Q#132 - June to July 2020

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

 Download mix from: https://www.mediafire.com/file/fb2q8b91nrcp7qr/Q#132.zip/file

Now with added Spotify playlist at end of notes - NOTE that Ultra Major, Still Form, Julius Wright and Nada Surf songs are NOT on Spotify.

Q's Compilations

Vol #132 – June to July 2020

 

Well it’s almost August, football came back and went, and my beloved Oxford United managed to lose a playoff final, 2020 is the year that just keeps on giving. I completed another orbit around the sun, despite most things still being bad it’s incredibly depressing that the rest of the US didn’t seem to learn anything from what we’ve gone through in New York, I’ve got a mix of almost entirely new music. Hopefully you’ll find a smidge of joy from this.  

 

01) Bob Mould – American Crisis: Blue Hearts is the name of Bob Mould’s latest studio album, out on Merge Records on the 25^th of September, this is the lead single and it’s pretty evident that he has a lot to be angry about!

 

02) The Beths – I’m Not Getting Excited: Future Me Hates Me was my favourite album of 2018, I probably hadn’t played an album as much as that in years. Two years on from that stunning debut, the New Zealanders have just released Jump Rope Gazers which on first couple of plays has just as much charm and melody as the debut.

 

03) Silver Sun – Earth Girls are Easy: Brit power-pop act Silver Sun released two truly excellent albums in 1997 (self-titled) and 1998 (Neo Wave), and have since offered some sporadic output and are generally off the radar. I was delighted to see that they’d released a new album this April (their first in seven years) called Switzerland, and

 

04) Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever – Falling Thunder: This Aussie band released their second album, Sideways to New Italy, in June, via Sub Pop, and it’s another pleasant jangle-fest much like their debut.

 

05) Gladie – Is That Why You’re Here: Remember concerts? The last one I went to was on the 5^th of March and happened to be Gladie, who had just released their debut album, Safe Sins. Last month they released a three-song EP called Orange Peels and this track is the opener.

 

06) Shamir – On My Own: I bought Shamir’s entire discography on bandcamp during one of their promotional Fridays, I’ve liked his music over the years without dipping in too deeply and felt like I should rectify that, specifically so after hearing this song that was released in the middle of June. I’ve still got plenty to go back and hear!

 

07) Bethany Thomas – I’m Not Sorry and I’m Not Scared: Chicago-based artist Bethany Thomas is releasing her debut album BT​/​She​/​Her on the 28^th of August, this is the first single and I liked it enough to put on! She has a great voice, though I could do without some of the extracurricular vocals as they’re a little off-putting, but I’m looking forward to hearing what the rest of the record has in store.

 

08) Moor Jewelry – Look Alive: Moor Jewelry is a collaboration between Moor Mother and Mental Jewelry and they just put out True Opera which you can get on bandcamp (or on cassette, I guess that’s still a thing), it’s one of my favourite records of the year and a little hard to pigeonhole but there’s plenty of hardcore elements which are just great.

 

09) Nnamdi – Rage: Another Chicago artist, I was tipped onto him by the Numero Group and picked up his “Black Plight” EP that he put out in June, he also plays everything to an impressive degree.

 

10) Shrapknel – Gun Metal Paint: New York hip-hop duo Shrapknel put out an excellent self-titled record on Backwoodz Studio in March, the lyrics here don’t pull any punches.

 

11) Bully – Where to Start: Grunge revivalists Bully are set to release a new record called Sugaregg in August on Sub Pop and this is the lead single.

 

12) Ultra Major – Picture Perfect: This track jumped out at me from a compilation I bought on bandcamp, which happens to be about 7 hours long, which is far, far too long to pay attention to and took me about a month to listen to everything once. This New York band have a record from 2018 and a couple of singles.

 

13) Still Form – Gums: I have been a fan of Portland band Marriage and Cancer for a few years but I think they’ve broken up now (terrible-band name, admittedly), members of that band plus a few other local acts have created Still Form, who put out a 5-track EP in April this year. Stylistically it’s in the same arty noise/punk form that Marriage and Cancer excelled at so I’ll be hoping there is more material in the future.

 

14) Look Sacre - Mal nécessaire pour un mal nécess: Four years ago I spent a long weekend in Montreal and had a lovely time. As I always try to do, I looked over concert listings and remembered that a friend recommended anyone should go to the venue Casa Del Popolo, so without knowing who was playing we went along. I remember liking Look Sacre and bookmarked their bandcamp page as soon as I got home, but didn’t spent a huge amount of time thinking about them, I should dive in a bit more after listening to this!

