Gray Days and Gold, January 2021
Hello, friends. If ever the dawn of a new year lived up to the hope-nullifying sentiment that “Nothing changes on New Year’s Day” (not to mention the toothless insistence that “I will be with you again”—many months from now, once we’ve all been vaccinated), it might be 2021. That’s why this episode closes with Yes The Raven’s spare new rendition of the U2 classic. Before that, though, you’re due for a standard dosage of recent musical discoveries that sound the way January 2021 feels.
By the way, Gray Days and Gold is now one year old, which means that (A) it’s time to replace this filthy, outgrown romper and (B) it’s seasonally appropriate to listen to last winter’s mixes, should you so choose. Delving into old episodes is now easier than ever thanks to a revamp of the archives at our site, where you’ll find links to past shows on both Mixcloud and Spotify.
You can listen to this episode via the embedded player just below in this post—if you don’t see it, try turning off your ad-blocker then reloading the page—or on the Mixcloud website, via the Mixcloud mobile app, on your Sonos system, etc.
There’s also a more bare-bones iteration of this episode’s playlist on Spotify (minus my commentary, as well as any songs that are missing from their library).
Gray Days and Gold, January 2021
- Samuel Sharp, “Catching Leaves” (2020) • BUY
- Adron, “Song About My Computer” (2021) • BUY
- Tommy Champion, “Again & Again” (2020) • BUY
- DM Stith, “Waving 2” (2020) • BUY
- Midnight Sister, “My Elevator Song” (2020) • BUY
- A.P. Simpson, “Not All There” (2020) • BUY
- Beautify Junkyards, “Cosmorama” (2021) • BUY
- Max Daniel, “Find Yourself at the Center of the Storm” (2020) • BUY
- Frank Kimbrough, “Play” (2006) • BUY
- Austin Meadows Wilkerson, “The Deepening Wood” (2020) • BUY
- Emma Miller, “Honey” (2020) • BUY
- Laïla Amezian, “Viens” (1997) • BUY
- Spencer Cullum, “Tombre en Morceaux” (2020) • BUY
- Yes The Raven, “New Year’s Day” (2021) • BUY
Appendix
Podcast recommendations
Donald Fagen (The Third Story with Leo Sidran / July 2019)
From the Better Late Than Never Dept. (I’m afraid my podcast consumption takes a back seat to music discovery), a surprisingly sincere and revealing interview.
Andy Partridge, Martin Newell (What Do You Call That Noise? The XTC Podcast / Dec. 2020)
They’re interviewed separately in part 1 of this Christmas-music-themed two-parter, but this is essential listening for fans of their work together on Martin’s The Greatest Living Englishman. Interviews with Martin can sometimes be a bit firehose-of-consciousness, but this one’s notable for his relative focus. And of course every interview with Andy is delightful. Also featured is Chris Butler (The Waitresses), a big XTC fan. (Part 2 here.)
As always, thanks for listening. If you have questions, suggestions, etc. please feel free to contact me. And if you’d like to receive these posts via email, you can sign up for my newsletter here. Take care.
[Artwork: Harald Oskar Sohlberg, Winter Night in the Mountains, 1914]
