Modern Qualifier 38 – CURATED by Patrick Van D!

So since this is my curated group I should explain what I did here (and instead of testing the whole posting thing with a small comment somewhere else just go at it the hard way.)

Originally I wanted to do a set of bubbling tracks, but with other thing occupying my mind I went for the easier route of the bands (not all bands) that one point were my favourite band (not all bands). Sure, when I was 13-15 years old Nirvana was my favourite band, but it was not MY band.

I had heard a little of/about bis, but when Kandy Pop came around I knew right away this was MY band. Seen them multiple times, nominated them twice before (1998: Eurodisco, Four letter words: Hurt) and was devastated when they broke up in 2003. Today of All Days was the first track recorded for a never finished EP and was released as a free download, I think on their MySpace page. Bis have since reformed, released three more albums and will always have a special place in my heart.

So, in 2003 I needed a new favourite band and in July The Thermals went to Europe for the first time. I don’t recall hearing their album before I saw them live at the Metropolis festival, but I was eagerly awaiting their arrival front row, chatting with the Riplets (Nomination Title = Artist: The Riplets Rock N Roll Beat) so I must have heard something. Apparently they had to go straight from the plane to the stage and they were amazing. Their first album is amazing, so is their second (How We Know is from that album), their third is really good, fourth pretty nice, fifth sort-of-okay, well, it all fizzled out, both recordings and live. They broke up and Hutch Harris returned in 2019 with a prettg good solo album (live also pretty good). I somehow missed he made another one in 2022, I’ll have a listen to that one.

Japandroids for me started with hearing their debut album Post-Nothing, listening to it a lot. Probably got the word from Pitchfork, since they reviewed it a day after it came out. Two fantastic albums, both previous Album Opener nomination The Night of Wine and Roses and current nomination The House That Heaven Built are from their second album Celebration Rock. Their third from 2017 was not to my liking and they have since only released a live album.

And now Jlin is my favorite “band”. I think I took notice when fellow Peoples Pop participant Job de Wit posted about her first album and her run of music has been just amazing (so far, so good). The Abyss of Doubt is from the soundtrack to Wayne McGregors Autobiography choreography.