My phone is probably monitoring me. I shared some advice about the best grip for pull ups, and moments later a notification for this video popped up. Apparently SkyNet really wants me to make sure I know how to grip the pull up bar. Watch this short video and you will, too. 

Last night, All Them Witches headlined First Avenue in downtown Minneapolis. I didn't see them, but I was in room. I've seen ATW a couple times before and wouldn't have minded seeing them again, but I had a really early morning today so I didn't stick around for their set. I was there specifically for the tour's opening act, the mighty Emma Ruth Rundle. By chatting with members of the crowd before she took the stage, it was pretty clear that a sizable chunk of the audience had also turned out just for her. 

I will never be able to separate Enslaved from my experience of attending the Fire in the Mountains festival in 2026. Prior to attending, they were the highest-billed band that I wasn't particularly familiar with, inspiring me to listen through their entire catalog in order. This deep dive gave me the foundation I needed to enjoy their set at the festival, which contributed to what was a genuinely life-changing experience. I emerged from Fire in the Mountains as bona fide Enslaved fan, and since then their new album, Mið, has been one of my most anticipated albums of the year. 

I recently read a post from some tech bro that claimed that the era of streaming music was over, because AI music would soon wipe out the need for any kind of human-made music. Just tell the agent what kind of music you like and mood you're in, he said, and exactly what you were looking for would be automatically generated. 

I can't think of anything that sounds less appealing. 

The new album by Master Boot Record, Computer Metal, was created with the computer as the primary instrument. But, as the band is quick to point out, every note on this heavy chiptune album was composed and guided by a human. Master Boot Record is the project of multi-instrumentalist Vittorio D’Amore, and while the music on Computer Metal is primarily electronic, you can always hear the human heart that guided its creation. 

I realized while listening to Wallensteins Garage, the debut album by Berlin's SEK, that I've referred to bands having a Krautrock influence many, many times. It also occurred to me that some readers may only have a vague sense of what that actually means. We're going to get into it, because SEK is essentially impossible to write about without getting extensively into Krautrock. I'm certainly not an expert on the subgenre compared to some of the real devotees out there, but I'm not a complete novice, either. The lesson begins below! 

Halloween is almost upon us, and I am woefully behind on horror movie viewing for the season. I'm not, however, behind on listening to new albums. Below I've got a bunch of stuff for you, including some black metal, a new album from one of the genre's biggest icons, and a few things that are hard to classify. I've also got another horror movie recommendation for you, and a couple of other surprises. 

Update: After I published this, I listened to a couple additional albums that I really liked, and have added those below.

Last night, I had the pleasure of speaking with Rebecca Vernon of SubRosa and The Keening over video conference. Over the course of our conversation we discussed many things, including SubRosa's reunion and the possibility of new music, politics in music, the origins of the new The Keening, and much more.

One quick note: this interview is a straight upload from the video conference with no editing, and if I do more of these I'll likely try to figure out how to pretty these up a bit.

Nine out of 10 times when I start talking about fitness with anyone, it turns out that person's goal is fat loss. I totally get it - that's my current goal, too. I like to say that fat loss is simple but it's not easy - you already know what you need to do to lose weight, but sticking with it is the real challenge. In the video above, trainer Mike Wiseman has some really good tips to get you started on your fat loss journey. 

It is 1,000 years in the future, and civilization as we know it has ended. What is left over is a world of ruins, mutant creatures, and portals to other dimensions. Vestiges of mankind have survived, and a post-apocalyptic religion is dominant. This is the world of Estuary, the darkly majestic new album by US black metal band Wolves in the Throne Room. 

There has always been a section of the Venn diagram of music where metal, jazz, and experimental music overlap. This is the slice of the pie where many of John Zorn's projects live alongside newer acts like Neptunian Maximalism, long established musical oddballs like Nurse With Wound, the late underground electronic musician Muslimgauze, and boundary-pushing jazz performers like Ornette Coleman. Chances are that after reading those first two sentences, your eyes either completely glazed over in disinterest, or you're excited to see where this is going. If your reaction was in the latter camp, then allow me to introduce you to Madam Orange.