist, She said thats quite a list, But there is one thing you missed. You missed my heart, you missed my heart”

18) Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Mosquito: This is the title-track from the band’s latest album, which although solid, does not quite hit the heady heights of their previous three wonderful albums. It does have some highlights, however, including this song. I’ve seen the band twice this year and they are still a great live band. “They can see you but you can't see them, So are you gonna let them in? They're hiding underneath your bed, Crawling between your legs, They're sticking it in your vein, Were you itching when they called your name?”

19) The Flaming Lips - Look... The Sun is Rising: The Terror sees the Flips exploring their more morbid musical side, it is a record that has divided opinion as some claim it to be directionless and droning, personally I do not think that at all, it is a beautiful record with much more structure than people realise. I saw them recently in Prospect Park on a beautiful sunny day, which was a bit at odds with their set but I love them unconditionally. “Love is always something, Something you should fear, When you really listen, Fear is all you hear”

20) The Men – Supermoon: Contender for album of the year (so far at least) is The Men’s New Moon, which I also reviewed on my blog here: http://someothersuckersparade.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-men-new-moon-album-bowery-ballroom.html I thought this was a great closer and I ended up dropping a few tracks (and changing the Kurt Vile tune to a shorter one) to make sure I could fit it on. This is just a riot.

And there you have it, we are fully into summer here and New York is an amazing place to be for all the free summer shows that go on. The heat and humidity may be unbearable at times, however!

Until next time

Peace and love - Q 

Q#79 - August to September 2011

Please note that there is a password on the zip file: Q79

Download zip file here - http://www.mediafire.com/?rhlz5yh0hmbcvt2

Q’s Compilations – Vol 79 – August to September 2011.

It seems that life is merely in a holding pattern as I write these notes, I have my visa to move to New York but we’re still waiting to get some tenants into our house and also in the midst of applying for my wife to get UK citizenship. Hopefully all these things will be resolved in the very near future as it’s getting less easy not to get stressed out about various things. Still, music is always something worth turning to and although I confess I have thrown together this latest mix with little thought or cohesion, I think it’s pretty good! It would have been nice to put together some kind of themed disc or something with more of a message, but I just haven’t had the time to do much of anything lately.

01) Captain Sensible - Holiday in my Heart: I’m a big fan of the Captain’s solo records, in particular Revolution Now and The Universe of Geoffrey Brown (which this songs opens). Had the pleasure of seeing the Captain play a live set at the Rebellion Festival this year, with a bit of luck we’ll be over in New York in time to catch the Damned playing on October 22^nd but as each day passes that is looking less likely. Anyway, I’ve always thought that he’s a criminally underrated artist and in particular a horrifically underrated guitarist. “If you’re selling, I’m not taking…”

02) The Godfathers - If I Only Had Time: Whilst browsing the CD stalls at the Rebellion festival I did manage to spot a few diamonds in the rough (it’s a punk festival, afterall…) which included the recently remastered Birth, School, Work, Death and More Songs About Love and Hate. “Things ain't what they used to be, We're living under a false economy”

03) Meat Puppets - Open Wide: My greatest delight whilst browsing the CD stalls was finding a copy of Forbidden Places, which is out of print and quite hard to find, it’s the only Pups album I don’t own officially (I did have download…) and my life felt a little more complete upon making the purchase. “All these nights have made me crazy, I can't seem to come around, Days of hiding in the sunshine, Feeling nighttime's falling down”

04) Shudder to Think - Red House: This is one of those songs that I’ve had lined up for a comp for about a year but it’s never quite made the cut for a variety of reasons. This is on the 20-years of Dischord boxset. “She's a buzzing bee, She's a person see”

05) R.E.M. - Fall On Me: Possibly my favourite REM song of all time, just picked up the 25^th anniversary edition of Life’s Rich Pageant (which in turn is possibly my favourite REM album), I don’t know if I’ll ever tire of hearing this song. Hopefully none of you will be too offended by hearing it again! “Well I could keep it above, But then it wouldn't be sky anymore, So if I send it to you you've got to promise to keep it whole”

06) The Decemberists - Calamity Song: One of the criticisms towards the band’s latest album, The King is Dead is that it sounds a bit too much like REM, I don’t know if that’s particularly true for the album in general but this song really does sound like it could be on Reckoning. To add to the REM-fest, Peter Buck plays on this song (as well as two others on the record).

07) J Mascis - Listen to Me: J has just released Several Shades of Why, a predominantly acoustic singer-songwriter affair, I have a live acoustic album that J did a while back (Live at CBGB) but aside from that I’m used to him blistering through songs with his electric guitar. J makes this transition from electric to acoustic in fine form although he can’t help himself from ripping through a couple of solos towards the end of the record!

