DEATH // SENTENCE

A Marxist analytical conversation about the current state of music distribution. Langdon invited RSH, a pop music critic for Billboard as well as a writer at various other venues, to discuss the rift between Spotify and Neil Young. The focus of the conversation is less on the particulars of this specific incident and more on the historical and material conditions that led to the rise of Spotify rooted in musicians not owning the means of production/distribution of their work, an issue that is only further underscored by the recent appearance of HitPiece and their deeply illegal NFT music scam based off the Spotify API. FEATURED MUSIC: King Woman - "Celestial Blues"

This time around, Langdon and Eden dive deep into the early stages of human development, the Enlightenment and our political predicament with Wengrow and Graeber's "The Dawn of Everything"! But first, they take a trip to a more recent time, looking at the rise and fall (and rise) of "dark" progressive music through the lens of Pain of Salvation's current...situation. Then the conversation turns to the folly of the Enlightenment's rigid perception of history and the meaning of a broader, more playful political imaginary for Marxists/leftists! Music played: Lasiodora - Royal Jelly (https://lasiodora.bandcamp.com/track/royal-jelly) Galaxy - Bright Stars (https://galaxyaus.bandcamp.com/track/bright-stars)

Whoa! Death // Sentence is back, baybee! And so is Gareth! Langdon is also here but Eden is not. What mysteries are revealed with this conjunction, nay, this syzygy? Why, it's the secrets of Alison Rumfitt, author of gothic-horror book "Tell Me I'm Worthless". What if there was a book so good that not only did we end our hiatus prematurely, but the show's founder came out of retirement for one last job? Tell Me I'm Worthless is a haunted house story where the house is modern England and the ghost is fascism (and the house is a house and the ghost is maybe a dead giant). It's brilliant, and we have the author with us to talk about anime, Marvel movies and the unique terror of living on the rainy TERF island. Music by Pupil Slicer: https://pupilslicer.bandcamp.com/ And Backxwash: https://backxwash.bandcamp.com/ Buy Tell Me I'm Worthless here: https://www.cipherpress.co.uk/shop/tellmeimworthless

Winged angels fight with cocky birds. Swordsmen plague the land, looking for a lark. A sailor returns, reincarnated as a soldier. Or does he? That's right, it's the fourth, and final, episode of Book of the New Sun! We did it! We actually did it. This episode wraps up what we both consider to be THE greatest series of science fiction books ever written. We'll ignore the fact that there's a fifth. And, you know, two other series which turn this whole thing in one giant epic. Ignore that. We're going on a brief hiatus to catch our breaths and we'll then be back. Until then, enjoy!

A wind blows through a cruel city. The mountains sing with rain. Ancient tyrants awaken in their holds and everywhere war and the rumors of war leap between the peaks. It's Book of the New Sun - Episode 3! It's Sword of the Lictor time baybee, as our very own multiple-Christ, the one and only (hah!) Severian comes closer and closer to more answers and, naturally, more questions. Double-headed tyrants, aliens tumbling backwards through time, and all the giant-on-torturer action that's fit to print! FEATURED MUSIC Stare - Our Ways Will Not Die https://unholyrub.bandcamp.com/album/ll

The past bubbles up from within forgotten caves. The light that once shined bright now falls and we feel our bodies give way to darkness. Who will save us from our decay? What beast now slouches towards the podcast to be born? It's Book of the New Sun - Episode 2! After taking a break to allow for Life™ (it, uh, finds a way), Langdon and Eden are back to take the Claw of the Conciliator, the second volume of the Book of the New Sun, head on. How many Severians are there? Yes! Time loops, dimensional corkscrews, space butterflies, oh my! FEATURED MUSIC Terminus - Black Swan https://terminusrocks.bandcamp.com/album/the-silent-bell-toll

The future continues to unfold. Swords continue to sing. Prophets continue to roam the land. The past continues to collapse. The present continues to be unintelligible. It's Book of the New Sun - Episode 1! This time around, Langdon and Eden tackle the first volume of Book of the New Sun - The Shadow of the Torturer. Miracles! Resurrections! How may resurrections? Who knows! At least several! Duels with plants! Spaceships which are buildings. Great stuff. Episode 2 coming soon! FEATURED MUSIC The Flight of Sleipnir - Servitude https://theflightofsleipnir.bandcamp.com/album/eventide

At last! The fated prophecy has been completed and the first episode of the Book of the New Sun arrives! Spaceships fly to the forested moon! Swords are wielded in the dark! Time bends like so many swallows in the last light of the day! Lots of confusing shit is soon to happen so Langdon and Eden do some setup for the next few episodes, diving into Gene Wolfe's The Book of the New Sun. FEATURED MUSIC: Gonemage - The Gullying and the Purple Hoax https://gonemage.bandcamp.com/album/mystical-extraction

Smelling faintly of roses and holy words, Eden conjures forth this solo episode. He tackles one of the most beautiful, delicate, and magical books he's read in the last few years, Sofia Samatar's A Stranger in Olondria. FEATURED MUSIC: serpentwithfeet - Amir https://serpentwithfeet.bandcamp.com/album/deacon

On a blazing steed of heat and light, Death // Sentence arrives once again. This time around, Langdon and Eden navigate the post-modern labyrinth that is the Suez Canal stoppage, unravelling the blood-ritual at its core. Then, they discuss "Extrastatecraft: The Power of Infrastructure Space" by Keller Easterling, a mind-boggling, expansive analysis of how capital uses Free Trade Zones, mobile networks, and standardization to move around the world. FEATURED MUSIC: Cirith Ungol - Brutish Manchild https://bit.ly/2PrkPZ6 Boss Keloid - Gentle Clovis https://bosskeloid.bandcamp.com/album/family-the-smiling-thrush