Hello, friends. Exploration is once again in the air, and Gray Days and Gold is your shuttle to the farthest reaches of the musical universe. Strap in, help yourself to a pouch of whatever the hell that blue liquid is, and we’ll set forth in search of the most intriguing tunes that June 2021 has to offer, always striving to meet (or exceed) our ‘M4’ pledge: maximum melody, moderate melancholy.

You can listen by clicking one of the links below, or on the Mixcloud website, via the Mixcloud mobile app, on your Sonos system, etc.

And for those who prefer Spotify, there’s a more barebones iteration of this episode’s playlist there (minus my commentary, as well as some songs—like those from Yani Martinelli’s excellent new record—that are missing from Spotify’s library).

If you like what you hear, please consider supporting the artists via the BUY links.

Click here to listen

Gray Days and Gold, June 2021

1. Vanishing Twin, “Big Moonlight (Ookii Gekkou)” (2021) • BUY

2. Louis Philippe, “Destination Moon” (1993) • BUY

3. Elizabeth Owens, “Oversoon” (2021) • BUY

4. Jake Hardman, “The Price of Living” (2021) • BUY

5. The Divine Comedy, “Lost Property” (2001) • BUY

6. The Carmelittles, “I Dunno What To Do With My Hands” (2021) • BUY

7. Jerika Hayes, “Poisoned Mouse” (2021) • BUY

8. The Cleaners From Venus, “Every Time I Go Up” (2021) • BUY

9. Yani Martinelli, “Pluto Is A Planet!” (2021) • BUY

10. Sven Wunder, “En Plein Air” (2021) • BUY

11. Orwell, “Les Explorateurs” (2015) • BUY

12. The Catenary Wires, “Like The Rain” (2021) • BUY

13. Yani Martinelli, “Melody Friend” (2021) • BUY

Appendix

Ephemeral podcast

In this episode I mentioned the Ephemeral podcast (but misidentified it as “Ephemera”). Highly recommended for anyone interested in the items and knowledge that are lost to societal memory through attrition, neglect, and technological limitations. (h/t Robin Ritchie)

Orwell mini-concert (Magic Revue Pop Moderne)

If you hadn’t caught this beautiful performance by Orwell (hosted a month ago by the MagicRPM site) of three songs from last year’s album Parcelle Brillante, please do yourself a favor.

As always, thanks for listening. If you have questions, suggestions, etc. please feel free to contact me. And if you’ve received this newsletter as a forward and would like to receive these posts via email, you can sign up here. Take care.