After witnessing a TikTok “beef” between the “Mozart of Gen Z” Jacob Collier and Rick Rubin, Alec and Nick take up “des arts de boeuf” as a space to discuss the implicitly disagreeable nature of musical aesthetics. The conversation uses these two maestro’s different perspectives to inquire into the role of the audience and its relationship to creat…

In a novel departure from their “special relationship” to classical and experimental music, Alec and Nick take up the topic of Interpretive Dance as a discursive foil to their ongoing inquiries into music. The duo give bewildered accounts of the aesthetic experience of interpretive and experimental dance performances—and ask basic questions: are mu…

Listen up daddios: in this episode, Alec & Nick take out the bindle-sticks and jugs of wine for a gone reflection on the lingering cultural legacies of bohemianism in the 21st century. Jumping into the Beat generation and mid-20th-century music as a starting point, the discussion focuses on how avant-gardes and countercultures oscillate into and ba…

In this special edition, Alec and Nick open the Flavortone vault to present The Great Bar Italia Debate — a lost episode from the summer of 2023, presented here in timely coincidence with the London group’s recent Crack profile. The debate poses questions about musical style, local vs. global cultural and community dynamics and politics of taste al…

After a long and unanticipated hiatus from podcasting, Alec and Nick return to take a long hard look in the mirror … only to inquire why exactly they possess the impulse to use music as an aesthetic, philosophical, social, cultural, and political measure of the world. The conversation uses the metaphor of the library to chart an interrogation into …

Alec and Nick reconvene to discuss concepts of “tradition” and “futurity” as they relate to music. Picking up on our ceaseless cultural pull toward both the past and future, the conversation focuses on how contemporary’s music’s impulse to represent history and postulate a future for itself has developed its own kind of suspended, tense aesthetic c…

In this episode Alec & Nick revisit the periodic Musician’s Friend series with a Drum Edition. Considering “drum” as an instrumental category that encompasses much of contemporary musical sound, aesthetics and cultural orientation, the episode navigates various histories and practices across a spectrum of percussive sound, recording and musical phi…

Alec and Nick bust out the evil eye amulets to discuss varieties of “cursed music” and what constitutes music feeling or being “cursed.” Following a line of thought from the archetypal Faustian bargain, malediction, ritual and sacrifice, the sacred and profane, and other concepts of curses, the discussion explores music’s relationship to shit talki…

In this 50th episode of Flavortone, Alec and Nick settle deep in cups of “earl grey, hot” from the replicator for an entry into the Star Ship Flavorphonia Captain’s Log. Citing Star Trek’s Captain Jean-Luc Picard, the duo take this ancient maritime convention of record keeping at sea to trace various other epistemic fault-lines in the practice and …

Alec and Nick pull back the Flavortone curtain and take up influential sitcom Frasier to discuss the decorum of Foibles as a primary engine of music. Known as a minor weakness or eccentricity in one’s character, or the weaker part of a sword blade—the conversation uses the Foible to explore wide-ranging commentary on Christianity, the trial of Socr…

Alec & Nick take to the proverbial skies with this discussion around the dreaming and engineering feats which make possible the various metaphorical and real forms of Flight. Diverting from some of FT’s established conversations dealing with cultural and musical wreckage, this episode looks into moments of lift and inspiration, as supported by effo…

Following on from Flavortone’s previous episode exploring Excellence, Alec and Nick pick up Charles Keil & Steven Feld’s “Music Grooves” to discuss “the Groove” as a political concept that illustrates musical discrepancy and assembly. The episode continues a “back to basics” and “first principles” line of inquiry, approaching essential ethnomusicol…

Alec and Nick kick off the new year of podcasts with a discussion of Excellence. Taking on critical histories of the composer as fodder, the episode surveys musical success paradigms and the narcissisms of small difference which feed debates over musical interpretation. Topics include Alec and Nick’s recent performances as participants in Random Ge…

In this year end reflection, Alec and Nick discuss the folkloric figure of Pinocchio—a “constantly lying wooden marionette,” whose dual consciousness (as both an abject dummy and an aspiring human) suggests a parable for understanding musical problems of “liveness” and “deadness” and the puppetry of musical commodification. Taking up Carlo Collodi’…

Alec and Nick continue their occasional roast series with a roast of German film score composer Hans Zimmer. The conversation surveys and critiques his work across the new wave and new age soundtrack exotica of the 80s and 90s (Rain Man, Gladiator, The Lion King), to the cinematic revelry of his Christopher Nolan-directed epochs (Inception, Dunkirk…

For a Halloween special, Alec and Nick take up Søren Kierkegaard’s frightening text “Fear and Trembling” as a starting point to discuss fear as it relates to philosophy, music, film, and life. Discussing the chilling crisis of faith during Abraham’s binding of Isaac and the subsequent “Teleological suspension of the ethical”—the conversation evolve…

Blue, 42. Hut. In this 42nd episode of Flavortone, Alec and Nick delve into the analytic imaginaries of Fantasy Football. Having recently joined a friendly fantasy league, they reflect on recent W’s and L’s and the characteristic fantasy sport experience of a speculative, detemporized form of spectatorship. The discussion revives a favorite Flavort…

Alec and Nick discuss the implications of American and European musical avant-gardes as participating in militaristic and nationalist rhetorics that precode our contemporary “culture war” discourse. The conversation explores how aesthetic “war-games” — in their varyingly diplomatic and contentious outcomes — are imbricated in the broader colonial t…

