Polvo

Q: i saw a playlist of yours, titled 2025, and was so delighted to see a smattering of polvo tracks in there, from cor-crane secret, and celebrate the new dark age.

over the years i haven't really been able to track down someone who is very excited about polvo. i've come to wonder whether there is some specific sub-aesthetic or cognitive thing about them that draws me to them, and doesn't really cause other people to stop and do a double take/double listen.

seeing them on your playlist was very affirming. and given what i know of your music, i am so curious to ask you what your relationship is to them.

there is an explosive part of "pick up that knife" that struck me, at first, with Harvey Milk inflection. but i heard it again and again and i feel in it, at 00:58, a throbbing and impossibly cantilevered rats nest of angular, serrated and dangerous machinic sounds. I REALLY LIKE IT. there are aspects of it that associate with polvo for me.. but they are also a bit more arid (?) (bleeds is so JUICY and wet... (blood letting?)).

could you share what your feelings are about polvo, and if you have any favorite songs or associations about them?

it's a tradition for me to come to see you guys play when you come through philly. i'm excited for november! we were actually standing next to each other for a moment during hotline tnt's set at your last show but i didn't feel like getting to say hi was worth interrupting the moment you were having with yourself. so here's a delayed hi.

the cold spot in the lake in bitter everyday : ' )

A: bruuuhhh yeah I just had a deeeeep dive moment with Polvo a few months ago. Idk what took me so long to get into them cause they’re everything I love… dissonance, choppy messy guitars, passionate ass vocals, energy energy energy combined with immense beauty and patience sometimes. Also the fellow North Carolinian band thing counts for a lot.

I love Cor-Crane secret that’s been my go to album of theirs.

The thing that made me dig deeper with them is this episode of my favorite podcast Drifters Sympathy.

I love Harvey Milk too but I think what I was channeling for that part of Pick Up That Knife that you’re talking about is this Spirit of the Beehive song around the 1:20 mark. I love this first SotB album… I think what happened with Duster is gonna happen with them and Palm in like 10 years. Both bands are/were doing something so ahead of their time and I think are p underappreciated.

I actually appreciate that I can stand in the crowd and listen to the openers without having ppl come up to me tbh! So thanks for letting me have my peaceful moment in the audience!

book rec!

Q: Hiii!! Big big fan of your music, all the way from Australia :) (I missed the show you did down here because I had a work shift I couldn't get out of... I regret it so much ahhh I should've just called in sick T-T).

Recently you said you identify with the 'southern gothic' label, and I wondered if you've ever read Truman Capote's first novel, 'Other Voices, Other Rooms'? It's my favourite novel of all time. It has THE most beautiful lyrical writing (imo), and I feel completely transported whenever I read it. The book is set in rural Alabama (where Capote was raised, and was living at the time), and is a kind of queer coming-of-age story. It actually received quite a bit of backlash at the time for portraying queer characters in a positive/very sympathetic light. It's definitely of its time in other ways though, particularly in its treatment of black characters, so be aware of that. But I would really encourage you to read it; I think you'd love the writing style. It's just so rich and textured !! :-)

Here's a little sample of the first page:

"It's a rough trip no matter how you come, for these washboard roads will loosen up even brandnew cars pretty fast, and hitchhikers always find the going bad. Also, this is lonesome country, and here in the sunken marshes where tiger lilies bloom the size of a man's head there are luminous green logs that shine under the dark water like drowned corpses. Often the only movement on the landscape is a broken spiral of smoke from a sorry-looking farmhouse on the horizon, or a wing-stiffened bird, silent and arrow-eyed, circling endlessly over the bleak deserted pinewoods."

A: Damnnnnn this sounds awesome I’ll def look for a copy!

Mostly posting so other people reading can have access to this recommendation <3

xoxo

Buffy <3

Q: Hello - love that you’re a big Buffy fan! I recently finished the series for the first time and really enjoyed it. How did you first get into it?

Wondering your opinions….favorite character(s)? Favorite episodes/storylines? Least favorite characters/storylines?

Also, have you watched the Angel spin-off series and do you have any thoughts on it?

