At Which Point

Wang Lu: At Which Point: I. Prologue

Faith

Rookie (feat. Loraine James)

DECEIVER / MIRROR

UNDER

The Music of Hildegard von Bingen Part II

O Virga Mediatrix (feat Bill Orcutt)

Oganesson

Cities Of Fear

Ka Gaza

Vana va Ndhoda

Crow Speech

SIDE A / SIDE B

Île d’Ogoz

From Dayton With Love...From Others: A Tribute To Morella's Forest

Tangerine Drops

Devil's Kiss

Can't Stop It! Australian Post-Punk 1978-82 (2025 Deluxe Edition)

Summer

Ouroboros / Alii

Toru - Ouroboros

Sueño Andino

Agua

Xolo

Find You There

Blaq Garden

Neighbourhood Watch

Los Thuthanaka

Huayño “Phuju”

美丽的歌谣 (Beautiful Ballads）

另一种姿态

The Deep Sleep of Evil Men

interius/exterius

Music is a Message From Space

WOLFGANG VOIGT Sun Ra Loop 2

WEM Dominator (Live in London NW1, 2016)

Descending Belladonna (Live in London NW1, 2016)

Fronte Violeta

A Orelha do Mundo

Paradise

Paradise (feat. Sam Amidon)

Ghost Parades

Intents of a New Dream

What Will Happen If We Stop?

Steel Dust Mites

TRACES

Father and Son

Eye I Aye  Ivy

So Many Doors

In the Shade of the Living Light

An Early Translation of a Later Work

By 1995, Dayton, Ohio already had a handful of classic indie-rock albums under its belt: The Breeders' Pod and Last Splash; Brainiac's Smack Bunny Baby and Bonsai Superstar; Guided by Voices' Bee Thousand and Alien Lanes (and the very many GBV albums before them). What a productive Midwestern city! According to my research, nothing much was happening after corporations fled and manufacturing jobs dried up — that's often when art flourishes.&nbsp; But like most of my early musical education, I didn't know about The Breeders, Brainiac or GBV back then. Instead, my introduction to the Dayton scene was a noisy dream-pop band and its 1995 debut: Morella's Forest.<iframe width="400" height="345" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/BIOGFA6XQEE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe> There's a book to write — one that I'm desperate to author — about the alternate universe that Christian punk and indie rock created for kids like me in the '90s, who scoured the shelves of Christian bookstores for CDs and tapes that weren't Newsboys and its youth groupie ilk for something darker, stranger, heavier, faster, cooler. Labels like Takehold, Boot to Head, Burnt Toast Vinyl, Flying Tart and Velvet Blue Music were influential to a subset of a subset of discerning teenagers, perhaps limited by what their church-y parents would allow in the house, but desperate for something real.&nbsp; Tooth &amp; Nail Records is largely responsible for this parallel world where MxPx was our NOFX, Roadside Monument was our Unwound — these were not carbon copies, but built off the underground's creative wellspring. And of T&amp;N's '90s roster, Morella's Forest was undeniably the coolest band. They had style up and down: Velocity Girl steeped in fuzz pedals, dreamy melodies nicked from Curve and Cocteau Twins, straight-up walls of shoegaze noise… oh, and the singer was a lowkey fashion icon who could write and sing melodies like a Greenwich Village folkie. There was also not much — if anything — preachy about the band, an assumption often made about this scene. Over time, MoFo progressively turned toward straight indie-pop, but never lost touch with its chaotic roots — you could always expect a burst of fizzle in the most saccharine moments.&nbsp; I wrote some very long liner notes for a Super Deluxe vinyl reissue a few years ago. Now I've got some very short liner notes for a <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" href="https://pacifico.bandcamp.com/album/from-dayton-with-love-from-others-a-tribute-to-morellas-forest">Morella's Forest tribute comp</a> out June 8 called From Dayton With Love… From Others. And there's finally something to hear.&nbsp; Fine China, alumni of Tooth &amp; Nail and currently on Velvet Blue Music, does a very Fine China version of "Tangerine Drops," arguably the best song on Ultraphonic Hiss, the best Morella's Forest album. I love that, for this cover, Rob Withem leans into Fine China's aesthetic as of late: dusky dream-pop by way of The Blue Nile and The Ocean Blue, complete with an outro that extends singer Sydney Rentz's brilliantly coy, finger-twirling melody in garlands of synth and guitar — if there's a side-long version hiding on a harddrive, I need it in my life. By the way, Fine China's I Felt Called, which just came out in February, feels right for this nebulous area between spring and summer — <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" href="https://finechina.bandcamp.com/album/i-felt-called">majestic guitar-pop</a> that shifts ably through three-minute puffy-shirt rockers ("Television Set"), shimmering doo-wop ("I Felt Called") and pop epics ("Desert of My Dreams") worthy of The Cure. Listen to Fine China. Listen to Morella's Forest. Pop nerds unite. —Lars Gotrich, <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" href="https://www.vikingschoice.org/">vikingschoice.org</a>

Mixtape No. 125: Fine China's dusky and dreamy Morella's Forest cover, Kaleidoscope's psychedelic hardcore, Tortoise's intricate chill

vikingschoice

natural

todo dia

Campanelli

I Am Here And Now

Desert Window

Like Clay

Sounds Like...