 

15) Julius Wright – I Pray The Things Will Change: Another tune from that 7-hour compilation I mentioned earlier, and given that all the tracks were not tagged properly, I have very little information about this artist. I can only find information about this song and another tune called Lonely Girl. Anyway, great song, if you know anything about it then let me know!

 

16) DEHD – Loner: Here’s another band from Chicago, the trio just released Flower of Devotion in the middle of July on Fire Talk. It’s an instantly accessible record filled with reverb-heavy pop hooks, very much a continuation of what they were doing with previous record, Water (from 2019).

 

17) Nada Surf – Sick Day: Fountains of Wayne were always one of those bands I always knew I would like, if I ever got round to listening to them, unfortunately Adam Schlesinger died due to Covid in April, so I’ve only gotten into his music after this death, sadly. A tribute album called Saving for a Custom Van has been raising money for MusiCares' COVID-19 Relief Fund. There are some excellent artists on the record so head over to bandcamp and buy it.

 

18) Matt Berry – Something In My Eye: I’ve been watching What We Do in the Shadows on Hulu and just finished season one, turns out Matt Berry (Laszlo in the show) is also a pretty good musician and is about to release a new album called Phantom Birds in September.

 

19) King Tuff – I’m Free: This tune was originally written for and appeared on Ty Segall’s Freedom Goblin album, in February King Tuff decided to release his own version, and as you can imagine, it’s good!

 

20) Fake Eyes – Demonstrations: This four-piece from Charlotte, NC, had put out a couple of excellent demos in 2018 and 2019, and have just released their first official EP called A Drip Is All We Know on New Morality Zine, it’s only 4 tracks but packs a punch and if you dig the new (or old…) Hum albums (more on them imminently) or any heavy-shoegaze then you will love this.

 

21) Hum – The Summoning: Speaking of Hum and heavy shoegaze, and another Chicago band (what is it with this mix…), the band just released their first album in 22 years, though it was recorded over a period of 2017-2020. It barely gets out of second gear over the course of an hour but it doesn’t need to, the production is so great and really pulls you in.

 

Keep being safe!

 

As always, Peace and Love - Q

 

Q#123 - December 2018 to January 2019

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

Download mix from  https://www.mediafire.com/file/d1uz1tpj7vr77cb/Q123.zip/file 

Now with added Spotify playlist at end of notes.

Q's Compilations

Vol #123 – December 2018 to January 2019

Happy 2019! As usual, the first mix of the year is a “best of” what happened in the last 12 months. Music took a bit of a step back in 2018, I only went to 52 shows, but that probably says more about my general happiness taking a big positive swing. As always though, there were some fantastic records released this year, and here are some of my favourites.

01) Bat Fangs – Turn It Up: Winner of best Thin Lizzy impression of 2018 goes to Bat Fangs’, the duo of Betsy Wright and Laura King. Their self-titled debut on Don Giovanni records is a joy to behold, not trying to be anything other than an anthemic ode to 70s classics, and sometimes that’s exactly what you need. Wolfbite appeared on Q#122.

02) The Dirty Nil – Bathed in Light: Another unadulterated, no-frills rock and roll album (possibly the best of its kind for the year). Ontario trio The Dirty Nil released Master Volume in September via Dine Alone Records and really should be a massive hit. Huge choruses, driving drums, slick lead guitar licks, what more do you want?

03) Superchunk – Lost My Brain: What a Time to Be Alive is another superb record to the band’s discography (and continues their high energy comeback since 2010’s Majesty Shredding). This is their first record with a political slant, and this 90-second fist-pumper is a highlight. The title track for the record appeared on Q#118.

04) Bad Moves – One Thing: Tell No One, Bad Moves’ debut album (another on Don Giovanni Records), should appeal to any self-respecting power pop fan. You may remember Spirit FM from Q#121 and this is another expertly catchy tune.

05) The Beths – Future Me Hates Me: My absolute favourite album of the year was Future Hates Me by The Beths, every once in a while a band comes along that lands straight in the middle of my venn diagram, and their upbeat music/downbeat lyrics are a perfect combo. Album opener The Great No One was on Q#121 and I could quite conceivably put the rest of the record with a few extra tracks as this entire compilation.

