The Retrographer, Issue 102 (May, 2 0 2 3)

Susanne Sundfør, Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer, Shahzad Ismaily, Allegra Krieger, Joanna Sternberg, Kitba, Remi Wolf, Villager, Kara Jackson, billy woods and Kenny Segal, Zack Rosen, and more!

The Retrographer, Issue 102 (May, 2 0 2 3)

Bulletins

• Excellent unreleased Boards of Canada

• The Temptations at their funkiest

• Nardwuar v. Nickelback

• Mac DeMarco, “Fish Terry”

Ten Songs for May, 2 0 2 3 | Listen to these songs on Spotify and YouTube 

“leikara Ijóð”, Susanne Sundfør (Spotify / YouTube) – Shout out to PW. When Sundfør started her career, she was a maven of driving electronic beats and pounding synthesizers. Now she is fully organic and human, possessing of the the greater wonders only the living can conjure. 

“Hassen Thi”, Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer, and Shahzad Ismaily (Spotify / YouTube) – Six years ago when Aftab and Iyer took the seeds of this ensemble to the stage, they were rangier, more chaotic. Now, with Ismaily, they’ve dialed their ideas into dulcet minimalism, like a tincture of In a Silent Way.

“Nothing In This World Ever Stays Still”, Allegra Krieger (Spotify / YouTube) – Shout out to Dan. He recently said this song reminded him of Joni Mitchell’s “Coyote”, and I hear it. It reminds me too of Andy Shauf’s “Neon Skyline”; a sprawling narrative laid out plainly, nothing staying still long enough to make sense of it until it avails itself later.

“Mountains High”, Joanna Sternberg (Spotify / YouTube) – Shout out to Andrew. Love makes life worth living; heartbreak makes living a drag. Sternberg finds a way to find the beauty of love even in her doldrums, appreciating the grim perseverance of enduring a loss. She’ll make it out okay.

“My Words Don’t Work”, Kitba (Spotify / YouTube) – Rebecca El-Saleh’s primary instrument is the harp, but recently she’s been playing it like a bass, sitting in with bands playing the electric harp slung over her shoulder and working the low strings. You can hear them filling out the bottom of this incredible new single, giving it heft, drama, power.

“Prescription - Extended”, Remi Wolf (Spotify / YouTube) – Shout out to Chris, who heard “Adore” in this. Maybe the trumpets? The slow burn that simmers and sizzles, takes its time? The bridge is the closest Remi comes to copping the song outright, but why not? Prince lives.

“Never Gonna Be”, Villager (Spotify / YouTube) – Shout out to Sam. Physics seems suspended for this one. Synths jiggle, suspended midair, perturbed yet untouched by their environs. The rendering isn’t done, the vocals aren’t set in a shape or color, the beat never ends. It may never be, in the real world or otherwise.

“lily”, Kara Jackson (Spotify / YouTube) – The richness of this recording is truly unique. Jackson’s sonorous voice, plunging to its comfortable depths, alongside regal horns and tiptoeing, tucked bass – they are as lush as they are simple, elegant.

“Agriculture”, billy woods and Kenny Segal (Spotify / YouTube) – Under two minutes, an anthology of enduring trauma. woods may have escaped back to the land, but his demons haunt him, follow him as he tries to sow new seeds and rejuvenate.

“Bicycle”, Zack Rosen (Spotify / YouTube) – This poor guy passed a few years ago and left this album behind, funhouse mirror Beatles stuff, like Paul McCartney had Syd Barrett in him. Mental illness is a scourge, people need our help. 

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MONTHLY

#102 May, 2023 | 

#101 April, 2023 | 

#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

#97 | 1 0 0 2 0 2 2

#85 | 1 0 0 2 0 2 1

#73 | 1 0 0 2 0 2 0

#61 | 1 0 0 2 0 1 9

#48 | 1 0 0 2 0 1 8

#36 | 1 0 0 2 0 1 7

#24 | 1 0 0 2 0 1 6

#12 | 1 0 0 2 0 1 5

1 0 0 2 0 1 4 (+ Honorable Mentions)

1 0 0 2 0 1 3 (+ Honorable Mentions)

1 0 0 2 0 1 2

1 0 0 2 0 1 1

DECENNIAL

#60 | 1 0 0 2 0 1 X

THEMED

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