I’ll keep this brief — at least brief for me — so you can get back to it.
From the start, the spiritual, thematic, and editorial foundation of Vehlinggo has been film music. As is well known, it was the Drive Soundtrack that finally pushed me to start something. The electronic pop releases and film scores (for real or imagined films) that this site has covered since 2014 all stem from an appreciation — a love, really — for Drive‘s pop songs and Cliff Martinez’s score. It’s been quite the wellspring of inspiration as a little blog has grown into a music site with an occasional podcast, merch line, and record label. I’ve interviewed many great score composers and have had opportunities to premiere amazing cues and even write Obi strips and hype stickers for vinyl score releases.
That said, I’ve taken the opportunities provided by the contemplative pandemic period in which we live to truly assess this site’s future. This isn’t a decision I’ve made flippantly or without a lot of thought. After nearly six years, I’m restructuring the foundations of Vehlinggo back to its film music roots. I’ve already been covering film scores and soundtracks for years, but I haven’t been able to focus on them as much as I’ve wanted. The lack of focus has been detrimental to the quality of the site’s writing. This isn’t to say it’s sucked, of course. (For example, I’m really proud of my recent interview with Ben Salisbury and Bob Locke about their Devs score work.) It’s just that I’d like to be more focused and more consistent with the quality. After all, the reason you have even heard of this site isn’t my charisma, good looks, or unending charm. It’s the writing.
Starting July 15, this site will focus on music for film and TV, both real and imagined, and do so in a very deliberate and occasional manner. I’m doubling-down on quality control. That means that you will still see interviews, reviews, and other essays centering on film and TV composers and their work, and you will still see music from people who craft albums that flow like scores or soundtracks just waiting to complement a film. What you won’t see are singles or albums that aren’t tied to that world. It’s not an easy decision, but it’s necessary. I want this site to have the best possible writing out there and the only way to do that is with more focus.
Where does that leave my coverage of synth-pop, house, synthwave, or others? Perhaps a post or two could pop up in time. And there’s always the archive of interviews, reviews, and guest posts.
I’m truly excited about this renewed sense of purpose and hope you’ll be along for the ride.
(Feature photo: The Lost River mixing desk. Photo by Johnny Jewel and taken from an old Italians Do It Better Facebook post from 2015.)