06) Screaming Females – Soft Domination: All at Once was Screaming Females’ seventh studio record and managed to contain both their poppiest and least commercial work to date over the course of a 15-track double LP. They remain one of the best live bands you can see! I’ll Make You Sorry featured on Q#118.

07) Denzel Curry – 13Lack 13Alloons: One of the pleasures of putting together the top 25 albums of the year on Free Williamsburg is hearing some excellent records you didn’t hear up to that point. TA13OO tries, pretty successfully for the most part, to run the gauntlet when it comes to hip hop and I’ve certainly picked one of the most commercial picks, but I couldn’t help but plump for this tune that could have been plucked from the mid 90s.

08) Fat Tony – 10,000 Hours: Another Don Giovanni artist, Fat Tony released 10,000 hours, his fifth overall. As the song suggests, and the track delivers, Fat Tony has become an expert in his field.

09) The Holydrug Couple – Ikebana Telephone: I shouldn’t have to remind anyone about my liking of Chilean bands, and one of the Blow Your Mind heavyweights released their fifth album, Hyper Super Mega in September (in the US it was released on Sacred Bones). The keyboard influence of Moonlust go a step further on this album and has more of a pop flavour than their earlier psych work, and they’re equally adept in both worlds. Forever End appeared on Q#122.

10) Olden Yoke – Gamblers on a Dime: Fans of the band Quilt will recognise Shane Butler, who is the driving force in Olden Yoke. The project essentially started off as a solo project but they are now a quartet and their self-titled debut was one of the low-key triumphs of the year.

11) Thou – The Unspeakable Oath: Speaking of low-key triumphs, Thou had an exceptional year, and deserved all the praise they got for their album Magus (In the Kingdom of Meaning featured on Q#121), but they also managed to release a trio of Eps, one of which was the acoustic/slowcore Inconsolable. If you hadn’t guessed, that’s where this track appears. I’d love to know who they were channelling on this but it does make me pine for Red House Painters.

12) Shannon Shaw – Love I Can’t Explain: I’ve enjoyed Shannon and the Clams over the years and have seen them live a few times, but Shannon Shaw released a really great solo album this year, Shannon in Nashville. As most solo albums don’t quite manage, the material here steers away from her main act enough to make the whole thing worthwhile, but also ends up being the best thing she’s ever released. Broke My Own appeared on Q#121.

13) Tsunamis – 4AM: I will admit, I was struggling a little bit to fill the last few minutes of this mix, then I remembered that Chilean outfit The Tsunamis, released a 7” single in November (on Blow Your Mind Records, obviously). This is a lovely, laid back and hazy trip to the desert - or at least that’s what it sounds like to me.

14) Dusk – Stained Blue: Oh yeah, another Don Giovanni release! Dusk is the country side-project of Amos Pitsch, who you may know from the excellent band, Tenement. This track opens the record and is perhaps the rockiest things get on the album, almost drifting into REM territory. Eyes in Dark Corners appeared on Q#120.

15) Anna Calvi – Alpha: The years between Anna Calvi records can be lonely but Hunter (her first in five years) was always going to be worth it. Lead single Don’t Beat the Girl Out of My Boy appeared on Q#121 and between the two songs you get a pretty good idea of the record, the guitar work takes a step back but Anna herself steps forward.

16) Ought – Disaffection: Montreal quartet Ought have yet to put a foot wrong over the course of their three albums. Room Inside the World was released on Merge Records and they have really widened their influences and scope, spending more time in the studio to craft one of the finest records of the year. Desire appeared on Q#118.

17) Horrendous – Soothsayer: It’s always hard trying to figure out where to put the black metal song on the mix… they usually go at the beginning or the end, but here we are. My favourite metal album of the year was Horrendous’ Idol, with guitar solos and killer riffs everywhere to be heard. The Idolater closed out Q#122.

18) Daughters – The Lord’s Song: Another delightful discovery from the Free Williamsburg list was Daughters’ You Won’t Get What You Want, which is one of the more intense records of the year and probably a record that should be in the Nine Inch Nails discography somewhere. I have a ticket to see them in March and imagine it’s going to be a great show.

19) Big Bliss – Conscious Being: One of the hardest working local bands in recent years, Big Bliss released their debut album, At Middle Distance this year and it’s an accomplished debut, not losing any intensity from their live act. The reverb is perfect and while the influences are there to hear, it knits everything together excellently.

