Another early Sunday.
Leon asks the infernal 8-ball what’s up. Flipped over, it says: go both speeds at once.
When we take its advice, the sun is driven poorly by the wild son. The earth scorches. The father smites the son. The cycle continues—through the Iraq War, maybe all the way to 2025.
We move to frozen Canada and double down on the vowels.
The CD Esoterik exclusive track hits the sweet spot where the snake eats its own tail, and recursive logic extrapolates toward its ultimate goal: ecstatic ghost hum production.
Beginner’s mind is the key to keeping the Kaoss Pad unlimited.
The universe explodes into so many layers of simulation— and then: Whitney Houston confetti, powered by a nuanced critique of the colonialist anthropological instinct.
We close our trip to the Canadas in the ultimate hall of Kierkegaardian expensive cassette mirrors, to look at some paintings somewhere near Niagara Falls.
Back to Brooklyn for delicate shredding and something new with guitar.
You can do it still!
We visit Japan for the hollow sound, where the dishwasher brings the responsible vocal shred. Something short shows us the bubbles we live in.
And: New York hates you.
Finally, a convincing case that live music is better than recorded music can ever be.
Episode warning:
Do not listen while driving or operating heavy machinery.
We want problems. We don’t want peace.
We listend to:
1. Ian Crause – Phaethon's Call
2. Christof Migone – ooooo (demo)
3. Michael Snow – Si Nopo Da (By What Signs Will I Come to Understand)
4. Chris Wind ft. Jurgen Rodriguez – Paintings 7
5. Chuck Roth – Twister
6. Hako Yamasaki – Wandering
7. Milan Grygar – Akustická kresba A15
8. DEATHBYSHEEP – DEATHBYSHEEP PRESENTS- BLUNTED POSSE SAMPLER MIX 2022-2023 PART 2 (excerpt)
9. Josephine Foster – All I Wanted Was The Moon (live at MeetFactory, Prague, May 16., 2024)
Shout Outs:
Le Laps one of many Marie-Douce St Jacques' awesome endeavours.
Rest in epic strangeness, Brian Catling
Hollow — B. Catling
Michael Snow! thank you!
Chris Wind's excellent website
Marie Brassard’s film Le Train
Microclimat Films — The Train
Penelope Spheeris — The Decline of Western Civilization (Parts I-III)
In which we are joined by one of the OG inspirations for Esoterik, esteemed blogger, substacker, brilliant writer and legendary ear-having proprietor of Blastitude, Larry “Fuzz-O” Dolman.
We discuss the economics of the 30-600 split, Utopias and Distopias. The openess of open access. Cassandra Miller vs Cassandra Wilson.
The full EPA scale delivers short form long form. We get over the Robert Wyatt hump by mineralizeing Leon. Fishing with a sausage, an apple and a sandwich lands a Ukrainian architect tipping the Zulawski meter into the red. The vibe shift clause is invoked leading us back to the trucker funk, down the deep history of the ugliest edits to the perfect bpm. Jeff Mills shows up, as he does, to complicate the narrative. After that, we hit the tornado coffee shop bringing the go-go back. We close on the hopeful resilient shimmering pickled herring of 1989.
As usual we get 1/91st of the way to the 6000 cassettes in the kiosk,
It is what it is. There’s no changing it.
Finally, we ask the eternal quesiton: Was RollerDerby 1.95 or 2.95 per issue?
We listend to:
1. Shutaro Noguchi and the Roadhouse Band – Olympic 3.5
2. Bill Orcutt – The Four Louies II
3. Robert Wyatt – Biko
4. Ihor Tsymbrovsky – Bilya Morya (By The Sea)
5. Ron Hardy – Live at the Music Box, 1985 (excerpt)
6. Jeff Mills – Memory Reset 9
7. Reaction Band – Coffee Shop
8. Оселедець – Хто поблагословив незрячі очі
Shout outs:
Gridface's Ron Hardy archives
Arthur Magazine's Jay Babcott's substack
Roller Derby's Lisa Carver's patreon
Violence is easy. Nostalgia, Complexity, they all are easy to make a case for. The beautiful? It’s impossible to approach. Yet, we try, without intending to, because it’s Sunday morning and music speaks directly on Sunday morning, and absolute unmixed attention is prayer.