08) Jeffrey Lewis & The Junkyard - Bugs & Flowers: Had the pleasure of seeing Jeff perform in Oxford again recently and even chatted to him for about 10 minutes and bought him a drink, he’s great to talk to and I’m mindful of taking up someone’s time but every time I tried to leave he kept talking! Will hopefully have more chance of seeing him live after we move, he always puts on a great show and is one of the best performers I’ve seen. “The human race's, Beautiful faces, Changing places, Reform and bust, When we kick the bucket, Let's just say chuck it, We'll come and go like, Infinite dust”

09) Local Natives – Airplanes: I used Sun Hands a little while back and I still listen to Gorilla Manor quite often, it’s a lovely record with tons of harmonies and odd rhythms. “It sounds like we, would of had a great deal to say, to each other”

10) De La Soul - Eye Know: One of the annoying things about having an ipod is the temptation to just stick shuffle on which seems a bit lazy but it does throw up gems that you didn’t realise you were in the mood for. Always love it when this songs pops into my head and so I threw it on the mix. “Life will begin at the cut of a rim, Take it as filled to the rim as in brim, Squeeze your stoop like Betty Boop, We'll make Campbell's Alphabet Soup”

11) Fugi - Mary, Don't Take Me On No Bad Trip: A sadly overlooked diamond that should have been on my funk mix a while back, details about Fugi are relatively scarce but the backing band are the excellent Black Merda. Don’t’ ever search on google for the cover image of the album as it will forever put you off listening to the record!

12) Charmels - As Long As I've Got You: Was going through the Stax/Volt 9CD boxset a while ago (a download, admittedly, I will own it one day!) and this song always amazes me, just had to throw it onto the mix. It’s just all-round wonderful, unfortunately I can find little else about the group, can anyone help? “If happiness was water, I'd never run dry. If loneliness was a flower, it would wither and die.”

13) Mark Kozelek - Cruiser (live): I recently bought Koz’s tour documentary DVD (which I’ve yet to watch) but those who pre-ordered were treated to yet another live album, it’s nice that he throws in these freebies for fans but at the same time I do wish he would strum a song once in a while! “Morning pours the ocean deep, Into the hollow of my sleep, But the ocean can't be mine, Your perfection can't be mine”

14) They Might Be Giants - Ana Ng: A TMBG staple but it’s been stuck in my head for ages lately, I’m sure it will now be stuck in yours. I absolutely adore this band. “They don't need me here, and I know you're there (don't need me), Where the world goes by like the humid air (world goes by), And it sticks like a broken record, Everything sticks like a broken record, Everything sticks until it goes away (it goes home), And the truth is, we don't know anything (don't know)”

15) Rites of Spring - Drink Deep: This is another tune on the 20 years of Dischord boxset. The band were short-lived and band members Guy Picciotto and Brendan Candy went on to join Fugazi. “If its not the rule then its always the case, good intentions get fractured, good intentions get replaced”

16) Patti Rothberg - Delicate Matters: Hadn’t listened to Patti in a little while and so listening to

2001’s Candelabra Cadabra caused much delight to these ears, she has a new record out called Overnight Sensation, which I’ll have to check out. “My foot must have been born in my mouth”

17) The Church – Aura: I may well have used this song before, I can’t remember, but it was another song that popped up on an ipod shuffle and was moved to use it (possibly again). “We raked old Poseidon over the coals, Shook his shells, shaked his shoals”

18) The War on Drugs - Best Night: Following up the rather good Wagonwheel Blues with this years Slave Ambient, it’s more of the same but that’s no bad thing. “I'm a thousand miles behind, with a million more to climb, so it's you I hope survives without fighting”

19) Local Natives - Wide Eyes: Another track from Gorilla Manor, I couldn’t really pick between this and Airplanes so chucked both on, just love the sound of the guitar on this track, I know it’s not the most original sound in the world but I dig it.

And that’s it for another compilation, I would hope that by the time I release the next comp I’ll be living in New York but who knows? I hope there was plenty to like on this mix, it still feels a bit weird not physically burning discs and posting them out, indeed I haven’t even ran copies off for myself lately which I’m a little sad about. Anyway, please let me know what you think, and if you have a few moments do check out my blog http://someothersuckersparade.blogspot.com/

Peace and Love

Until Next Time

Q

Q#78 - June to July 2011

Please note the zip file has a password: Q78

Download link - http://www.mediafire.com/?vv28ofslxs4c2w3

Q’s Compilations – Vol 78 – June to July 2011.

Hello! It is summer, isn’t it? Having a mad time still preparing for my visa to move to the US (interview on the 4^th, which is the last stage before point of entry), just put our house on the market for rental and then we have the simple task of finding somewhere to live in New York… I’ve also started more general blog at http://someothersuckersparade.blogspot.com/ so please check it out if you have some time.

