DEATH // SENTENCE

Aubrey Sitterson, author of The Comic Book Story of Professional Wrestling joins us to discuss the One True Sport. Along the way we lust after Zack Sabre Jr., talk about the similarities between death metal and pro-wrestling and find out why wrestling being fake makes it better than all other sports. Music by Skullcrush: https://redefiningdarknessrecords.bandcamp.com/album/skullcrush-visions-of-the-firestorm-eclipse And Bismuth: https://bismuthslow.bandcamp.com/

The best turn-of-the-century literary guy named Jonathan has a new one out, and he's back doing detective stories. Can he get back into the groove he found in 1999's Motherless Brooklyn? Will he be the first novel to take on Trump and win? How can literature make sense of a world like ours? What happens when you die honking your dong to Japanese animation? Music by Hate Eternal: https://hateeternal.bandcamp.com/album/upon-desolate-sands And Ithaca: https://ithacauk.bandcamp.com/album/the-language-of-injury And leave us a damn review on iTunes you pigs.

Writer, podcaster and Troop Nate Bethea (@inthesedeserts) joins us to talk about the buzzed-about Cherry by Nico Walker, the almost-entirely true story of an Iraq vet getting into heroin, then bank robbery. We also talk about the opioid crisis, the shoot'n'cry genre, alt-lit and being afraid to like Bukowski. Music by Ulthar: https://listen.20buckspin.com/album/cosmovore And Grimorium Verum, from the WOMAN II compilation: https://blackeneddeath.bandcamp.com/album/worldwide-organization-of-metalheads-against-nazis-ii You can read more of Nate's writing about his time in the military here: https://www.mcsweeneys.net/columns/in-these-deserts-war-stories-from-afghanistan

We've got Deirdre Coyle (@DeirdreKoala) and Michael J Seidlinger (@mjseidlinger) on the show to talk about Jeff Jackson's (@deathoflit)Destroy All Monsters, a mind-bendingly weird story of bands getting shot, and that means we get to talk about small-town scenes, KoRn, why serial killers have gone out of style and a little band of debauched space-mutants called GWAR. Music by Cloud Rat: https://cloudrat.bandcamp.com And Nattravnen: https://nattravnen.bandcamp.com And check out Michael's book My Pet Serial Killer, out now on Fangoria: https://amzn.to/2ROG9Eh

We're joined by The LitCrit Guy (@thelitcritguy) to talk about Oli Mould's Against Creativity, a book that argues that capitalism has co-opted art, so of course we talk about whether Slimer is a comrade, the lingering trauma of the tapeworm-man episode of the X-files and cereal cafes. Music by Body Void: https://bodyvoid.bandcamp.com And Bliss Signal: https://blisssignal.bandcamp.com/

In the sequel or spinoff to the last episode, we're still on the line with Chistine Kelly, owner and operator of Tridroid Records, who helps us to become the tape label moguls that we were always meant to be. But first: Kanye. Music by Hallucinogenia, coming out soon on Tridroid Records: http://tridroid.bandcamp.com

We've got Christine from Tridroid Records on the show to talk about Olivia Laing's fiction debut Crudo... which means actually talking about Gritty, Kathy Acker, FDR faking his disability, neoliberalism, knife crime and how maybe we're just dumb, I don't know. Part two, where we talk to Christine about running a record label, is coming soon. Music by High Cost, coming soon on Tridroid Records: https://tridroid.bandcamp.com/ If you're listening to this on iTunes and don't leave a five-star review within seven days Gritty will appear in your room like Bob in Twin Peaks.

Antifascist war-metal breakout stars Neckbeard Deathcamp are signed to Prosthetic Records and playing Maryland Death Fest after one intentionally bad EP and now a split with Gaylord, but they're still regular guys who wear ski masks while being interviewed for podcasts. We also talk about $300 plugins to make records sound worse, Ghost, non-player characters, fascism, Vidal Sasoon and Ke$ha. With music by Neckbeard Deathcamp and Gaylord, from their United Antifascist Evil EP (100% of the revenue from which goes to Planned Parenthood): https://neckbearddeathcamp.bandcamp.com/album/united-antifascist-evil

Gary Shteyngart, bestselling, award-winning novelist, has a new book out that weaves together threads of race, class and power to create a vibrant portrait of America in 2018. Dril is... Dril. Which of these literary giants is America's greatest satirist and why is it obviously Dril? This episode comes with lengthy digressions into cringey #resistance articles, Elon Musk, The Wire, and the True Meaning of 9/11. Music by Dödsrit: https://alertaantifascistarecords.bandcamp.com/album/aa130-d-dsrit-d-dsrit-lp-pre-order-shipping-date-10092018 And Infant Island: https://infantisland.bandcamp.com/album/infant-island

Corey Pein (@coreypein) joins me to first give us an update on the fallout from the Unite The Right 2 mess in Portland, then to talk about his book Live Work Work Work Die (on @MetropolitanBks), in which he tries to pitch a startup to unionise Silicon Valley before pulling back the curtain to reveal the tech industry's dark past (spoiler: literal Nazis). Music by Thou: https://thou.bandcamp.com/album/magus-2 And Cliterati: https://downloads.tankcrimes.com/album/cliterati-violation-wound