Fugues

Ever had a little mouse in the house? They can be cute! Some folks I know have actually named them. But rats are not quite so endearing, especially when they’re cat-sized. My college roommates and I faced a full-blown rat infestation in our first NYC apartment in 1999.

Twenty-five years later, I was catching up with fellow rat-trauma survivor and old friend Ned Rauch when we started swapping war fugues. But before we went any further, I had an idea: what if we each recorded our versions separately? My memory seemed crystal clear and I assumed his did too.

So I listened back and stitched our stories together to see where they aligned and where they diverged. The result is a fun experiment in the Rashomon effect - how two people can experience the same event differently. Seeing the variation made me wonder if we can ever truly see the world as it actually is. 

All this over some (slightly) oversized rats on West 109th Street.

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Written, hosted, and produced by Gabriel Berezin with special guest Ned Rauch.

Music and sound design by Grant Zubritsky.

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Learn More

The Rashomon effect is actually derived from a Japanese movie called Roshomon. Learn about it in this 8-min pod episode.

Learn about confabulation (and the Mandela Effect).

Do all bullies stay bullies? Growing up in 80s Lexington, Massachusetts, I was friends with Tyler Brooks - a kid who could terrorize smaller students one moment and charm parents and teachers the next. Something about him was uniquely Boston-coded.

I figured my unofficial role as a bully's friend was to use my privilege for good. This episode was inspired by one fugue that I’ll never forget - an act of controversial kindness to save a younger kid from a beat down. My approach, while celebrated by my 80s family, would probably be frowned upon by modern standards. 

Despite social media tearing apart the fabric of society, it gave me a good opportunity to see if Tyler is still a dick.

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Written, produced, and performed by Gabriel Berezin.

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The Fugues fiction expedition ventures into romcom territory - or maybe anti-romcom? Remember I Adore You began as a TV pilot my writing partner Natasha Schwartz and I wrote years ago. We loved the script so much we adapted it for audio and produced it ourselves with talented musician and actor friends, recording it live. It’s half table read, half audio drama.

Based on a true story, we subverted the "will they/won't they" trope to focus on how relationships can become more meaningful after romance ends - a progressive take on male-female relationships and maybe even a blueprint for bridging divides.

Yes, it's a departure from normal Fugues content, but don't worry - there's at least one inappropriate neuroscience joke. Please share if the story resonates!

CREDITS

Written and Directed by Natasha Schwartz and Gabriel Berezin
Produced by Gabriel Berezin and Monty Montan
Sound Design by Gabriel Berezin
Recorded by Dylan McKinstry at GreenpointRecordingCollective
Music by Casual Male, Emily Jackson and Monuments

CAST

Joan played by Emily Jackson
Tom played by Tim Lappin
Arthur played by JD Martin
Suzie played by Katie Boland
Hannah played by Monty Montan
Cop played by Dylan Schwartz
Kurt played by Goldie Schwartz & Loxley Matthews
Narrator (2012 timeline) played by Natasha Schwartz 
Narrator (2022 timeline) played by Gabriel Berezin

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This is a fugues media production. All rights reserved. 

The next evolutionary step of free will?

This is an excerpt from a series called Audiocorpse. It's inspired by Exquisite Corpse, a game where participants take turns writing or drawing on a sheet of paper, folding it to conceal their contribution, and then passing it to the next player for the next contribution. It became popular in the 1920s when it was adopted as a technique by artists of the Surrealist (Dada) movement to generate collaborative compositions.

In Audiocorpse (sponsored by All The Best Radio), the prompt is to create a 3-minute story based on the last 10 seconds of another creator and must include a particular sound cue. The last 10 seconds of my story seeded someone else's, and on and on. You can hear the whole audiocorpse (#2) here.

This excerpt was written, mixed and performed by Gabriel Berezin.

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Follow Audicorpse on All The Best Radio

This teacher and her class are learning all about earth in the 50s.  

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Take a close look at this episode’s thumbnail. This image (cartoonified for the purposes of this post) was the prompt for a recent Fugues submission to Audio Flux. We were challenged to create something in “3-D” audio. In other words, it should make use of spatial audio or stereo to give a sense of the space.

Developed, written, and voiced by Gabriel Berezin and CG Foisy.

Production, mixing and sound design by Gabriel Berezin.

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Follow AudioFlux!