Anyway, this may be the last compilation I put together before the move, depends what happens. I’m running a bit late with it so the notes may be rushed, so let’s crack on with the music…

01) Fred Schneider – Whip: Produced by Steve Albini, Just Fred… is his second solo album and was released in 1996 and is full of all the abrasive and edgy guitar rock you would associate with Albini, perhaps not from the B-52s frontman himself. It’s a wonderful record though and if this doesn’t get your blood pumping them I’m not sure what will. “Your gravity keeps pulling me near, And then 40 lashes, 40 lashes from your eyes”

02) The Sorry Kisses – Sunstorms: I heard this song on 6music recently and thought it was a great slab of sugar-coated indie rock, I’m just a sucker for this kind of sound. This is from the recently released Keep Smiling album, their third album to date. “Spit in the face of those who deny, the world is bigger than you or I“

03) Beastie Boys - Say It: The Beasties finally released Hot Sauce Committee, following Adam Yauch’s cancer diagnosis in 2009 it’s great to see things moving along for the group. The album ticks all the Beastie boxes and should be a joy for any fan, not sure it will make any new ones but then you’ll know if you like them by now! “you could keep em out of service and your a complainer, you bust your ass jones like you slipped on a banana”

04) The Damned – Ignite: No particular reason but I just fancied putting this song on a mix but there’s never a bad time to throw on a Damned tune. From the Strawberries album. “My heart is beat beat beating ,like a drum, The night is in my veins we’re gonna,have some fun tonight“

05) Okkervil River - The Valley: It’s been three years since The Stand Ins and six years since their best effort Black Sheep Boy (though not to forget 2007’s The Stage Names), I Am Very Far is the band’s best effort since Black Sheep Boy in my opinion, some have said it sounds a lot like Arcade Fire but to be honest I see it as a natural progression of their own. Besides, Okkervil River have always written better songs anyway. “I hear a breeze that wheezes through the tips of the pines, where there's laughter and screaming to the rafters in the night.”

06) Meat Puppets – Orange: Lollipop is perhaps a sideways step rather than a progression from 2009’s Sewn Together which had a bit more of a confident swagger to it. The songs are a bit more sterile though this could be down to the slightly lighter tone in production, regardless of that it’s still a worthy addition to the Pups cannon. “Well, got a history. Well, got a force field. Well, want a future. Well, got a mystery.”

07) The Posies - The Glitter Prize: Released in 2010, Blood Candy comes 5 years since previous album Every Kind of Light (though that was 7 years after Success so they are becoming more prolific!) and is a much more dynamic album though it does not reach the heights of their best work like Frosting on the Beater. “it’s starting to snow, And I wanna know when it covers the ground, So send me a message, show me a sign, Radiate in time to the shimmering sound”

08) Bob Dylan - Lonesome Day Blues: Bob recently hit his 70^th birthday so I asked on Facebook what song I should put on my next mix (from what I had) and this song had the most votes. I don’t normally listen to Love and Theft, admittedly, I usually grab for Time out of Mind if I’m in the mood for more modern (comparatively…) Bob (Lovesick could be my favourite Dylan song). This is one of his more bluesy numbers, a genre I don’t tend to care for in general but it’s nice to throw in the odd curveball once in a while. “Leaves are rustlin’ in the wood—things are fallin’ off the shelf, You gonna need my help, sweetheart, You can’t make love all by yourself”

09) The Maytals - Night and Day: And here’s another curveball for you all, I’ve always said that reggae can suffer from the same problems as blues, in that if you listen to too much at once they can start to sound a bit samey. But I think it’s easier to scratch under the surface of reggae and unearth some real gems and my main source for such diversion is the Soul Jazz 100-500% Dynamite series. The Maytals influence cannot be exaggerated, of course.

10) The Impressions - My Deceiving Heart: My birthday was on the 13^th of June and one gift I received was This is My Country / The Young Mods Forgotten Story two-albums-on-one-cd package, I’m a big fan of Curtis Mayfield but didn’t really know all that much by The Impressions. Both records are incredible, this song is from Young Mods… and is just about as good as it gets.

11) Ann Peebles - Trouble, Heartaches & Sadness: Ann has been an amazing discovery for me over the last year and in particularly the album Straight from the Heart, I’m amazed this song hasn’t turned up in a Tarantino movie. “old man trouble Stop knockin’ at my door, You used to be a good friend of mine, Let me tell you hang around me no more”

12) PJ Harvey - All and Everyone: Let England Shake is yet another fine release from Polly and is another left-turn in terms of style, while some of the album retains the more ethereal vibe of White Chalk the overall sound and execution is vastly different. She still remains the best live singer I’ve seen. “Death was in the ancient fortress, shelled by a million bullets from gunners, waiting in the copses with hearts that threatened to pop their boxes, as we advanced into the sun death was all and everyone.”

13) Slowdive – Rutti: I’d wanted to put this song on a compilation for years but kept having to drop it for either time constraints or just vibe, this time I was not deterred, however. Pygmalion was released in 1995 and turned out to be the final Slowdive album. I love the slow build up and all the dreamy sounds.

14) Henryk Gorecki - Sostenuto Tranquillo Ma Cantabile: A recent online discussion on classical music led me to Symphony No 3, which absolutely blew me away. I’d heard some of it without realising it since it’s used as background music for a documentary I watched about Auschwitz (just some light entertainment a while back…) but it was the first movement which really had a profound effect on this listener. It’s a slow build up and I realise it might not tickle many taste buds for those that download this but give it a go.

As usual I hope there’s something for everyone on here, please do give me feedback as I so rarely hear anything.

Peace and Love, see you on the other side

Until Next Time

Q