The Retrographer, Issue 115 (June, 2 0 2 4)

MJ Lenderman, Little Mystery, Yu Ching, Scree, Heems, Vijay Iyer, Camera Obscura, Billie Eilish, Raveena, Charli XCX, NxWorries, and more!S

Author

Charlie Kaplan
July 02, 2024

MJ Lenderman, Little Mystery, Yu Ching, Scree, Heems, Vijay Iyer, Camera Obscura, Billie Eilish, Raveena, Charli XCX, NxWorries, and more!S

The Retrographer, Issue 115 (June, 2 0 2 4)

Bulletins

Ten Songs for June, 2 0 2 4 | Listen to these songs on Spotify and YouTube

“She’s Leaving You”, MJ Lenderman – The first two singles from Jake Lenderman’s first album on a major label retain his melodious country grunge; halfway between the Drive-By Truckers and REM. Positively southeastern (Asheville isn’t that far from Athens).

“Eye Of The Storm”, Little Mystery – A perfect, muted recording; restrained and standing clear of Ivy Meissner’s subtle and contoured vocal performance, which often rises to alarm or intones in the presence of insight: “When will the rain come? You burn it down and let it die. Grow back stronger this time. Are we so easily blind?”

“Love”, Yu Ching – After over a decade in Berlin, Ching recently returned to her home in Taiwan. Her music bears the oceanic mark of some of the German city’s greatest touchstones, none more than the jewel of David Bowie’s catalog, “Heroes”.

“Nocturne With Fire”, Scree – Ryan El-Solh took the title for this song from a painting he saw at the Met, where Saint Matthew gazes in awe on the angel who inspired him to write the gospel. Behind him are scenes from his past; memories alive in his midst as his great work appears.

“Manto”, Heems and Vijay Iyer – Hima has performed with Vijay Iyer before, with Rafiq Bhatia, Kassa Overall, and Arooj Aftab in an instance of sympoietia called Thums Up for WNYC. The rawness of that group comes into devastating refinement now: “I’m just a product of partition / need a victims compensation fund to pay clinicians.”

“Sleepwalking”, Camera Obscura – The two best songs on the Glaswegian mainstays latest invoke sleep, but this one is something else too; haunted, like Gary Jules’ cover of “Mad World”. Its disquieting opening line sets the scene: “They told you it was coke, it was ketamine / Chasing every heart and hit, foe or friend.”

“The Diner”, Billie Eilish – Eilish has become one of the most famous people in the world since her ascent in the mid-2010s, inviting, as this lurid fantasy recounts, the same kind of murderous, fixated psychos that killed John Lennon.

“Pluto”, Raveena – h/t PW. A beatific tribute to a deceased friend. You’d never know the sea of heartbreak that roils beneath the smiling vocal performance, the brief moment of happy remembrance, reveling in what once was.

“Mean Girls”, Charli XCX – Much has been said of brat; Charli’s transformative reign over pop music has exploded into a crowning achievement instead of passing beneath a new fad, its acme the piano breakdown that builds this song back to its clubby conclusion.

“KeepHer”, NxWorries and Thundercat – Lyrics are not always the first thing a listener thinks of when .Paak and Thundercat’s names respectively come up. The two have always written satirical characters trapped by their own scumbaggery: “You said you needed peace / then spent the week in Greece / phone off, you said you was sleep / I know you was getting your cheeks beat.” He’s sad, he’s hurt, he’s helpless, he’s a schlimazel.

MONTHLY

#105.5 “Country Life in America”

#105 August, 2023 | “Rockaway”

#104 July, 2023 | “Gas Station Bathroom”

#103 June, 2023 | “Talkin’ French” 

#100 March, 2023 | The Feelies, “The Good Earth”

#99 February, 2023 | Judee Sill, “Judee Sill”

#98 January, 2023 | Pink Floyd, “Meddle”

#96 November, 2022 | RIP TOM PETTY

#95 October, 2022 | Cannonball Adderley, “Cannonball Adderley's Fiddler on the Roof”

#94 September, 2022 | Sheryl Crow, “Tuesday Night Music Club”

#93 August, 2022 | D’Angelo, “Live at the Jazz Cafe, London”

#92 July, 2022 | Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, “Southern Accents”

#91 June, 2022 | George Harrison, “Living in the Material World”

#90 May, 2022 | The Wild Tchoupitoulas, “The Wild Tchoupitoulas”

#89 April, 2022 | Joni Mitchell, “Taming the Tiger”

#88 March, 2022 | Young Thug, “Barter 6”

#87 February, 2022 | Stephane Grappelli and Stuff Smith, “Violins No End”

#86 January, 2022 | Nas, “God’s Son”

#84 November, 2021 | Milt Jackson with the Thelonious Monk Quintet, “Wizard of the Vibes”

#83 October, 2021 | For Against, “Coalesced”

#82 September, 2021 | Pat Metheny, “Bright Size Life”

#81 August, 2021 | The Chicks, “Fly”

#80 July, 2021 | Allen Toussaint, “Southern Nights”

#79 June, 2021 | Novos Baianos, “Acabou Chorare”