Thanks and love your music and blog!!!!! :3

A: I first starting watching cause my roommate years ago showed me the episode “Hush” from season 5 (I think?) and I was instantly hooked and watched the shit obsessively. If I had the day off of work I would literally just sit in a Lazy boy recliner and watch Buffy from sun up to sun down. I was pretty lonely at the time so the characters were really comforting to me and felt like close friendships in a way by the series end. Then years later I forced Jake to watch it during covid with me and rekindled my obsession with it.

Some of my opinions:

I think Buffy/Sarah Michelle Gellar is one of the best main characters of any series ever. She’s hella flawed but so loveable and the acting is just so funny and dramatic and campy but also genuinely good.

Hate Joss Whedon obviously, but I love most of his shows. I love Firefly and Dollhouse. I think his writing style so soooo fucking influential but I hate his ass as a person.

Xander is one of the worst characters on TV ever. Don’t love Angel either tbh. I didn’t watch the Angel series cause I just don’t care about his azz.

Best characters Anya, Tara, Spike, Cordy and Buffy obvi <3

I love the Faith/Buffy arc the best I think?? But I literally love every season other than one. Dawn story is so crazy I can’t believe they pulled that shit off.

Season one feels like a slog just cause I know how it good it gets in all the later seasons.

Fave eps are probably “Hush”, the musical one obvi, anyone with alternate universe shit like vampire Willow etc, any Halloween eps, the chocolate that turns all the adults into teenagers, “The Zeppo” even though its a Xander episode ew, and hmmm….. any of the otha ones that are typically viewed as iconic (dont wanna spoil stuff for ppl that haven’t seen)

Food recs WNC

Hi Karly!

I am very new here, so I don't know if this has been answered already, but as someone that stays in Knoxville, I drive across to WNC all the time. Whenever I'm there, though, I never know where to grab food!!! What are some of your favs?

We miss u at the Pilot Light!!
BYEEEE

A: ooooooo good question!!!

My fave Asheville restaurant is Leo’s House of Thirst in West Asheville! It’s a weee bit fancy but so good for a celebration. I haven’t been to Neng Jr’s (a crime, i need to go!!!!) but I’ve heard that’s also a good spot for a fancier dinner date.

Best mexican is Munoz! I get it p much everytime I go to Asheville.

hmmmmm… some stuff has closed since I lived there cause of the hurricane and otha reasons… but Chai Pani rocks for indian food! Can be hard to get in there sometimes though. All Souls for pizza <3 Gypsy Queen for mediterranean. ummmmmmmmmm I eat the food from West Village Co-op like a loooot for snacks and lunch wheneva i’m in town. Rowan in West Asheville for coffee !

That’s all I can think of off tha top <3

biiiitch i love the Pilot Light. In my top 10 venues easily… probably top 3 even. We’ll def play there again one day <3

Vintage/Food/Shopping etc Recs for Japan

Q:

Hey Karly!! I’m going to Japan mid may and have been trying to think of places to go for shopping, thrifting, bars, food, figurines, tchotchkes, etc. and was wondering if you have any recs for places that are a must see I will be spending about a week in Tokyo and then a few days in Kyoto!

A:

Boy do I got a list!!!!!

https://maps.app.goo.gl/MAThPn8LGBJapte89

this is for the whole world but theres stuff in japan too

my faves of all time shops there are:

Nubian, Pin Nap, Funktique, GR8, Pat Market, Now2, The Four Eyed, Closet Child (the shinjuku location), Hitochigai and DC Bank. I suggest going to Koenji or Shimokitazawa neighborhoods for thrifting/shopping over Harajuku

Here’s food:

https://maps.app.goo.gl/SvD8ZUYS5E93X5nm9

Literally though there is amazing food EVERYWHERE

I suggest BOOKOFF or flea markets (The Oi raceway flea happens every week I believe) for tchotchkes, I actually feel kinda weird buying too much new shit in Japan that vein cause there is sooooo much around already, I try my best to thrift it. The lil coin machines will have fun stuff like that too though.

For bars def walk through Golden Gai for the experience but my fave bar in Tokyo Bar 45 or Beat Cafe. Any listening bars will rock your world. Galaxie 500 is an awesome one in Kyoto.