Kavus Torabi is a British guitarist, vocalist, and composer, with a long and prolific career in the world of avant-garde rock music. He is known for his collaborative work in the 90s with Monsoon Bassoon, and the 00s with cult math-rock heroes Cardiacs, as well as his solo work as Knifeworld, and under his own name. He's also a member of the current line-up of legendary psych rock band Gong.

Kavus and I have been fans of each other’s musics for years. Our fun conversation gets into the vibrant artistic family surrounding Cardiacs, melodies that make us angry, psychedelia, autism, and coming to the occult later in life.

👉 Many thanks to my patrons! Consider becoming one here: https://www.patreon.com/lastthingspod....

👉 If you'd like to join my Discord server, you can request an invitation here: https://www.charlielooker.com/join

👉 If you'd like to subscribe to the monthly Last Things newsletter, sign up here: http://eepurl.com/do92G5

Justin Pearson has been a vital and prolific force in underground music since the 90s. His many bands, including the Locust, Dead Cross, Head Wound City, and Retox, have made an indelible mark on the canon of heavy music, and his long-running label, Three One G, has been an important platform for numerous like-minded experimentalists. We talk about “Annoying” as a genre, healthy inter-band competition on tour, the uniqueness of the 90s San Diego hardcore scene, and our different experiences at the same Marilyn Manson afterparty.

👉 Many thanks to my patrons! Consider becoming one here: https://www.patreon.com/lastthingspod....

 👉 If you'd like to join my Discord server, you can request an invitation here: https://www.charlielooker.com/join

👉 If you'd like to subscribe to the monthly Last Things newsletter, sign up here: http://eepurl.com/do92G5

Musician, visual artist, and actress, Sophie Leetmaa joins me to talk about Parenthetical Girls’ art-damaged baroque pop cult classic, ‘Safe as Houses’ (2006). We get into bloodletting, the Tumblr era, listening to Tori in the bath, music from Popeye, and lore from the unsung 00s micro-scene that spawned P Grrrls.

👉 Many thanks to my patrons! Consider becoming one here: https://www.patreon.com/lastthingspodcast.

👉 If you'd like to join my Discord server, you can request an invitation here: https://www.charlielooker.com/join

👉 If you'd like to subscribe to the monthly Last Things newsletter, sign up here: http://eepurl.com/do92G5

Wyattxhim's YouTube channel is a rich, one-of-a-kind resource for commentary on black metal, death metal, and all related genres of heavy music. From his album reviews, to iceberg charts, to nuanced video essays, Wyatt’s depth of knowledge, humor, and elite taste have been attracting a rapidly-growing following of extreme music cognoscenti.

Wyatt and I talk about crying to Peter Sotos, left-wing black metal that's actually good, the purity of old-school YouTubing, and the importance of challenging one’s own beliefs.

👉 Many thanks to my patrons! Consider becoming one here: https://www.patreon.com/lastthingspodcast

👉 If you'd like to join my Discord server, you can request an invitation here: https://www.charlielooker.com/join

👉 If you'd like to subscribe to the monthly Last Things newsletter, sign up here: http://eepurl.com/do92G5

Nick Podgurski is a musician, artist, educator, and contemplative mentor interested in transformation and the nature of creativity. Since the 00s, he has been growing a truly unique body of work and thought, with his own projects Feast of the Epiphany and New Firmament, and as a collaborator with GRID, Lydia Lunch, Extra Life, and Yukon. Nick and I go way back, to the original line-up of Extra Life. Nick and I talk about practicing loss, George Gurdjieff, and the importance of Something Else.

👉 Many thanks to my PATREON patrons! Consider becoming one here: https://www.patreon.com/lastthingspod...

👉 If you'd like to join my Discord server, you can request an invitation here: https://www.charlielooker.com/join

👉 Sign up for the Last Things Newsletter here : http://eepurl.com/do92G5

Heinali is the moniker of Oleh Shpudeiko, a composer from Kyiv, Ukraine, whose work reimagines Medieval music with a modular synthesizer, borrowing techniques from contemporary analog synthesis, generative music, and improvisation. His recent activities have been a highly acclaimed live performance from inside a bomb shelter, and a new Heinali record, Kyiv Eternal. His past projects have included installations and collaborations around the world, and the award-winning music for the video game BOUND.

