New to Listen Closely? Here's your welcome mat.

Humanity has had ways of recording what we see for as long as history has been recorded. But the way we hear? A very recent phenomenon. This is what $10 on Ebay will get you.

Music heard in this episode:

Time Forest - Hiroshi Yoshimura

People on Sunday - Domenique Dumont

Lágrimas Negras - Hermanos Gutiérrez

AJ Schlechten is a woodworker and experimental artist in Fruita. Colorado.

Find his website here and art here.

Produced in its entirety by Alec Cowan.

A sonic tour through Madrid, Seville, and Granada, Spain.

00:00 - Walking through El Retiro Park

02:26 - Birds in El Retiro

04:23 - Watching a street performer in Madrid

07:40 - Walking tour at Puerta del Sol to Plaza Mayor

12:50 - Inside the Almudena Cathedral

14:15 - The Prado

16:30 - At the Plaza de Toros

22:22 - Bells of Sevilla

23:00 - At Maria Louisa Park in Sevilla

25:00 - The Alcazar

27:18 - Horses in Sevilla

27:50 - At the Cafe Morillo

29:34 - Birds of Granada

32:00 - Guitar in Ronda

A sound walk through the marshes of Seattle.

This story took three years to make. Sort of.

Featuring: gaming sessions from 2022, 2023, and 2024.

Video game noises courtesy of late-night searches on Freesound.org.

Another day in the woods.

A note: the text in this episode was AI generated. It comes from a ChaptGPT prompt asking for a podcast-styled narrative story about walking in the woods while it’s raining. I’ve tweaked language in places, and the rest of the production and music is completely original from me. This is meant to be more of a practice exercise and experiment, and is in no way an endorsement for AI podcasting or the replacement of human creative pursuits.

My new documentary series -- "Boom Town: A Uranium Story" -- is officially releasing!

Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, and find photos, transcripts, and references over at www.aleccowan.com/boomtown

A quick podcast tour through Rome (featuring a cameo from Florence).

Sites featured include:

00:21 — Birds in our Roma courtyard

00:59 — Exiting our apartment onto the Tiber

02:38 — Walking down the Tridente, Via di Ripetta

03:50 — San Luigi dei Francesci

05:08 — Outside the Pantheon

06:01 — Inside the Pantheon

06:56 — Piazza Navona

08:01 — Early morning birds at our Roma apartment

08:29 — Yes, even more birds

09:30 — At the Vatican Museums' square (with the Pine Cone)

10:35 — Explanation of the Sistine Chapel

11:08 — Walking the Vatican Museums

11:55 — The Sistine Chapel

14:43 — Walking through the Basilica of St. Peter

15:57 — The bells of St. Peter's, plus the changing of the Swiss Guard

17:56 — Buskers in the Piazza del Popolo

18:46 — Crowds in Florence

20:28 — Sitting on a park bench in the Villa Borghese

22:20 — Mass at Basilica of Santi Ambrogio e Carlo on the Corso