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The Retrographer, Issue 108 (November 2 0 2 3)

The Retrographer, Issue 108 (November 2 0 2 3)

December 04, 2023

MGMT, Ty Segall, The Smile, Unknown Mobile, Motoko & Myers, Christina Vantzou, John Also Bennett, Katy Pinke, Julian Davis Reid, Anagrams, Troye Sivan, Hotline TNT

The Retrographer, Issue 108 (November, 2 0 2 3)

Bulletins

Thanks so much for reading this newsletter. TinyLetter, the platform that this newsletter is published on, will be shutting down in February of next year. Substack, its closest competitor, has been reluctant to remove or moderate Nazi content. If The Retrographer is to continue, it’ll have to find a new home. If you’ve got recommendations, please let me know.

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

“Mother Nature”, MGMT (Spotify / YouTube) – So many years later, with “Kids” and “Time To Pretend” and all the dayglo-flecked, shutter-shaded memories of the first Obama administration moldering in the tomb of nostalgia, these two overgrown boys are still spinning soaring, Bowiesque epics like the world is waiting for them to arrive.

“My Room”, Ty Segall (Spotify / YouTube) – Melodious and mellifluous, Segall follows this winding song through drizzling verses and torrential choruses, undaunted and unbowed as his environs change around him. It’s the best song he’s written in some time.

“Wall Of Eyes”, The Smile (Spotify / YouTube) – Hearing Yorke and Greenwood inspired, rolling out new music on a yearly basis for the first time in decades, and yet still somehow flying under the radar; is that somewhat refreshing? The quietude around them? Can they say things they never thought they would now?

“Atkis - Motoko & Myers Remix”, Unknown Mobile, Motoko & Myers (Spotify / YouTube) – Lost in light shafts of shimmering vocals, groaning fretless bass, alien synthesizers, clattering hi-hats, placed in a vast expanse of reverb. This track feels a bit like encountering meteors and space junk while traveling thousands of miles through deep space, yet feeling totally still by inertia.

“Messengers of the Rains”, Christina Vantzou, John Also Bennett (Spotify / YouTube) – Sounding a bit like the unorganized samples that Ka or DOOM might amass before making a beat; a brief minute of ominous vibes and incomprehensible down-tuned vocals portending something.

“Bloom”, Katy Pinke (Spotify / YouTube) – Slowly, deliberately, Pinke explains a philosophy of being that listeners might want to keep in their back pocket for a day of shallow breathing or lightheadedness, when the walls seem to be closing in and a voice like Pinke’s, clear and reassuring, pointing to a way out.

“Candid (Response to Vulnerability), August 2023”, Julian Davis Reid (Spotify / YouTube) – Each track on this EP is titled the same: Indicating, or conjuring, or requesting candor for varying circumstances or needs. That candor becomes self evident 100 seconds in when Reid murmurs in appreciation of his playing,

“Catch It”, Anagrams (Spotify / YouTube) – Sitting somewhere between In A Silent Way and The Lemon of Pink, this DJ/instrumentalist duo sits in a similar space to Floating Points or J. Albert Meets Will August Park; music that’s more structured that it lets on, suspended by the force that keeps the spheres aloft.

“How To Stay With You”, Troye Sivan (Spotify / YouTube) – Somehow it seemed like the world needed an album like this right now; Intimate and sexy, fun and private, stylish and vulnerable, not pressed but still overflowing with feeling.

“Beauty Filter”, Hotline TNT (Spotify / YouTube) – Will Anderson, Hotline TNT’s mastermind and only true permanent member, is apparently a huge fan of nü metal. He never adopts its vocal affectations or petulances, but his affinity for overblown drums and, on some occasions, scratching, lay bare his affections.