The Retrographer, Issue 118 (September, 2 0 2 4)

MJ Lenderman, Post Malone, Billy Strings, Cash Cobain, LL COOL J, Sona Jobarteh, Flaer, Allegra Kreiger, Gillian Welch, David Rawlings, Nilüfer Yanya, SPIRIT OF THE BEEHIVE, Floating Points, the best of Alex G, and more!

Author

Charlie Kaplan
October 02, 2024

Bulletins

Special Section

Please excuse this temporary interruption from your regularly scheduled programming.

I love Alex G.

By this scientific measure he’s one of the artists I’ve listened to the most in my life.

I connect with Alex G because he has a unique and singular emotional tenor: it’s sad, sweet, creepy, vulnerable, kind, brutal, sensitive, desperate, resigned, haunted.

His fans often say his music makes them feel feelings they haven’t felt before, but in general those feelings seem to exist between the folds of emotions that are almost too familiar and tender to touch. They leave the listener hurt in a way that makes them want to be kinder, or seek a world that’s kinder than the one he allegorically describes.

He’s sometimes compared to Elliott Smith because both are prolific lo-fi masters, but where Smith could be an expert formalist, Alex G is more often a messy experimentalist. Like Smith, he puts me in a low place I don’t want to get out of. It’s dark but sweet. You’ll find pieces of Arthur Russell, Ween, Galaxie 500, and Built to Spill in him too.

He’s a uniquely modern figure in music in that his entire body of work, from highly produced studio albums to the sketchiest of experiments are available online.

Listening through them, you hear his voice change from his teen band the Skin Cells to his latest album; he leaves behind adolescent desolation for adult responsibilities; his music becomes more sophisticated and less original, yet always inspired.

He has ten albums on streaming.

Then there’s a bootleg account on streaming that has tens if not hundreds of millions of plays per song.

As well as a dozen fan made compilations of music that was never released that live on a website dedicated to archiving him.

And beyond that, scores of other songs that spelunkers somehow unearth and put on YouTube.

This is a lot of music for a person in their early 30s to have released (unless their name is Sam Sodomsky).

Sometime a few months ago - as I have in the past with other artists like Joni Mitchell and Tom Petty - I fell through the floor of interest and began plummeting down toward completism.

And the strange - but gratifying - thing about climbing deeper and deeper into Alex G’s attic is that the music is always roughly as good: songs never released can be just as melodious or haunting as his most popular songs.

I now present to you two playlists: one, my favorite Alex G songs that are on streaming.

I’m not certain I’ve listened to all of his music, but I have listened to every album and fan made compilation, as well as one playlist of over 400 songs confidently titled “all alex g songs”.

In making these playlists, I strictly stuck to my own taste. This is worthwhile to mention because Alex G has become a phenomenon on the internet, not just to his cult of fans, but also on social media where his spectral presence soundtracks the TikTok’s of a generation that feel great nostalgia at a young age. This has meant that some of the most popular Alex G songs aren’t, in my opinion, the best, but rather the most useful for the contexts they were popularized in.

At this point I feel like I could write a book, or conduct a long interview with Alex Giannascoli, but rather than trying to pursue that I’d rather give any of you interested what I might’ve liked back when I started: a skeleton key to the enigmatic dungeon of one of our era’s most creative and prolific songwriters.

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

“Wristwatch”, MJ Lenderman – Nobody can get over the odd hilarity of Lenderman’s turns of phrase that he seems to deliver on every song: “A beach home up in Buffalo”; “A houseboat parked at the Himbodome”; etc. He’s got his own point of view and unlike an Apple Watch, that’s priceless.

“M-E-X-I-C-O”, Post Malone and Billy Strings – At times Post Malone has been described as a guilty pleasure. Why? He’s got an incredible voice, a loveable sense of humor, and a cartoonish comfort with self-effacement that endears him to listeners the world ‘round (even down Mexico way).

“rump punch”, Cash Cobain – It’s a little dumb and sophomoric, but Cash Cobain’s puerilities are lent a strange gravitas by the airy suspense of the beat and the breathy control of his flow. Is that redeeming?

“Black Code Suite”, LL COOL J and Sona Jobarteh – Unmentioned in the featured line is Q-Tip, who produced this whole album for LL. Incredible to think that despite a resume that qualifies him to run the National Endowment for the Arts, Tip is in the presence of an OG in LL.

“Burrow”, Flaer – RIYL if you like Erik Satie but want to hear Leicestershire’s Realf Heygate expanding with sylvain cello in tribute to Paul Nash’s surrealist landscapes. And who wouldn’t?

“So Happy I Cannot Face Tomorrow”, Allegra Kreiger – Brief and lilting, a melody drifting to the ground like a falling leaf, a tribute to moments when joy blinds and bends you, the genuflect posture of gratitude that resembles prayer, and may be.

“Lawman”, Gillian Welch and David Rawlings – Wrapped in the gentle winds of a wide prairie or ensconced in a sheltered corner of a lamp-lit room; the luminous quiescence that animates Welch and Rawlings’ music is ancient and undeniable.

“Binding”, Nilüfer Yanya – Yanya has a tremendous ear for hooks and a smoky, nectarous voice; Yet somehow this latest album - her best - is marked uniquely for the pretty, subtle, considered guitar lines that wind their ways thoughtfully through each song.

“DUPLICATE SPOTTED”, SPIRIT OF THE BEEHIVE – Zack Schwartz’s music consistently challenges the idea of what a song really is. His music changes so many times within the duration of a track that it feels almost a folly to hear it as one thing, rather than an unnumbered many.

“Afflecks Place”, Floating Points – Sam Shepherd has two modes: The nebular Rhodes work of songs like “For Marmish”, and then the pointillism of songs like this one, which find form through unseen chemical reactions, reshaping into jagged new modes in a snap.

MONTHLY

#116.5 “Cloudburst”

#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