Mixtape: That Thang
What's your post-show ritual? In my college days, I would hit up a Waffle House for a late-night hang with friends. My crew didn't really drink then, so we'd make our own fun at two in the morning over Cherry Coke and a plate of smothered and covered. When I moved to D.C. in my mid-20s, it was jumbo slices and/or dumb movie screenings until I fell asleep. These days, with a kid at home, the ritual has become more condensed, yet nonetheless necessary: what sound tracks the ride home.
Lately, Stronger Than Pride has been the sound of my post-show comedown. Sade came into my life only in the last decade, but, as I will repeat forever, music comes to you when it should. And I have found that Sade's tough tenderness to be a powerful balance to the mosh pits that I stand at the edge of… or, in the case of an incredibly fun set by North African punks Taqbir, literal blood and bruises that are still healing. She speaks truths we only whisper:
I won't pretend that I intend to stop living
I won't pretend I'm good at forgiving
But I can't hate you
Though I have tried
That's how Stronger Than Pride starts: a soft punch to the heart. I always gasp at Sade's strong-but-soothing cadence, then breathe a knowing sigh — at my own relationships (romantic, platonic and otherwise) that never quite mended, yet still sit in the maw of memory. So what I'm saying is: I want to be in my feelings after a show, especially a loud one, but cradled by someone who has known love through its triumphs and ravages. —Lars Gotrich
Stream the Viking's Choice mixtape via BNDCMPR. Follow my Bandcamp collection. Tracklist below:
The Messthetics and James Brandon Lewis, "That Thang"
Rra, "Fraid So"
Elf Power, "The Secret Ocean"
Jim White and Marisa Anderson, "Bitterroot Valley Suite I: Water"
Marion Cousin & Eloïse Decazes, "A fonte do salgueirinho"
Habibi, "On the Road"
Amy Aileen Wood, "Rolling Stops"
Tidiane Thiam, "Neene Africa"
Pelican, "Adrift"
Phelimuncasi & Metal Preyers, "Gidigidi ka Makhelwane"
Kamasi Washington, "Prologue"
Pat Thomas, "Gye Wani"
American Culture (feat. Midwife), "Let It Go"
Thank You, I'm Sorry, "Car Sick"
Martha, "A Praise Chorus (Jimmy Eat World cover)"
Flower, "Physical God"
Zao, "Ghost Psalm (Live from The Church)"
James Elkington and Nathan Salsburg, "Buffalo Stance (Neneh Cherry cover)"
Myriam Gendron, "Long Way Home"
Luke Stewart, "Unknown Rivers"
Nick Dunston, "Fully Turbulent"
Bull Run, "Race for Death"
Oddbodi, "I've Been Waiting"
Alan Braufman, "Edge of Time"
Shane Parish, "Journey in Satchidinada (Alice Coltrane cover)"
Chantal Michelle, "the gradual destruction or diminution of something"
Maoupa Mazzocchetti (feat. Clara!), "Mantequilla"
Limbo District, "Have You Seen Margo?"
Jackie West, "Snow Amplified"
Ibelisse Guardia Ferragutti & Frank Rosaly, "Destejer"
Earth Ball, "A Need to Cool Down"
Chairs, "Dilaudid"