The Retrographer, Issue 130 (September, 2 0 2 5)

D’Angelo, Geese, Hudson Freeman, Tyler Childers, Adeline Hotel, Oren Ambarchi, Johan Berthling, Andreas Werliin, Olivia Dean, Charley Crockett, Gabriel Bernini, Big Thief, Laraaji, Parts Work, Frances Quinlan, and more!

Author

Charlie Kaplan
October 15, 2025

D’Angelo

D’Angelo died yesterday. He made a pivotal album for me, Voodoo. Because of how that album sounded and when I heard it, he was the first artist I felt was mine: A sound, a scene, a world away from my friends and family. He built a world on sex, bodies, and love, but also privacy, intimacy, solitude. I found myself in there.

I bought Voodoo as a teenager while working through Rolling Stone’s “500 Greatest Albums” issue one Tower Records visit at a time. I ripped the disc to my computer and didn’t touch it on my iPod until one night looking through the venetian blinds at the still suburbia beyond them. It suddenly felt right to be alone.

2006 was a strange time to get into D’Angelo. His empire had risen and fallen. Online searches yielded sordid and worrying recent news about his life. He didn’t look how people expected him to. He’d struggled with substance abuse. He crashed a Hummer. He had disheveled mugshots. And worse, news was scant. His enigma hinted at peril. 

My fascination led me to completism, which in turn led me to lurk the OkayPlayer message boards. I found a community there that wasn’t aware of my presence. In the absence of new information, fans speculated, commiserated, and most thrillingly, shared old bootlegs. Here was D’s piano demos of “Spanish Joint” and “Africa”; here was his barnburning performance at the North Sea Jazz festival; here was the oracular Questlove, reporting with his characteristic bookish zeal that:

“if you want to “understand” this record–you must purchase and study the following: [Funkadelic’s] Maggot Brain, America Eats Its Young, Cosmic Slop, Standing on the Verge of Getting It On, Let’s Take it to the Stage, Tales of Kidd Funkadelic, [Sly & The Family Stone’s] There’s a Riot Going On, [Miles Davis’] On the Corner, [Shuggie Otis’] Inspiration Information, [Brian Wilson’s] Smile, [the Beatles’] Abbey Road, Revolver, [Jimi Hendrix’s] Electric Ladyland, [the Sex Pistol’s] Nevermind the Bullocks Here’s the Sex Pistols, [Prince’s] Dirty Mind, [Tony Williams’] Ego and Emergency!.”

I studiously prepared. Years passed and nothing happened. Two songs, “Really Love” and “1000 Deaths”, leaked in 2010, auguring a new album that stubbornly refused to arrive. I had a single Google Alert during this time, for “D’Angelo”. Day after day, it was just small town news about sandwich shops and high school football players. D’Angelo was as absent in my life as a dead person, but as present in my mind as a living one. Robert Christgau dubbed him “R&B Jesus” and this interregnum felt like an interminable Holy Saturday before his resurrection.

D’Angelo was the son of a pentecostal minister and, as a jewish kid, I could only really imagine what that meant. I did feel God in there. It was the quiet holiness that I later got from Mark Hollis’s late work with Talk Talk and solo; the enlivened sparseness that led many to describe Marilynne Robinson’s writing as “luminous”. Because D’Angelo declined to enunciate, because tape seemed to mute even his most righteous howls, and because Questlove, Charlie Hunter, and Pino Palladino refused to paint the barlines of their grooves, Voodoo sounded like it shed music’s earthly flesh and blood to free its spirit. 

His return was the moment I’d sworn to meet. I strained to soak in every second of an early return show at Jones Beach Theater for fear it might not happen again. But it did. He and Questlove played a duo set at Brooklyn Bowl and I was able to bridle my fanaticism in a concert report. Then, somehow, I was able to again relive my promethean moment, waiting up until midnight to listen to Black Messiah, having the same experience at 25 that I once had at 17, again alone in the intimacy of an empty bedroom. 

But soon, seemingly inevitably, he was gone again. This absence recalled his prior: The tenuousness, Questlove’s promising updates, the years rolling on. His disappearance, like his reappearance, was naturally foreordained, orbital. There was a sense that out there, out of earshot, he was generating something. Letting endless tape roll at Electric Lady for perfidious engineers to leak and devotees to study. Endless grist in his search for the crux of god, psychedelia, and blackness.

Because D’Angelo lived for so long only in my imagination, his death feels like a return. His cycle continues, only this time forever beyond our sight. But don’t despair. Love and loss are natural, he sang, “like the rain to the dirt, from the vine to the wine, from the Alpha creation, to the end of all time.”

Bulletins:

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

“Islands of Men”, Geese – A metronomic groove, quiet and unassuming beneath Cameron WInter’s mellifluous upper range, then snaps into grandeur like a train breaking free from a tunnel and revealing the splendor abounding around it. 

“If You Know Me - demo”, Hudson Freeman – “Touch grass” is usually an insulting thing to say, but bear with me: There are innumerable acoustic guitar-toting songwriters in my algorithm trying to make their songs connect. Freeman’s popped, not just because of his amazing riff, but because of the bucolic idyll all about him. Insecta sings along.

“Tirtha Yatra”, Tyler Childers – Subverting the expectations undergirding country music is a tale as old as time, but Childers is doing more than pulling a prank or showing trick for a joke. He’s sharing a spiritual transformation that didn’t unburden him of his modesty, aw-shucksness, or “Louisville Breakdown”.

“Dreaming”, Adeline Hotel – It’s hard to pick a favorite Adeline Hotel song because Dan Knishkowy has gone so many places and imbued his music with so much meaning that ought not be compared, but have any ever felt this good? Mellow, relaxed, hallucinatory? Dreamy?

“Panj”, Oren Ambarchi, Johan Berthling, and Andreas Werliin – Detune your mind somewhat and notice change that transpires slowly. Hear how, for the first 90 seconds, the only change is an oscillation growing faster on a single note. Peace.

“Man I Need”, Olivia Dean – So much viral music is obviously engineered for that purpose, but not this. The people holding those phones are people; Dean’s luscious contralto - gorgeous and contoured like Dua Lipa’s - would conjure romance anywhere.

“Tennessee Quick Cash”, Charley Crockett – The extremely prolific traditionalist reminds me a little of one of our era’s great filmmakers: Uncannily close pastiche, so close that its impossible to tell if there was a wink under the brim of that Stetson. 

“Photography Class”, Gabriel Bernini – A tight, focused concept, just right for under three minutes of choogle and shimmy. Judicious plinks on the piano, subtle wriggles on the guitar, a misting of ride cymbal. What an excellent recipe.

“Grandmother”, Big Thief and Laraaji – Laraaji’s connection to Brian Eno frames Double Infinity well. Adrianne Lenker is as close to a 1980s synthetic spiritualism as she ever come now. A warm ebb of chorused guitar and high synths laps at her feet.

“Trenton”, Parts Work – I’ve rumbled past the sign Frances Quinlan invokes in this song. It’s by the Amtrak. You’ll see it however you pass the New York metropolitan area. It inspires a bygone era, decline, dilapidation, Ozymandias. And hope, resilience, pride.

MONTHLY

#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”

#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