A space of refuge and comfort where, while wrapped in bedlinens or a soft eiderdown quilt, our dreams and fantasies unfold. Under the clouds of the duvet, in the darkness, intimacies are exchanged between bodies, hands searching, flesh tenderly touched. A centrepiece of domesticity, the psychic landscape of the bed belongs to the private sphere. But, according to James Taylor-Foster, its role in contemporary society is far more expansive. On our phones and laptops, reading, texting, exchanging emails and taking meals propped up on pillows, this is where social lives are forged, corporate empires are built and great novels are written. Between the sheets, James speaks to the sensuous connotations of the bed, a piece of furniture which is far more than just a place of rest.

Introduction and outro voiced by Johnny Vivash. Editing and sound design by Tobias Withers. Soundscape by The God in Hackney. Artwork by Karel Martens. Produced by the Extra Extra team. Many thanks to Michel Banabila for his music.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Singer. Dancer. Movie star. Activist. Afrofuturist. Android. Janelle Monáe is one of the most iconic pop stars of her generation. Her music is utterly addictive, full of infectious beats, bass-heavy funk, and that unmistakable voice, delicate and breathy, yet full of raw power. The high-concept songstress composes thematic albums, narrated by alter-ego Cindi Mayweather, a robot who dares to desire human love. Scholar Dan Hassler-Forest is unapologetically obsessed, counting himself as a 'Fandroid', the name given to Monáe devotees. Beginning with her chart-topping single, 'Make Me Feel', Dan lovingly extolls Monáe's life and vision, emphasising her ability to challenge the status quo through an ecstatic celebration of sex. In her sensual, sci-fi world, queer cyborg romance flourishes, pink vagina pants blossom and radical refusal gives way to orgasmic release. Following Audre Lorde's seminal essay, The Erotic as Power and José Esteban Muñoz's visionary text Cruising Utopia, Dan reveals how pleasure can be a force for liberation, a libidinous energy rising up to a four-chord climax.

Introduction and outro voiced by Johnny Vivash. Editing and sound design by Tobias Withers. Soundscape by The God in Hackney. Artwork by Karel Martens. Produced by the Extra Extra team.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

'Are you in a serious relationship with your smartphone?' The question headlines long-form news articles warning of the dour effects of incessant usage and screen addiction. Yet, for Nadine Botha, the intimacy we share with our handheld devices may be far more peculiar than we think. After all, it serves us both the overstimulation of the 24-7 office and the delicious jolts of adrenaline from text messages sent by lovers. In such exchanges, the vibrancy of electric connection transcends planetary locations and timezones. Scrolling, searching and seducing one another, constant connectivity permeates every aspect of our daily existence, from the way we find love to navigating unfamiliar city streets. Evoking philosophers, artists and designers, Nadine delivers an intoxicating account of the smartphone as a fetish object; a techno-sexual prosthetic, extending our bodies and selves in unfathomable ways.

This episode includes interviews with Chen Yu Wang, Jan Schulz and Ginevra Petrozzi, who also shared a recording of her project Digital Esotericism (2021). Great thanks to Kluster5 for contributing passages of Perceived Reality (2022) – a record exploring the construction of identity. The first half of the visual album – Elevation of Self-Validation – is about a young woman who loses herself to social media. Introduction and outro voiced by Johnny Vivash. Editing and sound design by Tobias Withers. Soundscape by The God in Hackney. Artwork by Karel Martens. Produced by the Extra Extra team. 

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Roasted with a splash of olive oil, a twist of garlic or dash of hot chilli, aubergines are sensuously salivating. The vegetables are immediately recognisable by their iconic phallic or bulbous breast-like shape, coated in a layer of waxy, deep purple skin and tender white flesh, spongy to the touch. Narrating her own culinary heritage and nostalgic memories of plates of steaming curry, baba ghanoush and succulent vegetarian schnitzel, Nat Muller lovingly traces the erotic connotations of the plants. Encompassing the kitchen-sink poetry of Erica Jong, an innuendo-laden exchange of emojis and the invigorating history of aubergine aphrodisiacs, Nat serves up a ravenously raunchy tale of the eggplant or brinjal. From an inaugural romantic dinner gone wrong to her husband's sure-handed slicing, she uncovers aubergines as a love language, one that speaks across continents and generations.

Many thanks to Krishna Sutedja for his composition, performed by Gamelan Mudrasvara in Ubud, Bali and to the WNYC Archives for the 1971 interview with poet and novelist Erica Jong. Introduction and outro voiced by Johnny Vivash. Editing and sound design by Tobias Withers. Soundscape by The God in Hackney. Artwork by Karel Martens. Produced by the Extra Extra team.

