It’s Been a Dream, But It’s Time For the Next Chapter

I was going to wait to do this until Nov. 19, 2024, the 10th anniversary of this site’s launch. However, now’s the right time. Vehlinggo.com, this music website updated with various degrees of regularity since 2014, is going on an indefinite hiatus. That big deep dive with The Midnight about their upcoming Dark Horse Comics graphic novel was essentially the last interview for this site. Vehlinggo the entity will still be around, though. My creative aspirations haven’t dried up. (More on that below.)

One thing you should not worry about is me pulling a move like some toxic digital-media exec and deleting the site for no good reason. I’m keeping it online. Vehlinggo.com is simply going into a kind-of archive mode. It would be misguided to remove about nine-and-a-half years of great interviews, reviews, essays, guest posts, and diatribes across the score, soundtrack, synthwave, synth-pop, house, and disco spectrum. Authors cite Vehlinggo material all the time — in books, articles, podcasts, and more. And there are still people discovering Vehlinggo’s articles on a daily basis. (Vehlinggo writers have, after all, interviewed some pretty compelling people.)

So all of that will still be here and so will the multimedia elements. The 5 Years comp will still be working its way into hearts and minds, well, five years after it was released. (The Vehlinggo Presents series is overall still available for you to listen to.) The podcast episodes — an often fun extension of the textual fare — are almost all still around. There are still some fun mixes to listen to while you ride out competing apocalypses.

It’s just that over the past few years my attention and time have been spread quite thin and so everything takes longer than it should, and some of it isn’t coming out as well as I’d like. In general, a lot has changed since 2014 — and especially over the latter half of Vehlinggo’s life. I have more obligations and different priorities.

As I hinted above, Vehlinggo as a name, idea, and entity isn’t going anywhere. This move will allow me to focus on specific projects that have languished as I’ve tried to balance so many creative interests, such as my Electric Youth anthology, freelance articles, liner-notes commissions, and other fine things. Ideally, deadlines on those things won’t be obliterated in an endless cycle of failed rebirths. It’s important to me to be realistic and focused with goals — I never want quality to suffer from my being spread too thin.

I want to thank the readers, interview subjects, freelance writers, and collaborators* who have helped make Vehlinggo what it came to be over the near-decade. They’ve taught me a lot and helped me turn a whisper of an idea into something tangible and meaningful. Vehlinggo represents an accomplishment far beyond my tempered dreams. I’ve met scores upon scores (pun intended) of great people all over the world — a true community across multiple scenes and genres. Some of them have become some of my closest friends. I never imagined such a thing. I can only hope I’ve likewise helped you all with all of your creative adventures.

I also want to thank my wife, Allison, who inspired me across the board with this thing. She encouraged me to move from theory to action and start writing for and publishing my own site. She urged me to use the Vehlinggo name I’d often kept dormant since I first attached it to a zine in 1990. And over the years she has been there for me when I’ve hit a wall logistically, creatively, or psychologically when trying to ensure Vehlinggo always adhered to quality over quantity in the face of the internet’s unhinged pace. You might have disagreed with some review or took issue with some interview, but the writing was always good — whether it was coming from me or one of the other writers.

Anyway, all of the above has made the past several years a dream for me and has set up the next several years to be rewarding in new and different ways.

In essence, this isn’t an absolute “adieu” by any means. It’s just a transition to something else. I hope you join me for my next chapters to see what I have to offer.

*I wanted to call out some people (in alphabetical order) who contributed heavily to the success of Vehlinggo over years, as contributors of words, visuals, and other kinds of guidance and support. I know the name tends to be synonymous with mine, but it has been a group effort to some degree for many years: Abigail Gordon, Adam Black, Alex Karlinsky, Alexander Burkart, Andrew B. White, Austin Garrick, Ben Lovett, Brian McNelis, Bronwyn Griffin, Chandler Poling, Darren Page, Frédéric Rivière, Gary Dimes, Graham Reznick, Hayley Stewart, Jesse Taylor, Johan Agebjörn, John Bergin, J.P. Bernier, Justin Little, Kent “Von” Hertzog, Kurt Nishimura, Luke McCoy, Nico Bataille, Pat “Misty Vales” Vehling, Rachel Reeves, Redg Weeks, Spencer Hickman, Tim McEwan, Tony Giles, and Tyler Lyle. If I’ve forgotten anyone, please know it wasn’t at all intentional (but do feel free to yell at me, ha).