Hey Baby

Do Not Consider Yourself Free

Miracle Music

Silver Bells

No School

We Are One (ft. Jesse The Tree + Monzy The Terrible)

A Paradise In The Hold

American Memory

American Memory, I

NOPLACE

We Who Are About To

Without References / Cindy Van Acker

Quest

The Other Days

SPECTRE FOLK "Quabbin Winter"

Radar

The Spin

The Dress

From Where You Came

Daze

TAKAAT (of Mdou Moctar) - Is Noise, Vol. 1

Amidinin

Remains

His Own Arcana

ensemble

Walks The Blue Circle

Getting The Worms Out

Total euphoria

Blossom

Kisses

qunaiqû nèjautsè

ssaytt nanst jait souq ssa jattjays tait qai vûtt qiqjaysjouva qunaiqû, ssètt tais souq viqsès naytt sût viqsat jè vaysjautt

With Trampled by Turtles

Stranger

Dans La Fournaise

Survie

Traveller Supplement 1: The Ephemeral Glades

Knife World

Perennial '65

The Overmold

Song of the Beyonders

Fantôme

UMMG (feat. Taylor Eigsti)

Cruel Entertainment

Rock Candy

It's hard to know what day it is or what I'm supposed to do; this is what it is to live in America right now. Last week, when the House threatened to <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" href="https://51st.news/house-republicans-vote-to-defund-d-c-police-and-schools/">defund D.C. public services</a> as part of the federal spending bill, which includes my daughter's elementary school, I went blind with rage… you know, in addition to everything else happening. (The bill passed, but the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" href="https://51st.news/senate-votes-to-spare-dc-from-dramatic-budget-cuts/">Senate spared D.C.</a>) One of my few outlets has been music: I levitated when Jorja Smith performed "On My Mind" at The Anthem, took my kid to see the jazz supergroup ARTEMIS (she loved it) and spun Embrace's "Do Not Consider Yourself Free" relentlessly: "But as long as there are others held captive / Do not consider yourself free." It's become a prayer. —Lars Gotrich, <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" href="https://www.vikingschoice.org/">vikingschoice.org</a> P.S.: What a weird time to promote anything, but I wrote some very short liner notes for a <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" href="https://pacifico.bandcamp.com/album/from-dayton-with-love-from-others-a-tribute-to-morellas-forest">Morella's Forest tribute comp</a> called From Dayton With Love...From Others. (I previously wrote&nbsp;very long liner notes for the Super Deluxe vinyl reissue, which appears to be out of print.) Morella's Forest made sweet and fizzy '90s dream-pop inspired by Curve and Velocity Girl, with a bubbly sense of melody and drama. Tess Wiley, Fine China and The Throes appear, as do newer bands like Cigarettes for Breakfast and Weak Sheep. Once there's a preview track on Bandcamp, I'll include that in a future mixtape.

Valentina Goncharova's violin drone, TAKAAT's Tuareg fuzz, terraplana's bummergaze, Yazz Ahmed's psychedelic jazz.

Asheville Rising: An Ambient Compilation to Benefit Hurricane Relief Efforts in Western NC

Confluence

Pomegranate Seeds: An International Benefit for Mutual Aid in Gaza

I Don't Need You

Love Los Angeles: A Charity Compilation in Aid of the 2025 Los Angeles Wildfires Benefiting the Mutual Aid LA Network

Kurupi – Hollows

comp.02_canyons

Brian Eno - Music For Airports

LOS ANGELES RISING

The Red River

Super Bloom: A Benefit for Fire Relief in Los Angeles

Molly Burch - Carefree

For Our Friends: A Disaster Relief Compilation

Cannot Deny U

UNDER THE BLADE OF A ZIONIST NIGHTMARE VOL II

TA2REEBAN - قتيلة اطفال

Artoffact California Wildfire Relief

FALLING

For LA, Vol. 2

A Word I Give

Cardinals At The Window

Music Laughter Episode Track 78

(like) Christs Naked Ice

777 Love Songs

bobbie - to my core i'm a lover

Hello Sunshine: A Tribute To Relatively Clean Rivers

Last Flight To Eden

For Los Angeles: A Relief Compilation from Preference Records & The Village

The Call (Live at Zebulon)

