The Retrographer, Issue 125 (April, 2 0 2 5)

Bruce Springsteen, Nick Drake, Gregory Uhlmann, Josh Johnson, Sam Wilkes, Turnstile, GOON, Moon Mullins, caroline, Caroline Polachek, Bon Iver, Hotline TNT, Avalon Emerson, Storm Queen

Author

Charlie Kaplan
May 07, 2025

Bulletins:

  • Hello! If you’re around on the evening of Saturday, May 10th, please come see me play live at the Owl Music Parlor. I will be debuting an entire album of new music, which my band will have learned just the day before, and which we will be recording the following Monday and Tuesday. You’ll be catching the music in a molten form, which should be loose, messy, and fun. Doors are at 7:30!

Ten Songs for April, 2 0 2 5 | Listen to these songs on Spotify and YouTube

“Rain in the River”, Bruce Springsteen – The Boss is sitting on albums upon albums of unreleased material and, rather than waiting for death to deputize his estate to release them, he’s doing it himself. It begins with this stomper, the sort of song that acolytes from the War on Drugs to the Killers have striven to channel for decades.

“Strange Face”, Nick Drake – Speaking of vaults: A lost take from one of the of the most beloved and enigmatic figures in the history of folk music. He’s brought no more clearly in focus, just another glance at his beautiful silhouette, now half a century since his loss.

“Marvis”, Gregory Uhlmann, Josh Johnson, and Sam Wilkes – Reminiscent perhaps of Joshua Redman’s “Jazz Crimes”; pointillistic, syncopated, groovy despite its defiance of meter. You might believe this is a sputtering machine, or a damaged disc, until its hiccuping is broken by sudden airstreams of whole note drone.

“BIRDS”, Turnstile – Not deviating meaningfully from the formula they perfected on 2021’s GLOW ON, Turnstile’s hardcore is as painted in pastel synths as it is jagged, uncompromising blast beats and distortion. 

“Closer to”, GOON – There’s something delightfully spooky about this band, like a friendly ghost. They coo over chaos, floating between carefully composed sections that crumble and immolate beneath them, as if time and space were no longer of concern.

“Sandpearl”, Moon Mullins – What may not be apparent to those who have come across Sean Mullins’ elsewhere, as a fabulously funky drummer for the likes of Sam Evian and Maia Friedman, is that he is an aesthete, arbiter elegantiarum, a proficient pianist, a bit of a dandy. Grab a drink and take it in.

“Tell me I never knew that”, caroline, Caroline Polachek – Both Carolines have been in this zine before, but never sounding quite like this. Lower case have taken brobdingnag postrock strides, Polachek fluttered fairy-like in futurepop. Together, they are gossamer, but no less huge.

“From”, Bon Iver – The 1975 has recently touched this terrain, too; Traversed by Bruce Hornsby, Bonnie Raitt, Steve Winwood. Soulful, heartwarming, reassuring: “No need to hurry, give me your worry.” Music in a time of need.

“Julia’s War”, Hotline TNT – Falling for someone under siege by the world; They’re seeking safety and acceptance, and so you seek to proffer it. But does that make you just an accessory to their crusade? Or does it even matter; does it feel good to shelter with them, only for now?

“On It Goes”, Avalon Emerson, Storm Queen – Thudding, stomping, locomoting. The kicks on this track batter you into an almost irresistible shape, mechanistically peering upwards at the flying shrapnel of fragmented samples and melodies above it. Propelled like this, how can you believe the singer saying, “I’m so tired”?

MONTHLY

#118.5.2 “In a Little Bit of Time”

#118.5 “Edie Got Away”

#117.5 “Mescarole"

#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

#121 | 1 0 0 2 0 2 4

 

DECENNIAL

 

THEMED