Melody. That singer from orang, what’s her name? Simone Weil. So much control over something uncontrollable. The nations foremost player bowing instead of plucking. How rawness affects the opening of ears. Fractal sand that egress the vibes to create the oyster and the pearl. Then, a short sailing trip back to the gradient. What about tomorrow? We got up in the morning and we had to eat again. It’s a disaster by god.
Too short soulful collage from a small little country. Better. Richer. More complex sonic youth cover closing the gradient in perfect tone but still getting hurt by songs with drums recorded miles away. Beauty kills. Beauty is the murderer.
What we learned: To speak better: Talk less. Make music more.
We listend to:
1. Henryk Górecki feat. Beth Gibbons, Krzysztof Penderecki – Symphony No. 3 Final Movement
2. Cassandra Miller – I cannot love without trembling
3. Hwang Byungki feat. Hong Sin Cha – The Labyrinth (Excerpt)
4. Tom Johnson – Combinations for String Quartet III
5. Gary Marks – Sailing
6. Ziad Rahbani feat. Jospeh Saqr – Esmaa Ya Reda
7. Collage – Halb Sirp (Bad Sickle)
8. Silvia Tarozzi – La sostanza dell’affetto
9. Marnie – Songs Hurt Me
Shout outs:
Watch Beth Gibbons singing Górecki with Krzysztof Penderecki conducting
Domenico Caliri guitarist on the Silvia Tarozzi track (she is also listed so it could be her!)
Amazing sound artist, label runner, contextual one-time author, unlandlord and friend since Esoterik days Anne-F Jacques joins us for our tenth (TEN!) episode. We start with 2-3 notes and the inimitable pacing of Mo Tucker, then go pure timbre and tape when actually it’s lots of notes and no melody.
Can things just be allowed to be things?
Contraptions!
What’s going to happen next?
Episode lesson: Teenage suburban metal bands are essential in creating the material conditions for experimental music
We listend to:
A. Intro theme
1. Glorias Navales – Carta a Maureen Tucker - 01 Lado A (excerpt)
2. Joris De Laet – Envelopes
3. ake 阿科 – mismatch 不合
4. Ellen Fullman – The Gardner (Excerpt)
5. Zhao Cong – home recording 1
6. Atsushi Tominaga – 013
7. Leandro Barzabal & Céleste Gatier – Sans titre 1
8. Eliane Radigue, Ensemble Dedalus – Occam – Hepta I
Z. Outro theme
Shout outs:
https://metaphon.be/ for all your tape music needs
Shawn at Bar L'Hémisphère Gauche for keeping the neigbourhood tight
WrK records Japan for the colour photocopies
Zhao Cong for the toys
In this very special episode one of our hosts is transmogrified in Prinzendorf. Another is levitated multiple times, raised into the air! We discuss the relationship between the thing-in-iteslf, knowing the thing as represented, and the thing-as-experienced.
A lot of blood. A lot of fruit. A lot of entrails.
Plus:
Tip of the week: Homemade Magma t shirts get you gigs
We listend to:
A. Intro theme
1. Hermann Nitsch – Orgien Mysterien Theater 25.Aktion – Untitled IV
2. Mariolina Zitta & Patricia Meyer – Il Giardino Delle Stelle
3. Wolf Vostell – Il Giardino Delle Delizie – Fluxus Opera (excerpt)
4. Walter Maioli & Nirodh Fortini – Suoni ottenuti soffiando dentro due gambi di taraxacum (do e fa) registrati in un prato con sottofondo di suoni d_insetti (brano n.3). Suoni successivamente rallentati di velocità
5. Denis Wize – Celestial Cungo Dub
6. Jerome Rothenberg – Horse Songs
7. Marion Brown played by Paul Bley – Sweet Earth Flying (Pt. 1)
8. Sensational & Unbuilt – Erques
9. Eric Schmid – Giorgio Agamben (excerpt)
Z. Outro theme
Shout outs:
Blake Hargreaves
Mystical Knights of the Taiga Spa, Wien
Server Farms
Rosi Braidotti
Special thanks / Rest in power
Cortical Foundation / Gary Todd
Transversal musician and Esoterik kin Olivier Borzeix, whose venn diagrams scantly overlap but go deep regardless, joins us in today's episode. Henry Flynt is identified as the central node of all astral collapse. Leroy Jenkins appreciates the sun city girls but he doesn’t understand them. Lamonte Young almost kills someone dear, but a small dose of possession does an internet affected body good. James Tenney, erotic film star, tortures violinist's fingers.
