Earlier this year, I had the idea of sharing some other music alongside my own in a few Steve on Steve posts. But it would make the posts rather long.1 Instead, I thought I’d do a little round-up every once in a while. I would guess that most of my listening is old music these days — time does a better job highlighting good music than fashion-conscious A&Rs — but today I want to focus on sharing the work of practicing artists.2
First up, my favourite song of the year so far, about the lunar phase calendar by the Original Lunar Phase LLC. Though it's sprinkled with autobiographical details, one senses the truth is being played with here. It's fun and funny and funky.
Next, a song I listened to quite a lot over the winter. My friend Rikki introduced me to Madison’s work, and this song has many sparkly flourishes and woody, lively tones in its gorgeous arrangement.
Mary Halvorson got a lot of attention earlier this year for her album Cloudward, but I prefer Artlessly Falling, from a few years ago. The opening track features Robert Wyatt on vocals, and is full of cheeky freedom.
Arooj Aftab’s Night Reign has a great version of the jazz standard Autumn Leaves on it, but right before it is this gem.
Sophie Ogilvie is a Montreal-based artist who makes ethereal music with vocal melodies that remind me of Scott Walker.
Whereas the other tunes I’m sharing here are from albums that I suggest checking out in their entirety, Chris Weisman releases so much goddamn music it’s impossible to keep up. So instead of recommending an album, I’ve dug out three further personal favourites from his catalog. Chris writes perfect pop songs, full of idiosyncrasy and individuality. He also has a Substack that goes really deep into music theory, if that’s your thing.
Unless I simply share a link to a playlist without saying much, which I’ve done and will continue to do.
Helps build further context and all…