Staying: Leaving Records Aid to Artists Impacted by the Los Angeles Wildfires

KMRU - Visions

BATTLE FOR L.A.: a see/saw benefit

Manic Monday (The Bangles cover)

Ukraine Benefit Compilation

My Sanity

Operation Ivy Live at The Empty Bottle (Laura Jane Grace/Catbite)

Vulnerability

Music For Ukraine

Tripak: Myztong

2025 LA Fire Relief Comp

Avoid 2

ESP Institute XV – I Active, II Passive, III Unobtanium [L.A. WILDFIRE FUNDRAISER]

Daily Gates

Welcome to L.A.

Los Angeles (feat. Marisa Shirar)

Relief

Earnest Eyes- voice memo

For LA, Vol.1

Daka

Back in the Garage - Los Angeles Fire Relief Compilation

Dream Girl

Desert Balm- A Compilation for MusiCares LA Relief Fund

Ofir Ganon- Cherry

I Heart L.A. - A Sell The Heart Records Compilation Supporting L.A. Fire Relief

We Care A Lot (Faith No More cover)

Another mixtape? So soon? Why not? For the past month and change, I've kept a <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" href="https://bsky.app/profile/totalvibration.bsky.social/post/3lfumdghry22y">running thread of albums on Bandcamp that benefit those affected by the LA wildfires</a>. Lots of other newsletters have linked to what's become a useful, but somewhat unwieldy string of posts.&nbsp;So here's a way to collect them all in a mixtape — one track per album, so if you like something, buy the whole release to help those in need.And because folks in Asheville, Ukraine and Gaza are all still dealing with devastations of their own, I've included some tracks from various benefit albums that have come out in recent times.&nbsp;—Lars Gotrich, <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" href="https://www.vikingschoice.org/">vikingschoice.org</a>

A mixtape of benefit releases for those affected by the LA wildfires, Asheville floods, Ukrainian invasion, Gaza occupation

We Care A Lot

TIDE/TIED

Low Tides

From the End of Time

Desolation Rising

萨迦维纳琴之声 The Sound of Sagar Veena

早上的拉格 Raag Bhairav (Morning Raag)

Red Lake, Black Mine

Until We Meet (featuring Francesca Stevens)

Música Aperta

Música Aperta II

I Don't Miss You

Gloria

Archangel Michael and the Pacific

Blue Veil

Phase III

AFTERGLOW

Set Like This

Totality

Clock no Clock

you'll bleed out of control

elite

Forgotten Turns

Broken Strands

Miłosz Kędra - their internal diapasons

airborne

Remscéla

Exile of the Sons of Uisliu

Let Me Out

Battlestar Galactica

Rubber Band Music

these desk-bound daydreams

Plastique

El Rey

run the gamut

big bruiser

Here are some recommendations of things to read, listen to and watch: Slate's Decoder Ring podcast has been on a roll lately: the history of Tupperware parties, the lore and surprising lasting influence of Jerry Lewis' lost Holocaust movie. But I did not expect to care about the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" href="https://slate.com/podcasts/decoder-ring/2025/01/how-the-1990s-swing-revival-went-from-cool-to-corny">'90s swing revival</a> for an hour. Like, did you know that members of Royal Crown Revue and Big Bad Voodoo Daddy originally came from the hardcore scene? (Youth Brigade and False Confession, respectively.) Superman has never really been "my guy" when it comes to comics. So when I began to read House of El by Claudia Gray (author) and Eric Zawadzki (illustrator), it took me a few pages to realize it that it's, yes, <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" href="https://www.claudiagray.com/books/dc-young-adult-graphic-novel/">a prequel to the Superman saga</a>, but actually it's actually a cautionary tale about eugenics and authoritarian rule… and what it takes to rebel. Stirring, potent and (sadly) timely stuff.&nbsp; How many times have I watched this cover by Haku., a Japanese indie-pop band, vibing hard to Japanese tongue twisters? Such a weirdo funk bop!&nbsp;<iframe width="400" height="345" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/J76S5q_ETfo" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe> Didn't know that an old box of records that I sent to WUOG, my old college radio station, would ever get <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" href="https://news.uga.edu/radio-radio/">featured in my alma mater's magazine</a>, though the article really <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" href="https://bsky.app/profile/totalvibration.bsky.social/post/3ljbdi3dhrk2h">needs a fact check</a>. —Lars Gotrich, <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" href="https://www.vikingschoice.org/">vikingschoice.org</a>

Marshall Allen's ghost groove, Nadah El Shazly's percussive polyphony, Florida Man's careening noise-rock, Lucy Railton's resonant cello.

Square the Circle