Our latest guest playlist comes courtesy of Belgian jazz/improv/piano trio Steiger.
After a few years pursuing solo projects, the Ghent-based trio of Gilles Vandecaveye (keys), Kobe Boon (bass), and Simon Raman (drums) reunite with renewed vigour on their fourth recently unveiled new album, Mowglowski’s First Take.
Released via W.E.R.F. records, the 37-minute, nine-track journey showcases a band that has matured without losing its playful edge.
Where their 2021 standout, ‘The New Lady Llama’, explored lush contrasts between acoustic and electronic textures, Mowglowski’s First Take takes a freer, bolder approach. Produced by Frederik Segers (Black Flower, De Beren Gieren), the album radiates warmth and spontaneity, capturing what feels like genuine joy in the playing. The lead single ‘Gauchoman’ perfectly encapsulates this spirit—witty, wonderfully weird, and utterly infectious.
Drawing from minimalism, electronica, post-classical, and improvisation, the trio continues to operate at the outer fringes of jazz while maintaining accessibility. There’s humour here, certainly, but also a willingness to embrace darkness when the music calls for it. Tracks like ‘Third Mass Extinction’ hint at deeper concerns beneath the playful surface. Much like the album, their playlist choices are unpredictable and delightfully quirky.
We are excited to take a peek at their diverse range of influences in the playlist they put together for us. Read on and press play.
This collection of songs has come to stand quite intuitively. Many of the music enlisted is a direct or indirect inspiration to our music.
The opening of ‘Le Grand Macabre’ by Ligeti for instance is a good example of music of the unexpected. This car horn suite is serious and funny at the same time, it’s so simple but very effective. The humour and research into the power of sound is something we found important in the process of making our new album. A lot of people tell us how our music evokes images, references to cinema and theatre. This is not a surprise since Gilles is working a lot in the theatre as well. The influence of many film composers, older and more contemporary, is very clear. Morricone, who is featured twice in our playlist, is a perfect example of how simple melodies and simple variations on those themes, when done right, can create a world that almost doesn’t need images anymore. His music is so colourful and at times legendary. A true inspiration. And maybe the most important thing about his music is for us its childlike quality. A lot of his music sounds like it could be used in shows for children.
This is something we too love, ‘childishness’ is not a sin, it’s a blessing, especially when doing art. Please let’s stop being so seriousness. On the other hand, you have Jerskin Fendrix, who made the soundtrack to Poor Things (Lanthimos). He’s an example of a musician that can dive into the dramatic without overdoing it for his soundtracks. It all sounds very fresh and powerful. His solo work is also very interesting, and he’s a great piano player. Other contemporary artists like Kali Malone and Lucrecia Dalt also have this very intelligent and at the same time very tactile sense of making music which we love. And then you have the contemporary artists that carry a whole musical history which is so rich and beautiful. The Meridian Brothers are a Columbian based band that take Cumbia and other Latin American traditional music to a whole new level. Great musicians who are also a treat seeing them play live, the craftmanship of these grooves, claves, melodies, well-constructed songs. Pure joy.
The same applies to Xylouris White, who plays traditional Cretan songs and mixes them with his own compositions. He forms a perfect duo with Australian drummer Jim White, who adds a whole new dimension to this music. Beautiful. Or the music of Adrian de Alfonso (formerly known as Don the Tiger). It’s so difficult to pinpoint what he’s doing, but it’s definitely drenched in the tradition of melancholic Spanish music, but with a serious avant-garde approach to it. Stunning.
At the same time, we feel like the power of a good song cannot be denied. Such as ‘Liebeslied’, part of the beautiful Dreigroschenopper by Kurt Weill. Or the music of Richard Dawson, so simple but so moving, singing about everyday life events, as if he was a modern troubadour. And then we have Felix Kubin, who is an electronic pioneer with his love for the Korg MS-20 synth. Very much inspired by Kraftwerk or Yellow Magic Orchestra but at the same time having a modern approach and making very listenable analog sounding electronic music. French singer-songwriter Mathieu Bogaert’s album ‘En Anglais’ is a masterpiece in absurdism, ‘Am I Crazy?’ is a great reading in this musical world.
‘Spectacle of Ritual’ from Kali Malone is a contemplative piece for organ, which reminds us to stand still and enjoy subtle change in the world, sound-wise a masterpiece. So is the album ‘¡Ay!’ by Lucrecia Dalt, from which ‘El Galatzo’ is a personal favourite. Like The Meridian Brothers she draws inspiration from Latin American music but with a very personal twist, very inspiring..
‘We Picked Apples in a Graveyard Freshly Mowed’ by Richard Dawson is just pure emotion. What else to say? Of course, some Ennio Morricone had to be in this playlist; we are very influenced by his orchestration and his sense for drama. ‘Il Quatro Stato’ is a great example. ‘Bedroom of the Absent Child’ by Ernest Hood is a beautiful song to end with; the combination of string instruments is just too soothing and warm.