The internet connection changes quality. You can’t stop it. Chrome kills as a source of band names.
Content warning: Balloons!!
Overall moral lesson:
Don’t just sing when flexitone virtuosity can abound.
We listend to:
A. Intro theme
1. Henry Flynt – Violin Strobe
2. Uncredited – Ketjak: The Ramayana Monkey Chant
3. James Tenney – Koan
4. Judy Dunaway – Live 2016 (Twister Balloon) (watch the amazing footage here)
5. Karen Krog – Images in Glass
6. Karen Krog – Meaning of Love
7. Kengo Iuchi – 九月の空に忌
8. Abstract Nympho – Silver Machine
Z. Outro theme
Shout outs:
Dream House in Mexico:
https://casadellago.unam.mx/nuevo/evento/dreamhou
RIP: Marianne Zazeela
Neighbour Loulou
Mark Loeser, AGAIN!
Emerald Cloud Cobra
Thanks Angie for the episode artwork
Matts Guffstason
All the good record stores that don't just move units
In which we forgo discussing the state of the world but then play a whole ton of music that discusses it better than words do. Fuck dancing about architecture, make music to set the heart of the world on fire.
Special thanks to the persistent Felquiste energy for episode inspiration.
Godard actresses and actors. Deleuze reading Neitzche over prog. Renaissance double agents, crying babies/screaming babies, Byron Coley being shy, pis le meilleur fucking disque jamais fait icitte au Québec.
We listened to:
A. Intro theme
1. Catherine Ribeiro + 2 Bis – Lumière Écarlate
2. Richard Pinhas Heldon – Le Voyageur (Ouais MArchais Mieux qu'en 68)
3. Rato Mobio Venance - Min Mmi
4. Jean-François Pauvros – Mon homme
5. George Clinton – Bangladesh
6. John Downland – Unquiet Thoughts
7. Whine – Gauntlet
8. L'Infonie – Mantra
9. Scream Baby Scream – Untitled
Z. Outro theme
Shout outs:
There, whom Leon keeps calling Them, and Dime
Tyler Knight and Francis Amireault dream rhythm section
The Wall of Stockhausen
Mark Loeser Again!
Greg & Brian, keep your eyes peeled for the new Pump Up the Volume location!
And because this podcast is an astral collapse generator, this episode is published on Brian and Leon's birthday, happy birthday Brian!
Renowned sound-artist, theorist, and professor Christof Migone joins us for the long haul down the Toronto–London xpressway. Everyone records with actual microphones. No spacesuits. No fishtanks. Just words and music.
Confessions. Absolutions.
Men who can’t see far enough.
Young cousins wake suddenly, speaking perfect Polish.
Moths swirling around a lightbulb.
100% nocturnal, until the electric Bozambo dawn.
Above all else: Godard.
We listened to:
A. Intro theme
1. Christina Kubisch – Night Flights
2. Peter Rose – The Man Who Could Not See Far Enough (Witness – excerpt)
3. Jean-Luc Godard - King Lear (excerpt)
4. "Blue" Gene Tyranny – A Letter From Home
5. Tibor Szemző – Tractatus
6. Roy Ayers Quartet – If I Were A Carpenter
7. Bozambo – Viva Bozambo
8. Offering – Love In The Darkness
Z. Outro theme
Shout outs:
BBB / NOW TIME - https://boot-boyz.biz/
Alex St.Onge https://www.alexandrest-onge.com/
Peter Rose
Special thanks:
Thank you Christof Migone of https://squint.press/
Thank you, Roy Ayers (1940 – 2025)
Dead of winter emergency February party. This one is for anyone who’s ever had to move.
In our continuing recording adventures Leon spends the last part of the episode recording from inside a spacesuit from the depths of Death Valley.
Charming animals, melodramas, glacial paces, Eurovision finalists… Fire. White smoke. Black smoke. The end.