20) The Spirit of the Beehive – (Without You) In My Pocket: Hypnic Jerks was one of those records that really crept up on me towards the end of  the year, just how good it was. I’m just going to reproduce what I put on Freewilliamsburg.com: Philly quintet Spirit of the Beehive hit the jackpot this year with Hypnic Jerks, a record with something for every alt-indie fan but everything for a few. In lesser hands, the whole mishmash of styles and tempos would fall apart in a blundered mess, but they have managed to craft a masterful blend, mixing layered psych harmonies one minute with laid-back stoner folk to driving rock and roll, peppered with psychedelic and sampled interludes throughout. Hypnic Jerks is an album in the truest sense, greater than the sum of its collected parts, best consumed as its own snaking, all encompassing experience.

21) Snail Mail – Golden Dream: Lush is probably the one album you’ll see on most end of year lists that also crops up on this mix. There’s a reason for that, it’s a good record! This was the last song to end up on the mix but I think it fits in rather snugly, a lot is made of Lindsey Jordan’s age and there’s a reason for that too, it’s an amazing feat for a teenager.

22) Wand – Pure Romance: LA band Wand have been building up a fine discography over five years and managed to combine all their influences and sounds on their latest EP, Perfume, in May (the title track appeared on Q#120).

23) Mint Field -Para Gali: You may remember Ciudad Satellite from Q#121, and to be lazy, I’m going to copy another of my FreeDubya write-ups: Whenever I play this record, I can’t help but get caught up in it and I’ve not heard a more beautiful sounding album all year. Mint Field are duo Estrella Sanchez (vocals & guitar) and Amor Amezcua (drums & synths), hailing from Tijuana in Mexico. Over the course of 13 tracks, Pasar De Las Luces ranges from shoegaze, soundscapes and krautrock, with soaring vocals painting an extra layer of texture rather than a lyrical one; think My Bloody Valentine meets Cocteau Twins feel in that regard. While the album at times wears its influences on its sleeves a bit too unabashedly, the jump between their albeit promising 2015 EP and this, their debut full-length, shows a band massively growing in confidence. I’d say the sky is the limit for Mint Field, but their music already sound like it’s in the clouds as it is.

Hope this is an enjoyable mix, I’m relatively happy with it, though the next mix will inevitably include a bunch of stuff I should have used instead! 2018 was for the most part a really wonderful year, I hope it was for you as well.  

As always, Peace and Love - Q

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

Download mix from  https://www.mediafire.com/file/d1uz1tpj7vr77cb/Q123.zip/file

Now with added Spotify playlist (albeit not mixed...)

https://open.spotify.com/user/vmkqube/playlist/4XPg3tjn4DKI6FWK16avR6?si=AhCc76boTG2x__oBEri3eA

Q#121 - August to September 2018

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

Download mix from http://www.mediafire.com/file/y5sgaugadtjjdyu/Q121.zip/file

Q's Compilations

Vol #121 – August to September 2018

Greetings. Apologies for the latest I have ever been in releasing a mix (and I think, late for only the second time in 15 years)… Summer is over but it has been a pretty good one! There’s no theme or a whole lot of thought put into this, just mostly brand new tracks that I’ve stitched together. Hope you enjoy.

01) Ron Gallo – It’s All Gonna Be Ok: Ron Gallo’s third album, Stardust Birthday Party, is going to be released on the 5^th of October and this is the lead single. If it’s half as good as Heavy Meta then we’re in for a treat.

02) The Beths – Great No One: New Zealand quartet The Beths may have released the catchiest record this year (Future Me Hates Me), which also blends two of my favourite opposites, sad lyrics but bright, upbeat music!

03) Bad Moves – Spirit FM: Washington DC’s Bad Moves just released their debut album, Tell No One, via Don Giovanni Records (which you may have been able to guess by listening to this track). If you want no-frills power-pop (as I often do!) then look no further.

04) Billy & Dolly – Everything is Off: I’m such a sucker for jangle guitars and arpeggios like this; I’m sure there are hundreds of songs that are note for note the same, but there’s something to be said for winning formulas. I don’t know a whole lot about this San Francisco duo other than they used to be in another band together called The Monolith.

05) Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever – Talking Straight: It’s hard for Australian jangle-pop bands to steer clear of comparisons to the Go-Betweens but let’s not act like it isn’t a good thing anyway (and this song is about as Go-Betweens as it gets). The band released their debut album, Hope Downs, on Sub Pop in June and is filled with catchy tunes like this one.

06) Deeper – Trust is Yours: My buddy Felix sent me a song by this Chicago four-piece, which in turn led me to Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever (previous track) as they were playing together at the Bowery (I decided not to go, however).

