I’m admitting defeat, I can’t keep up the pace with what I’d really like to do with The Ginger Quiff. The Singles Round-Ups are an onerous task… what with adding all the links and videos and the like.
I’m going to have to re-think my approach, after all the reason I want to feature so many singles is because I like them… not because I feel I have to. But I do need to make the process more manageable, and to get the joy back into it, and not have that “oh fuck, I’ve still got another 30 songs to write about” feeling that I currently experience. As I say, it should be all about the love of the music, not about a labourious process that has removed the joy from it for me…
At the moment the last Singles Round-Up I managed to write up in full was…. wait for it…. back in July. In the three months following, I have continued to create the monthly playlists, including a total of nigh on 200 songs for the months of August to October, and I also have a “work in progress” playlist for November currently sitting at 20 songs…
I don’t want these songs to go unrecognised by the Ginger Quiff, so in an effort to still highlight these songs, I’m doing this somewhat reduced round-up without a full write-ups of all the songs, or their associated videos and/or links… It’s nigh on impossible to pick favourites every month, there are so many great songs pass through my inbox, and that’s just the one’s I manage to listen too, I’m always paranoid that I miss my “new favourite band” as I can’t physically listen to everything that gets sent my way.
So here it is, a potted summary of the three months from August to October…
August…
Just shy of 60 songs in the August playlist, with some top tunes of the month for me being F.O. Machete, their boisterously joyous Kicking Up Dust being pick of the bunch, Big Girl’s Blouse continued to raise the bar with their impressive anthem Token Girl and Brontes manage to squeeze two songs in the list in the shape of Headlines and Strange Town. The seemingly omnipresent, since I first featured their single Peat Bog Soldiers, The Tenementals continued to delight with another slice of socialist history in the shape of Peter, Pike or Pink. Ireland featured heavily in the August listing, including some more terse words from Meryl Streek on Counting Sheep, and the krautrock inspired epic Trans-Europe 18 from the latest Keeley album Beautiful Mysterious. Edinburgh’s comfort girl created a mini riot-fest with Cool! Sexy! Drunk! while David Luximon took the pace down with the utterly gorgeous I’m Taking You for a Drive. Jemma Freeman and the Cosmic Something also delighted with the curiously off the wall Alien and Bodega continue to prove to be one of New York’s finest exports on Adaptation of the Truth About Marie.
The home grown talent list was as always strong for August, some of which I’ve already highlighted in the picks of the month, but also including Jill Lorean with Crushing the Campsies, Former Champ proved they need to do anything but apologise with Sorry and Dancer cemented themselves as one of my favourite bands if 2024 with Priority Girl. Solace was the August offering from Casaveti, The Froobz released their compelling Big Boy, and Big Boned was the single from the always brilliant The Twistettes, The Lane was the August cut from Port Sulphur, Democracy Amethyst added to Jewel Scheme‘s growing catalogue of captivating tunes, Gates of Light impressed with the delectable I Keep Reaching for the Sun, Men Like Wire came from the excellent Hamish Hawk, while The Cathode Ray had another single from their magnificent Advance Retreat album, Consequences, to follow up No Uncertain Terms. Trashcan Sinatras John Douglas made the playlist with Oranges and Apples as he released a video for the song in August, and Constant Follower‘s fragile Whole Be is a joy to behold..
Having featured Fla Boi in a previous round-up, The Revolt kept the interest going with the release of Cultural Cancellation, deary appear on the list for the first time with their Slowdive-esque single Selene and The Cides are there with their cover of Leonard Cohen’s You Want it Darker. Crows Vision of Me has the earnest feel of White Lies channelling Joy Division while the vocals bring to mind Ange Dolitte. Berries make one of several appearances with Watching Wax from their self-titled album with Dublin’s Silverbacks sharing a tasty cut, Something I Know, from their third album Easy Being a Winner,
Some songs from well-kent names came from the likes of Rosetta Stone and their Under the Weather single, Dinosaur Jr’s clock in at 60 seconds with Show and the effervescent Amyl and the Sniffers released chewing Gum from Cartoon Darkness and The Courettes continued to whet the appetite for their new album with Boom Boom Boom.
Listen to the full list from August here: