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...
Cubist Dance, Hag Blues, Heavy Shoegaze
Emmanuelle Parrenin's new album features German producer Detlef Weinrich, Gilbert Cohen, saxophonist Quentin Rollet and Ghédalia Tazartès. I mind my grits....
Bummer Jangle, Gnawan Blues, Reckless Hardcore
Let me know if y'all with me, y'all By way of the late, great MF DOOM, welcome to Viking's Choice. (I'm still a mess about this… DOOM's music means the world...
In 2020, I cried, I sought other worlds...
The view from our remote solace out in West Virginia. Grief has a way of making obstacles out of the things you love. I’m still spinning that idea around in...
In 2020, I raged, I sunk into soft sounds...
As much as I missed people and missed touch... as much as I quietly and not-so-quietly raged, as much as anxiety rendered me hopeless, as much as the too-big...
A Dark Noel, Anarcho-Christian Black Metal, Portal-Opening Techno
We strung lights to Loretta Lynn, then watched the Christmas tree glow to A Dark Noël. When Projekt Records released Excelsis: A Dark Noël in 1995, the...
Viking's Choice Guide To Bandcamp Friday (December Edition)
Y'all, it's the last Bandcamp Friday of 2020, when the platform waives its revenue fees so that artists and labels keep that extra 10-12% cash. While y'all...
When Karen Peris Sings, "Are You All Right?" 😢
Karen Peris on The Innocence Mission’s ‘Glow’ tour in 1995. In bedrooms and on highways, these were my coping mechanisms with grief. 2020 is not over, yet,...