Look I’m not gonna get all gloomcore about the state of things in the world, but it does seem that our appreciation of morality has waned a bit in the last few years. It had me thinking of this one funny (and traumatic) memory from college.

Recounting it made me wonder - is it better or worse to have morals? This little tail tale has me reconsidering long held beliefs.

(PS - this is basically an audio snuff film, just warning you now, it's...graphic in parts.)

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Written and narrated by Gabriel Berezin.

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If you’re going through a breakup right now, stop what you’re doing and listen to this, I think it will help. This is Fugues’ first guest contributor, Mae Nagusky.  She wrote, produced and performed this great piece of audio - it’s a brilliant series of tips to manage painful breakup fugues. Mae releases her podcast in June, 2025. Keep an eye out!

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When you have young children, the well-meaning, unsolicited advice flows. "Enjoy the moment, be present!" “It goes by so fast, cherish everything,” but also “don’t worry so much!” It feels like trying to grab a river with your bare hands.

This short episode originated from a project I love called AudioFlux, they post open calls for audio submissions with specific prompts (1) focus on “firsts” (2) convey the idea of time passing without a ticking clock (3) keep the length to exactly three minutes.  

At the time of recording this, our daughter Lulu had just turned one. Lulu’s mother Monty and I like to say “time is a feeling.” This collection of fugues is meant to convey that - how love and fear dilate and contract time. 

They also asked  submitters to show their handwritten work.  I apologize in advance, but here it is.

CREDITS:

Lulu voiced by Louisa “Lulu” Montan-Berezin
Monty voiced by Monty Montan
Gabe voiced by Gabriel Berezin

Editing by Gabriel Berezin

Follow AudioFlux!

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For anyone unsure if a recent memory was a dream or reality - come on down! YOU’re (kind of) the next contestant on…”WAS! I! DREAMING!?”

This episode is the crossover between Waking Life (Richard Linklater), The Game (David Fincher) and The Price is Right (Bob Barker) that absolutely no one asked for.

In a post-reality world maybe it’s a good idea to test our boundaries a bit more.

Odds are you won’t remember this show, but if you do - I sincerely hope you won’t remember whether it actually happened or not.

CREDITS:

Fugues is written and produced by Gabriel Berezin.

Original music composed by Grant Zubritsky.

Voiceover for Rod Roddie and Richard Linklater by Michael Giese

Script editing and audience voiceover by Monty Montan

Logo design by Justin Montan

Opening and closing music by Monuments (featuring Grant Zubritsky (bass), Robby Sinclair (drums) and Bryan Murray (saxophone), Gabriel Berezin (guitar)) 

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REFERENCES:

The Head Trip: Adventures on the Wheel of Consciousness

Waking Life

The Game

Almost at the same time, my family experienced a loss I feared my whole life and a new addition I’d fantasized about for decades. And I had a dream as it unfolded that was so clear I wrote down every detail after I woke up. Actually it was more like dream theater. And this theatrical production’s imagery and characters were scripted by grief, memory, and anticipation.

I’m pretty sure this little one-act was trying to tell me something, or at least Brian Cox was (obviously he was there). A new inner character appeared in this episode to decode what it was. He demystified dreams a bit, and shared how they work.

He also helped me understand why celebrities make cameos in dreams so much. And while many think we should leave the metaphors to the artists and songwriters, he explains why dreams prove otherwise.

Most oddly and importantly he shared the power of sneezing to cope with grief.  

So, if you’re grieving the loss of someone - the end of a relationship, the end of a life - maybe this will be cathartic. Maybe it could temporarily fill in for the therapy you've been avoiding, or couldn’t afford.

(Just kidding, I am absolutely not saying that last part.)

CREDITS

Fugues is written and produced by Mr. Gabriel Berezin

Playing the role of Gabe, Inner Gabe, Food vendor, Inner Voice and Dr. Hans Bob Zimmerman is....... Mr. Gabriel Berezin

Playing the role of program announcer and script editor.......Ms. Monty Montan

Playing the role of Brian Cox is.......Mr. Tim Lappin

Playing the role of  the "sneeze paradigm" sneezer.......Ms. Lulu Montan-Berezin

In the orchestra pit, playing original compositions........Mr. Grant Zubritsky

Artwork and logo design....... Mr. Justin Montan

Special thanks to Oliver Turner for extra voiceover and  Dr. Robert Berezin for insights based on his book, “The Play of Consciousness in the Theater of the Brain”

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