Each month we ask a member of the community to tell us what music they’ve been digging.
I’ve been really enjoying my “Radio Cake” show on Radio Kingston. It’s pretty freeform, with just a couple of self-imposed rules: Keep the songs short, lots of variety, equine- and kid-friendly (because my producer is a horse and kids are goats), and my major human peeve is the huge percentage of music I encounter in which the singer seems to be saying “My hair is looking amazing today. In fact, I’m looking so hot right now.” Here’s some music I like with more (or less) substance over ego.
I love Elizabeth Frazer’s Sun’s Signature. The Cocteau Twins singer’s long-awaited album is more than I could have hoped for. Incredible, dreamy songs and sounds from my favorite singer. Then there’s Paul Spring’s Kind of Heaven. Spring is from Minnesota and has a band called Holy Hive with Homer Steinweiss (Amy Winehouse, El Michals Affair). He’s recorded Bach transcriptions for 12-string guitar, cowrites on tons of people’s records, and last year did a tour of towns along the Hudson River in a canoe. Oh, and he has two great albums out this year. He’s a busy bee with a
beautiful voice and a lot to say. There’s Mo Phillips’s Sock Planet—full disclosure: I recorded this album. Mo is so fun and absurd. He’s simultaneously shallow and deep. I also like Beatrice Deer’s Little Songs. While she’s known for mixing indie rock and Inuit throat singing, this is the Inuk/Mohawk artist’s first album for kids. Mostly percussion and voices on this sweet and unusual record. I also like Bug Club’s On the Intricate Inner Workings of the System. The Welsh band Bug Club is ratty, humorous, and hooky—nonchalant pop punk. Other albums that I’ve been digging are Cosimo Sheldrake’s Eye to the Ear, Dora Jar’s No Way to Relax When You Are on Fire, Beth Anderson’s I Can’t Stand It, Adn Maya Collective’s Cuarto Album, and Foushee’s Pointy Heights.
This article appears in November 2024.