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In the beating heart of Berlin, Defne Ayas finds herself surrounded by a cast of endlessly invigorating neighbours. ‘Kiez’ is the Berliner word for a city neighbourhood, a relatively small community encompassed by the sprawling city. Originally heralding from Istanbul, but shaped by New York and Shanghai, Defne is more than at home in unfamiliar places. Sipping steaming mugs of ceremonial grade cacao, she sets off in search of warmth and a touch of erotica, encountering filmmakers and theorists, DJs powering peak-of-the-night climaxes, salacious journalists and inspiring artists, who have found a haven in Berlin. There are pilates instructors, kundalini breath coaches and, in the waiting room of the nearby medical practice – run by a pair of twin doctors named Minks – is Vaginal Davis, the internationally revered doyenne and performance artist. Against the backdrop of the pandemic and despair-inducing current events, Defne uncovers a radical sensuality harbouring in enlightening and tender minds.

Tremendous gratitude to AA Bronson, for his reading of Love Letter to Berlin, and Ayumi Paul for a clip of her stunning work, Eternal Love, recorded on the abandoned tennis courts in the Woga-Komplex. Part of an ensemble of buildings designed by the architect Erich Mendelssohn, the courts are a former neighbourhood hub, a popular and affordable meeting point that, since the land has been sold to a private investor, are closed to the public. And great thanks to Vaginal Davis for an excerpt of an audio work from her 2021 exhibition, The Wicked Pavilion. The excerpt appears courtesy of the artist and Galerie Isabella Bortolozzi, Berlin. Introduction and outro voiced by Johnny Vivash. Editing and sound design by Tobias Withers. Soundscape by The God in Hackney. Artwork by Karel Martens. Produced by the Extra Extra team.

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Is there any relationship more proverbial than the one between a writer and their desk? The location of laboured love, where words, dreams and fantasies flow from the tip of a pen or tap of a keyboard. Sitting down at his beloved desk, essayist Emmanuel Iduma contemplates the smooth wooden surface, his altar for creating stories. He remembers past kitchen tables, dusty library corners and even, as a child, working atop a collapsible ironing board. From Charlotte Brontë's mahogany davenport to Chinua Achebe's modest bureau, the desks of inspiring authors and poets are uncovered and, in between sentences, the rituals of writing arise. Waking in the early morning, Emmanuel walks through the streets of Lagos, stares longingly out of the window, daydreams and brews coffee before returning once again to his intimate workspace.

Tremendous appreciation to Sara Serpa for the track from her album Intimate Strangers, which draws inspiration from Emmanuel Iduma’s book, A Stranger’s Pose (2018). Introduction and outro voiced by Johnny Vivash. Editing and sound design by Tobias Withers. Soundscape by The God in Hackney. Artwork by Karel Martens. Produced by the Extra Extra team.

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Nestled between wedge heels, cosy slippers and patent brogues on your shoe rack, there are most likely a pair of sneakers – Converse with unravelling laces, scuffed Reebok running trainers or stylish Adidas Gazelles. Discovering a pair of discarded Nikes at the back of her closet – an impulse buy off the high street – Anja Aronowsky Cronberg details how the everyday sportswear became a treasured travel companion, carrying her from Paris to London, eventually bringing her to one of the most intimate moments of her life. From a conversation with a friend – a self-confessed sneaker devotee who covets a pair of Air Jordan 1's – to the documentary 𝘑𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘍𝘰𝘳 𝘒𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘴, directed by Thibaut de Longeville, a film that features such 'sneakerheads' as Grandmaster Caz, Reverend Run and Missy Elliott, Anja meditates the meaning of style and attachment, finding, just below her feet, conduits for tenderness.

Great thanks to Lisa Leone and Thibaut de Longeville. Introduction and outro voiced by Johnny Vivash. Editing and sound design by Tobias Withers. Soundscape by The God in Hackney. Artwork by Karel Martens. Produced by the Extra Extra team.

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Botanical philosopher Norbert Peeters finds the lives of plants endlessly invigorating. Deep in the undergrowth of his local urban hothouse, surrounded by chirping insects and fern fronds, a gigantic inflorescence is unfurling. Colloquially known as 'the penis flower,' the 𝘈𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘱𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘶𝘴 gives off an intolerably foul scent, yet its emergence has made international headlines and attracted a sea of visitors who queue to take a photo with the bulbous bloom. From the dusty journals of historical naturalists to the flower's celebrity status in the present day, together with Norbert, uncover the cultural lineage of the 𝘈𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘱𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘶𝘴, discovering a story ripe with allure and intoxication.

Many thanks to Roos Kocken (@plantwithroos) for her description of the Amorphophallus decus-silvae at Hortus Botanicus Leiden. Editing and sound design by Tobias Withers. Introduction and outro voiced by Johnny Vivash. Soundscape by The God in Hackney. Artwork by Karel Martens. Produced by the Extra Extra team.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.