07) Weeping Icon – Jail Billz: Rough Trade had a 75% off end of summer sale on some records, one of which was Weeping Icon, who I had seen last year opening for Yvette. I’m trying to cut down on impulse purchases these days but my recollection of their unrelenting psych-noise from that show made me feel confident.

08) Nothing – Blue Line Baby: Dance on the Blacktop is Nothing’s third album, it sounds like a continuation of their previous album, 2016’s Tired of Tomorrow, with it’s heavy-shoegaze sound and loud-quiet-loud pattern. As I said earlier, there’s something to be said for winning formulas.

09) The Spirit of the Beehive – Hypnic Jerks: I can’t quite remember how I came about this Philly band originally, but I’d seen the name a bunch of times without actually listening to them. Thankfully I rectified that recently by giving their latest record a try (this is the title track), which is their third album and a wonderful mix of influences.

10) Big Bliss – Constants: I was impressed with Big Bliss when I first saw them years ago at Cake Shop (RIP) and after a few singles and an EP, they’re about to release their debut full-length, At Middle Distance.

11) Anna Calvi – Don’t Beat the Girl Out of My Boy: The years between Anna Calvi albums can be hard at times, but Hunter was released at the end of August (five years after the release of One Breath), and it really is a triumph. Managing to become more pop-oriented and arty at the same time (perhaps at the expense of some jaw-dropping guitar playing), I suspect it will be my favourite record of the year.

12) Mint Field – Ciudad Satellite: Keen listeners may remember this Mexican psych-pop band from Q#112 (“of course!” I hear you cry), and they have since released their excellent debut album, Pasar de las Luces. Having missed their live shows last year I was determined not to make the same mistake again and saw them at Baby’s All Right, which I’m sure will end up being one of my favourites of the year. I promptly ordered the record from Innovative Leisure and if you can find a more gorgeous sounding album this year then please let me know.

13) TV On the Radio – Family Tree: Dear Science turned ten years old this year, and the band just played it in full at Knockdown Centre to celebrate. It was a good show, but it does seem like they can only get their live sound right about 50% of the times I’ve seen them. Anyway, it’s clearly a phenomenal record (and not even their best!), and you can’t fall in love with a record again if you never stopped in the first place, but it has seemed like a treat revisiting it.

14) Shannon Shaw – Broke My Own: Releasing a solo album (Shannon in Nashville) outside of your main band (when you are the front person) often screams “these songs weren’t good enough for the band but I wanted to put them out anyway”, but Shannon Shaw has managed to sound distinct enough from her day job to fully warrant the decision, in fact, I probably enjoy it far more than anything Shannon and the Clams have released to date. I caught her debut solo show at Coney Island on a scorching day last month, which for the most part was under-rehearsed and lost some of the magic in this production, but it was still very good.

15) Molly Burch – Wild: Molly Burch’s second record, First Flower, will be released by Captured Tracks on the 5^th of October and is a little brighter than her so-relaxed-it-was-horizontal debut Please Be Mine.

16)The Mountain Goats – Song for Ted Sallis: John Darnielle doesn’t release as many Eps these days as he used to but having confessed that in the press-release for Hex of Infinite Binding, it seems like we might be able to enjoy a resurgence of the format in the Mountain Goats discography.

17) Adrianne Lenker – Symbol: Big Thief’s Adrianne Lenker is doing her best to fill the Mark Kozelek void in my life since he hasn’t been able to write a coherent song in years. This beautiful finger-picked song doesn’t really stray from what Big Thief do but Capacity was one of my favourite albums of last year.

18) Ricky Lewis – See You in the Morning: This is the title-track to Ricky Lewis’ debut album that just came out. I loved this song to begin with, then something bothered me about it, which was that I couldn’t place who I was getting it mixed up with, then I realised that it sounds exactly like Withered Hand, then I liked it again having gotten over that mental hurdle.

19) The Babe Rainbow – Supermoon: Another Aussie band graces this mix with this effortlessly groovy psych-pop from their record Double Rainbow (there’s a lot of rainbows going on here).

20) Thou – In the Kingdom of Meaning: Baton Rouge sludge/doom-greats Thou have had a very productive year, putting out three excellent Eps and a full-length record, Magus. This song showcases everything great about the record in just under ten minutes (but really, check out the album, you can’t have too much of a good thing).

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/y5sgaugadtjjdyu/Q121.zip/file