We listened to:
A. New intro theme
1. Marielle Groven – My Heart Is A Mountain
2. Alan Sorrenti – Angelo
3. Cem Karaca – Emrah
4. Isak Sundström – The Tarnished Angels
5. Animal Charm – Moving Day
6. Bill Dixon – When Winter Comes
7. Fitz Gore & The Talismen – Requiem For Julian Cannonball Adderley
8. Marshall Allen ft. Neneh Cherry – New Dawn
9. John Cage – In a Landscape
Z. Outro theme
Shout outs:
Colin Vernon as well as the 62 Rache E. Anticapitalist Ass Pirates for the emergency February healer
Marielle Groven mariellegroven.ca thanks for loaning the pod your incredible track
Alexandre St-Onge passing on knowledge
Thank you Vincent Williams (1933 – 2016) for The Voice
In this fourth episode, we welcome legendary noise moistener, ex-esoteriker and genius-level ear-haver, Alex Moskos. Also, Jacob is calling in from a fishtank covered in a sock that he kind of dips in and out of. The usual "experimental" recording balanced by consistently dazzling music. The question remains: Is HMV open? Yes. Well we're open too, then. Finally, Keith Rowe legit shreds.
We listened to:
A. Intro theme
1. Kavain Wayne Space & XT – Side A
2. Amalgam – Roller Coaster Part 1
3. Number One du Senegal – Fatu Sarr Waasanaan
4. Chaba Fadila – Ouelite
5. SnPLO – Lastday cookie
6. keiyaA – Do Yourself a Favor
7. Gavin J Sheehan – Flibbyflobbyflu [CD Esoterik Exclusive]
8. Kevin Harrison & Steven Parker – Cavalcade
Z. Outro theme
Shout outs:
The essay in question: George E. Lewis, Improvised Music after 1950: Afrological and Eurological Perspectives, 2002
Excellent music archive project Unknown Province
The DIY cassette/mail-art torch burns bright thanks to presses précaires
After the dogs ate episode 2 it became clear that in order to meet the demand we needed to rush out a third. Turns out time-pressure is the best creative constraint. Number 3 features lots of hard panning, heavy playing, non-complex complexity and mad side-chaining. The question remains: Is there life on the earth? Esoterik podcast says: "YES"
We listened to:
A. Intro theme
1. Ahmed Essyad – Lecture pour bande magnétique (1974) part I
2. Otto Willberg – Reap What Thou Sow
3. Joan La Barbara – Voice Piece: One Note Internal Resonance Investigation
4. Fred Moten, Brandon López, Gerald Cleaver – 1A
5. Joe McPhee & Survival Unit II w/ Clifford Thornton – Song For Lauren
6. Kyle Gann – Andromeda Memories
7. Thick Pigeon – Jess + Bart
8. Makers – Don't Challenge Me
9. Michael Finnissy – Gesualdo: Libro Sesto: I
Z. Outro theme
Endless gratitude:
Chris Wrench
Zïlon
Pierre Martel
Inaugural episode! Years in the making, shitty recording, ham-fisted editing. Great great music, lots of laughs, lots of feelings. Sorting out technicals is brown carpet, but it'll be smoother next time, promise! We had a great time, we want you to have a great time.
We listened to:
1. Count Ossie & The Mystic Revelation Of Rastafari – Bongo Man
2. Ayako Shinozaki⧸Takehisa Kosugi – Heterodyne
3. Patrik Fitzgerald – Working Hu-Man's Casino
4. David Rosenboom – Section II. (symmetrical harmonies in chaotic orbits)
5. Gerhard Ruhm – Pencil Music Nr. 1
6. Gerhard Ruhm – Pencil Music Nr. 2
7. Gerhard Ruhm – Pencil Music Nr. 3
8. David Van Tieghem feat. Adele Bertei – "Working Girls" opening theme
9. Billy Bruner – T-U-L-S-A Song
10. Momoyo & Lizard – Sa･Ka･Na (サ･カ･ナ)
11. Paul Bley/Masahiko Togashi – Offhand (excerpt)
Shout out:
NPNP – Harmony In a Vacuum (Halocline Trance) out now!
Billy Bruner
T-U-L-S-A Song
T-U-L-S-A
Tulsa
Come on along
It's okay
I can hardly believe
That underneath this oak try
All of the tribes, they met in peace
That's unmistakably Tulsa
No better place in the world to live
That's unmistakably Tulsa
Where we live
Where the people can be so friendly
And the weather, so unpredictable
It's a place called 'America's Most Livable City'
We started out small
Now we're standing tall and free
Where this stuff called 'black gold'
Floated us all that way