#78 May, 2021 | One Direction, “Four”

#77 April, 2021 | Bob Dylan, “New Morning”

#76 March, 2021 | Ty Dolla $ign, “Free TC”

#75 February, 2021 | Ghostface Killah, “Fishscale”

#74 January, 2021 | Minnie Riperton, “Minnie”

#72 November, 2020 | Sufjan Stevens, “Seven Swans”

#71 October, 2020 | Common, “Resurrection”

#70 September, 2020 | Herbie Hancock, “Thrust”

#69 August, 2020 | Special Issue

#68 July, 2020 | Cam’ron, “Purple Haze”

#67 June, 2020 | Jorge Ben, “A Tabua de Esmeralda”

#66 May, 2020 | The Meters, “Rejuvenation”

#65 April, 2020 | Eddie Kendricks, “People… Hold On”

#64 March, 2020 | Thelonious Monk, “Solo Monk”

#63 February, 2020 | Cat Power, “Moon Pix”

#62 January, 2020 | Yusef Lateef, “Eastern Sounds”

#59 November, 2019 | Frank Sinatra, “In The Wee Small Hours”

#58 October, 2019 | Steely Dan, “Gaucho”

#57 September, 2019 | Bonnie Raitt, “Streetlights”

#56 August, 2019 | Daft Punk, “Alive 2007”

#55 July, 2019 | John Coltrane, “Interstellar Space”

#54 June, 2019 | Big Pun, “Capital Punishment”

#53 May, 2019 | Paul Simon, “Rhythm of the Saints”

#52 April, 2019 | Dirty Projectors, “Rise Above”

#51 March, 2019 | Kate Bush, “The Sensual World”

#50 February, 2019 | Sonny Rollins, “Next Album”

#49 January, 2019 | Sade, “Diamond Life”

#47 November, 2018 | Curtis Mayfield, “There’s No Place Like America Today”

#46 October, 2018 | The Blue Nile, “Hats”

#45 September, 2018 | Lucinda Williams, “Car Wheels on a Gravel Road”

#44 August, 2018 | Aretha Franklin, “Amazing Grace”

#43 July, 2018 | Teddy Pendergrass, “TP”

#42 June, 2018 | Dennis Wilson, “Pacific Ocean Blue”

#41 May, 2018 | Bobby Brown, “Don’t Be Cruel”

#40 April, 2018 | Amy Winehouse, “Back to Black”

#39 March, 2018 | Q-Tip, “Kamaal the Abstract”

#38 February, 2018 | Miles Davis, “In a Silent Way”

#37 January, 2018 | Beck, “Sea Change”

#35 November, 2017 | Slum Village, “Fan-tas-tic Vol. 1”

#34 October, 2017 | Steely Dan, “Two Against Nature”

#33 September, 2017 | Baaba Maal and Mansour Seck, “Djam Leeli”

#32 August, 2017 | Billy Joel, “The Stranger”

#31 July, 2017 | Big Daddy Kane, “Long Live the Kane”

#30 June, 2017 | Janet Jackson, “Control”

#29 May, 2017 | Steely Dan, “Aja”

#28 April, 2017 | The O’Jays, “Back Stabbers”

#27 March, 2017 | Wire, “154”

#26 February, 2017 | Professor Longhair, “New Orleans Piano”

#25 January, 2017 | Elvis Costello, “Live at the El Mocambo”

#23 November, 2016 | Erykah Badu, “Mama’s Gun”

#22 October, 2016 | Donald Fagan, “The Nightfly”

#21 September, 2016 | Aretha Franklin, “Young, Gifted, and Black”

#20 August, 2016 | The Dave Matthews Band, “Under the Table and Dreaming”

#19 July, 2016 | Clams Casino, “Instrumental Mixtape II”

#18 June, 2016 | James Brown, “Love, Power, Peace”

#17 May, 2016 | Ali Farka Toure & Ry Cooder, “Talking Timbuktu”

#16 April, 2016 | RIP PRINCE

#15 March, 2016 | Prince, “Prince”

#14 February, 2016 | Big L, “Lifestyles Ov Da Poor & Dangerous”

#13 January, 2016 | Bill Evans, “Live at the Village Vanguard”

#11 November, 2015 | Donny Hathaway, “Live”

#10 October, 2015 | Paul McCartney, “McCartney”

#9 September, 2015 | Talk Talk, “Laughing Stock”

#8 August, 2015 | B.B. King, “Live at Cook County Jail”

#7 July, 2015 | Miles Davis, “Filles de Kilimanjaro”

#6 June, 2015 | Joni Mitchell, “Hejira”

#5 May, 2015 | Kanye West, “The College Dropout”

#4 April, 2015 | MF DOOM, “Operation: Doomsday”

#3 March, 2015 | Bruce Springsteen, “The Wild, the Innocent, and the E Street Shuffle”

#2 February, 2015 | Eric B. and Rakim, “Paid in Full”

#1 January, 2015 | Johnny Thunders & the Heartbreakers, “L.A.M.F.”

 

ANNUAL

DECENNIAL

THEMED