This week's episode features a conversation with critic, Byron Coley, whose work has covered experimental music and independent culture. Byron discusses Now Jazz Now, the newly published, fully illustrated 270-page softcover book edited by Eva Prinz, with a preface by Neneh Cherry and an afterword by Joe McPhee.

Now Jazz Now brings together the perspectives of Mats Gustafsson, Neneh Cherry, Joe McPhee, Thurston Moore, and Byron, compiling personal archival selections of recorded works that orbit free jazz and free improvisation. Structured around 100 essential releases presented chronologically—but explicitly rejecting hierarchy or competition—the book foregrounds album art, labels, liner notes, and collector reflections as lived history rather than canon. Byron discusses record collecting as a lifelong practice, the cultural conditions that shaped free music, and the idea of listening as an act grounded in curiosity, memory, and freedom.

Stand-up comedian Ben Roy is also an actor, writer, podcaster, and musician. He began his career in Denver, developing his stand-up at Comedy Works, and has since appeared at festivals including Just for Laughs, the New York Comedy Festival, and South by Southwest. His television credits include HBO's Funny as Hell and Comedy Central's Adam DeVine's House Party, Corporate, @midnight, and This Is Not Happening.

Ben is a co-creator, writer, and star of the truTV series Those Who Can't, which ran for three seasons. He hosts the podcasts 97.9 The Rat Race on the All Things Comedy network and The Grawlix Saves the World. In addition to comedy, Ben is a musician and serves as the lead singer of the pop-punk band SPELLS.

Photo Maurice Nunez

Harley Flanagan began performing in the city's punk scene at age 11 as the drummer for the Stimulators. In the early 1980s he founded the Cro-Mags, a band widely cited for its influence on later hardcore, punk, and metal groups. His memoir, Hard Core: Life of My Own, frames his career within the broader evolution of New York's punk and hardcore movements. Harley has also been active in Brazilian jiu-jitsu for decades, directing the kids' program at Renzo Gracie's New York academy. In recent years he has continued recording and performing while participating in film work and public discussions of mental health.

Martin Atkins's three decades in the music industry in nearly every aspect of record production, gives him a rare perspective on the music business past, present, and future. After early success as a drummer with Public Image Ltd. and later work with acts like Killing Joke, Ministry, and Nine Inch Nails, he launched his own projects including Pigface and the influential Invisible Records. He has since become an author, speaker, and educator, sharing his expertise at major conferences and now teaching music business at Millikin University. A father of four, he lives in Chicago with his wife, Katrina.

Longtime friend and collaborator of Lydia and friend of The Lydian Spin, Jasmine returns to the show. She is a filmmaker and artist who wrote letters to Aileen Wuornos and later conducted a filmed interview with her on death row in 1997. Jasmine's footage appears in the new Netflix documentary Aileen: Queen of Serial Killers; Wuornos had asked her to record her story before the execution to provide an account she felt the media had misrepresented. Jasmine is working on her own documentary, which is currently in progress. Jasmine and Lydia have also collaborated on the documentary and Artists Anxiety Depression and Rage.

Excepter is an experimental music collective formed in Brooklyn in 2002. John Fell Ryan (sometimes called "Jeff") founded Excepter and has remained a central member, providing vocals, synths, and electronic instrumentation. Lala Harrison Ryan has been involved in the group since at least 2006, contributing vocals, programming, keyboards, and flute.

Paul Roessler is a musician and record producer based in Los Angeles. Active since 1978, he was part of the early L.A. punk scene and played keyboards with band including The Screamers, Twisted Roots, 45 Grave, Nervous Gender. His work includes solo albums such as Abominable, Curator, and The Drug Years, as well as collaborations with artists including Nina Hagen and Mike Watt. Paul is currently a producer at Kitten Robot Studios and is the brother of musician Kira Roessler and son of underwater photographer Carl Roessler.

Carlo McCormick is a pop culture critic and curator living in New York. He is the author of numerous books on contemporary art and artists and has lectured and taught extensively at universities around the United States. His writing has appeared in Aperture, Art in America, Art News, Artforum, High Times, Spin, Vice, and countless other magazines.

Chris Connelly is a Scottish-born musician and writer whose career spans from the industrial and post-punk scenes of the 1980s to a wide range of solo and collaborative projects. Beginning with Rigor Mortis (later Fini Tribe) and continuing through Revolting Cocks, Ministry, and Pigface, Chris's work is an exercise in constant reinvention and movement between genres. His later solo work, including Whiplash Boychild, Shipwreck, and Blonde Exodus, reflects a shift toward melodic, literate songwriting, while his books and collaborations, such as The High Confessions, demonstrate his continuing interest in music as narrative and experimentation.

Gary Lippman is a writer, artist, and attorney. He has worked with New York's Innocence Project and is the author of the acclaimed new book I Wish Therefore I Am.

His play Paradox Lust ran off-off-Broadway in 2001, and his writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Paris Review, and VICE. Gary's visual art can be found at apocalippy.com.