The Retrographer, Issue #126 (May, 2 0 2 5)

Smerz, Nourished by Time, Wednesday, Adeline Hotel, Couch Prints, Gabriel Bernini, Natural Information Society, Bitchin Bajas, Neu Blume, Maria Somerville, Bristol Mines, and more!

Author

Charlie Kaplan
June 10, 2025

Bulletins:

  • I’ve been thinking a lot about where I get music from recently - websites, picking up stuff from social media, texts from friends, the list goes on. One thing I realized is that I don’t hear as much as I would expect from you, the listener. Which is a roundabout way of telling you that you can hit reply on these emails! When you do, the music gets straight to me, and I love to hear what new music you’re digging. It’s a two-way street!

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

“Roll the dice”, Smerz – Muted, cool, laid-back; retro, demo-quality, yet very little room for improvement. Some sounds are too loud, some are distractingly artificial. It’s pervading sound of New York in 1993, but somehow coming from Norway in 2025.

“Max Potential”, Nourished by Time – Marcus Brown has a penchant for epic sweep, having now written more than a few songs that could hit as the credits roll on a late-80s drama, unearthed on VHS from a long-untouched closet, a crinkling Ozymandias.

“Elderberry Wine”, Wednesday – If you know Karly Hartzman’s other work with Wednesday, you may come to expect a doomy heaviness, loom and grey as industrial plants off the highway. Here she shines like the little dandelions growing on the median (and as brave and beleaguered). 

“Came True”, Adeline Hotel – First, Dan Knishkowy is alone, singing just loud enough to reach the microphone and no further. But his silent wishes are granted around him as gossamer strings, little thermals of vocal harmonies, and a waterwheel of snare drum.

“Pitbull 2”, Couch Prints – It is rewarding to examine the layers here: powering breakbeat, fluttering acoustic guitar, blasts of distortion slowly working through a wah, and “never crawled back from the shore” surfing just above it.

“Better Than I Know Me”, Gabriel Bernini – Gabe has sounded at times like Highway 61-era Dylan, Tom Petty, and - now just in time to record at the Wilco Loft - Jeff Tweedy. But here he may recall Elvis Costello more than anyone else: spitting, smirking, amorous.

“Totality”, Natural Information Society and Bitchin Bajas – At totality, the moon completely blocks the sun, creating a blinding darkness, a halo that sears if seen. Fauna goes silent, flora slumbers. The foibles and fixations of life on this rock are benighted by the reminder of another.

“Car To Go”, Neu Blume – And that car sounds well-ventilated, like its got the windows down at 25mph. But for its breeziness, they couldn’t sound more haggard and road-weary. Gotta get home, refresh, find meaning and ultimately wanderlust again.

“Stonefly”, Maria Somerville – There’s size and gravity to this, moving massively beneath its placid surface like ancient sea life, seeming to approach climax, but just ebbing and flowing like the tides. No wonder it’s reminiscent of Sea When Absent.

“High School Royalty”, Bristol Mines – Burke Johnson and Isaac Baronikian are in their 30s and wondering where everybody went. Just yesterday, everything seemed figured out, but they’re still figuring it out. Is it just them? Or did we all give something up when life demanded we move on?

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