The Sonic Cloth

This episode is the first of a two-parter where we jump down a rabbit hole that’ll have you surrendering your feeble mind, arrhythmic bodily function, and normie spirit to ecstatic music. You are the cobra that is being charmed. The palm bending in the hurricane. The Teachers and their Teachers have preserved these rituals. From Balinese gamelan to guitar armies to Jbala Sufi trance, ecstatic music is all about locking you in and rejecting the daily grind. Forthcoming in part two, we will see how far the Students have come. 

Cover art from Akuphone (2017). 

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In our first guest episode, Dan Donnarumma of the fantastic Create & Destroy Podcast joined me as we worship at the altar of gloom powerhouse record label, The Flenser. We agonizingly compiled eight track selections to get you started on the best label in the game. Prepare to get bummed out, blissed out, freaked out, and thoroughly Flensed. and remember to throw all your cash at The Flenser’s webstore. 

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If cool cat jazz makes you cringe and you’re too dumb for free jazz then come on into the welcoming church of spiritual jazz. Albert Ayler once said ‘Trane was the Father, Pharaoh was the Son, I am the Holy Ghost’. I don’t know what that means exactly but we back it 100%. The old guard (Sun Ra, Pharaoh Sanders, John Coltrane, Alice Coltrane, Don Cherry, Idris Muhammad, etc) faded out with their astral, consciousness-shifting music in the mid 1970’s but these sounds eventually got picked up by new blood over the past several years and they’ve been running the game ever since. Get your chakras right for this one. 

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This rabbit hole hits close to home. We’re heading eastward to the Levant, North Africa, and Central Asia to chase down independent artists who are drawing out both modern arabic and age-old oriental sounds in singular and badass ways. Kinda like “Desert Rose” by Sting but listenable.  

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Saddle up, chuds. In this one, we listen to the only type of drone you can let out a big ol’ yeeeehaw to. This rabbit hole leads us to the contemplative side of cowboyin’. Pour yourself some bourbon, strap on your facemask, and watch the empire decay. Let’s get errrrr dun. 

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What's the most popular genre of music in the Czech Republic? In this episode, we take a huge steaming shit on prog rock only to give it a second chance by focusing on the weirdo prog bands who are the only thing preventing decent people from condemning the whole genre. 

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Six tracks of heartbroken, melancholic, deep soul music to compliment chainsmoking, crying into your beer, and eventually phantom slow dancing with your departed lover. Most of these gems culled from the inimitable Numero Group's "Eccentric Soul" compilation series. Head on over to Numero Group to buy any record in their "Eccentric Soul" series. 

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