We talk about the hollowed-out sacred, Ukrainian artistic identity, possessed synthesizers, generative music as a garden, the deflation of ambient, music education, and trauma.

Check out the new Heinali record here: https://heinali.bandcamp.com/album/ky... 

👉 Many thanks to my PATREON patrons! Consider becoming one here: https://www.patreon.com/lastthingspod...

👉 If you'd like to join my Discord server, you can request an invitation here: https://www.charlielooker.com/join

👉 Sign up for the Last Things Newsletter here : http://eepurl.com/do92G5

Sam Mickens is a singer, guitarist, composer, and performance artist based in Los Angeles, whose powerful, idiosyncratic work brings together sweet soul, glam rock, classical music, comic books, and professional wrestling. His many projects include The Sam Mickens Ecstatic Showband & Revue, his ‘00s art-rock band, The Dead Science, the theater piece “Kayfabe: Game of Death”, and his many recent solo records. Sam and I go deep here on one of our favorite books, Yukio Mishima’s “The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea", grappling with death, glory, being a touring musician, capital punishment, The Great Cause, and working out your Seppuku muscles.

👉 Many thanks to my patrons! Consider becoming one here: https://www.patreon.com/lastthingspod...

👉 If you'd like to join my Discord server, you can request an invitation here: https://www.charlielooker.com/join

👉 If you'd like to subscribe to the monthly Last Things newsletter, sign up here: http://eepurl.com/do92G5

Patrick Higgins is a composer of experimental music, including works for chamber orchestra, string quartet, percussion ensemble, and his own virtuosic and unique language on guitar and electronic processing. He’s been a member of the classic New York avant-garde band ZS since 2012, and his music has been performed around the world. 

Our conversation gets into Pat’s amazing string quartets, the meaning of narrative in instrumental music, opening up space to think differently, his concept of “social death”, and the moral valence of making experimental music.

👉 Many thanks to my patrons! Consider becoming one here: https://www.patreon.com/lastthingspodcast

👉 If you'd like to join my Discord server, you can request an invitation here: https://www.charlielooker.com/join

👉 If you'd like to subscribe to the monthly Last Things newsletter, sign up here : http://eepurl.com/do92G5

Visual artist turned music video director, Zev Deans, has been responsible for some of the most iconic visuals in heavy music since 2010, including work with Portal and Behemoth, as well as mainstream artists like St. Vincent. He has also done film restoration work with the HR Giger estate, and fabrication work for Matthew Barney. Zev is a deeply respected and beloved fixture in my corner of culture.

Zev and I talk about gentlemen duels, Polish catacombs, deepfakes, the role of AI in his recent work, the legacy of Kenneth Anger, and some upcoming projects that he’s a bit skittish about detailing.

👉 Many thanks to my patrons! Consider becoming one here: https://www.patreon.com/lastthingspodcast

👉 If you'd like to join my Discord server, you can request an invitation here: https://www.charlielooker.com/join

👉 If you'd like to subscribe to the monthly Last Things newsletter, sign up here: http://eepurl.com/do92G5

Jesse Moynihan is a cartoonist, storyboard artist, and writer who has worked on Adventure Time, Midnight Gospel and his own critically acclaimed graphic novel series, Forming. Our conversation gets into Jesse's roots in the Philadelphia experimental music scene, the connection of prog rock to animation, the meaning of visual noise, Ai anxiety in art and music, the wackness of '00s New Atheism, and Jesse's newest personal project, Jesus 2.

👉 Many thanks to my patrons! Consider becoming one here: https://www.patreon.com/lastthingspodcast

👉 If you'd like to join my Discord server, you can request an invitation here: https://www.charlielooker.com/join

👉 If you'd like to subscribe to the monthly Last Things newsletter, sign up here : http://eepurl.com/do92G5