Gray Days and Gold, September 2023
Hello, friends. Perhaps you like music, yes? Perhaps you’re a grown-ass adult who’s not so much interested in what passes for pop music these days, yes? Perhaps you appreciate unfashionable things like melody, arrangement, and distinctive songwriting?
Perhaps you might like Gray Days and Gold: a monthly, hour-long show of excellent contemporary music by artists who are operating somewhere off the beaten path where beauty and innovation flourish. No ads, no login or subscription required—just press play and enjoy.
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 barebones iteration of this episode’s playlist (minus my commentary, as well as tracks that are missing from streaming libraries) on Spotify and Apple Music.
If you like what you hear, please support the artists. You’ll find buy links to the tracks in the bulleted list below.
Gray Days and Gold, September 2023
- Cereus Bright, “Seven Wonders” (2023) • BUY
- Laura Groves, “Synchronicity” (2023) • BUY
- Bibio, “Sunbursting” (2023) • BUY
- Yael Hayem, “The Ache & the Itch” (2023) • BUY
- theCatherines, “Make Ends Meet” (2023) • BUY
- Rachael Lavelle, “Let Me Unlock Your Full Potential” (2023) • BUY
- Astrid & Alexander, “Non-retour” (2023) • FOLLOW
- The Illness, “Summerase” (2023) • BUY
- Scuttlefuzz, “Idle” (2023) • BUY
- Quincey May Brown, “Heart, I Hope This Email Finds You Well” (2023) • BUY
- One More Morning, “Dead Trees (Dead Rocks)” (2023) • BUY
- Grimson, “I Was a Moth” (2023) • BUY
- Small Plant, “Extraordinary Weather” (2023) • BUY
- Helena Deland, “Bright Green Vibrant Gray” (2023) • BUY
Appendix
Maria Schneider on Slate’s Working podcast
Apropos nothing (she’s not in this episode), I was glad to hear this interview with preeminent jazz composer Schneider covering her musical education, career evolution, and how she’s able to support herself (and her orchestra) by direct relationships with her listeners via ArtistShare instead of relying on a record label. Listen 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, sign up below.
