A Good Cup Of Tea Takes Patience And Practice
An oolong brews differently than a white peony than a pu-erh than a jasmine. And even within those varietals, soil and air give them distinct personalities...
Viking's Choice Guide To Bandcamp Friday (Aug. 2021)
Buying trash snacks with your partner is romantic as heck. We scanned the chip aisle of our corner store, recently under new management (they now sell shisha...
Avant-Pop, Fuzz Improv, Bilingual D-Beat
The first time I told a girl that I (platonically) loved her, she kicked me out. This was my mid-20s, which I have come to call the second coming of my...
Sacred Riffs, Blown-Out Cumbia, Space Opera Noise
Summer’s usually got me in three modes: chooglin’ rosé-sippin’ tallboy riffin’ These ways of being heed no creed, genre or person — a country song can...
Sci-Fi Thrash, Heartland Punk, Skronk Groove
“Children love the meat tank.” I remember Heathcliff‘s daily strip as kinda corny. As a kid who was forever waiting for adulthood (cue wells for boys),...
Teen Improv, Brazilian Dub, Blown-Out Power-Pop
“It’s been a wild ride, motherfuckers!” Camae Ayewa (aka Moor Mother) opened Irreversible Entanglements’ set with an exclamation. Over a sprawling...
Ethio-Jazz, Cambodian Collage, Korean Pop-Punk
It’s 6:39 a.m. And I still haven’t written a pithy or emotional or silly intro to this thing, yet, so here’s an assortment of links: A deleted review of...
Peruvian Punk, Swedish Heavy Metal, Japanese Psych
Nature is healing; I went inside a record store. Among the many things I have missed during the pandemic — shows, hugs, friends, family, browsing nerdy beers...
Amp-Stacked Ambient, Japanese Folk, Black Rave Bangers
"It doesn't even make sense!" In the dorm rooms and on the streets of downtown Athens, Ga., that was the common refrain about Patrick Dean's Flagpole comic....
DOOM Unto Us
I’m still messed up about DOOM. Few musician deaths have hit me as hard and as long. Scott Walker comes to mind, as does Geneviève Castrée. Each one speaks...
Viking's Choice Guide To Bandcamp Friday (May 2021)
What started as a way to help out musicians and labels beset by the pandemic (by Bandcamp waiving its revenue fees for 24 hours) has become a monthly...
Turkish Slam, Summertime Swagger, British Twee
I love dumb action movies. So after my first Moderna shot, I started rewatching the Fast and the Furious series for the first time in years. In a haze, I...
Weirdo Bangers, Sublime Metal, Sideways Brahms
Music comes to you when it should. I’ve said something like this, in one form or another, for over a decade now… to young interns and music journalists just...
I Love This Big, Dumb Truck
The monster truck-ified Chevrolet 1500 across the street from our house. I grew up in Georgia. Not redneck South, but suburban South, where brand-new pickup...
Viking's Choice Guide To Bandcamp Friday (March 2021)
“Does Lars really think newsletter subscribers want 40 album recommendations?” “Like, doesn’t he have a kid to care of?” Welcome to the 7th guide to Bandcamp...
Indonesian Ritual Drone, German Post-Punk, Russian Hardcore
Senyawa’s ‘Alkisah,’ in a 44-label split, as released by Australia’s Stock Records. No one will listen to Jandek CDs with me. Early in the pandemic, I DGAF....
Pakistani Pop, South African Jazz, French Synth-Punk
How do I get this Instagram filter? Aux cord missing and nothing good’s on the radio. What 4 CDs you got in the car? Here's my entry to Question Twitter,...
Hear The Hands That Make Your Record
My copy of Witch Prophet’s ‘DNA ACTIVATION,’ as hand cut by Robyn Raymond For a while there, it seemed like the only person who'd make lathe cut records was...
Viking's Choice Guide To Bandcamp Friday (February 2021)
“Take a shot every time Lars drops the words cosmic, shred, weird or electroacoustic?” “You’re on.” It's always Bandcamp Friday if you chip in an extra buck...
Tone Worlds, Noise-Rock Spew, Passion Fruit Dub
“Who are your guys?” Gendered question aside, I always found this prompt from Marc Maron's WTF podcast amusing, eye rolling and useful. (Can't say I've...