Alec and Nick discuss the concept of craft and craftsmanship as a paradigm that dictates behavior in cultural production and art. The conversation explores differences between the utility of craft and the performativity or representation of craft as an aesthetic repertoire. Topics include regionality and nostalgia in everything from indie rock and …

Alec & Nick engage the music of American iconoclast and life-long amateur composer, Charles Ives (1874-1954). The episode traces Ives' experimental aesthetics in relation to his transcendentalist-inspired notion that music is comprised of Substance and Manner (described in his “Essays Before a Sonata”). The discussion situates Ives’ compositional t…

Alec and Nick discuss the politics and poetry of Jar Jar Binks as a fraught, irredeemable, and complicated figuration of online media culture. Christening summer 2022 as a “Weesa In Big Doo Doo Summer,” the duo discuss a “Binksian paradigm” as an imagistic cultural impasse and toxicity meter that encodes a variety of recent contemporary cultural tr…

Presto! In this episode, Alec & Nick discuss the legendary illusion arts of Harry Houdini as an analogical frame for considering artistic strategies and aesthetics of escape. Discussing the work of Mattin and Pascale Criton in particular, the episode accounts for performance, audience and spectacle as planes of musical consistency in which the illu…

The Flavortone Study Group sub-series continues with Alec & Nick discussing Friedrich Nietzsche’s text “The Case of Wagner: A Musician’s Problem,” his last work completed only days before his mental collapse in 1888. The conversation delves into the historical context for both Nietzsche’s thought and Wagner’s music and delves into the text’s themes…

Alec & Nick conduct a first meeting of the “Neo-Feudalist Captive Music Society,” an invented club that takes shape around how contemporary musicians are obliged to live on borrowed land and provide homage, labor, and shares of their “produce.” The discussion describes how local music networks often exist outside the castle walls of the various abs…

Teasing their forthcoming music writing website (TBA), Alec and Nick delve the epistemic guts of music and the written word. The episode traces broad historical discussions of music criticism in relation to current trends in publication and music production. Topics include Substack, The Village Voice, the "critic-as-artist" the Schumann-founded jou…

Alec and Nick consider the music and cultural impact of Frank Sinatra through a discussion of his album, “Sinatra At The Sands” — recorded in 1966 at the famous Las Vegas hotel and casino. Drawing from observations about Sinatra’s iconicity as a stylist of American popular song, a persisting contemporary signifier of celebration and kitchen-sink co…

Alec and Nick discuss the poetry and politics of the experimental music festival. At first exploring the history and economy of music festivals such as Big Ears, Moogfest, Hopscotch, Red Bull Music Academy, and the European Festival circuit—the conversation then launches into a personal discussion probing Nick’s curatorial role at ISSUE Project Roo…

Alec & Nick delve into the lore and mechanics of the video game Elden Ring, drawing a layered comparison between “The Tarnished” and our plight as musicians, cultural participants, and social media users. The discussion takes Nick’s recently pseudo-viral tweet proclaiming that “a truly new insane and unforeseen music can and has yet to be made” as …

In this 30th episode of Flavortone, Alec & Nick talk through the recent acquisition of Bandcamp by the massively successful creator of Fortnite and Unreal Engine — Epic Games. Examining the broader indie music scene’s antagonism towards this merger, the conversation interrogates the microtransactional status of digital media economies shared by bot…

Returning from a trip to the sunny coast of Sayulita, Mexico, Alec & Nick reflect on their recent ocean fishing excursion and drop a line into the psychogeographies of the fish, the fishermen and the high seas. The episode considers aquatic ecologies as networks of geo-political power and discourse as well as sites of leisure and solitude. Topics i…

The Flavortone Study Group sub-series continues with Alec & Nick progressing in their reading of Jacques Attali's "Noise: The Political Economy of Music." Discussing the book's second chapter, “Sacrificing,” this episode gives a deep reading and commentary on Attali's position that the earliest essential social role of music was to serve as a subst…

Alec and Nick meditate on the Valentine's holiday with a consideration of musical romance and romanticism. Charting a history of musical thought regarding topics of love, collectivity and intimacy, the episode investigates deeper foundations of romance as well as its contemporary commercial and social constructions in sound. Topics include Edgard V…

Alec & Nick inaugurate the new patron-exclusive Politics & Poetry sub-series with a deep dive into the politics, poetry, and music of 17-year-old country music / emo-rap star Kidd G. The discussion touches on trans-american rural aesthetics, reciprocities of youth and aging, binaristic partisan politics, and the postmodern synthesis of “country-rap…

Alec and Nick discursively cross the river Styx that is Web3 and NFT culture. Charting a recent history of music’s own volatile and speculative economies, this episode tracks analogical implications within sound and blockchain technologies. The duo borrow the crypto degen epithet “we like the art” and speak about the visualization and tokenization …

In this first podcast of the Flavortone Study Group sub-series, Alec & Nick begin their reading of Jacques Attali's "Noise: The Political Economy of Music." Discussing the book's first chapter, "Listening," this episode offers introduction and commentary on Attali's central theme of music as a prophetic social force and as a mirror of political and…

Alec and Nick continue their “Musician’s Friend” sub-series, dedicating an episode to discuss a selection of father & son musical relationships including: Mark Fell & Rian Treanor, Terry & Gyan Riley, Thom & Noah Yorke, La Monte Young, as wells as The Hank Williams & Bach musical dynasties. The conversation touches on topics such as uncanny music i…

Alec & Nick inaugurate the new patron-exclusive Editorials and Opinions sub-series with a sportsmanly report on music they did not listen to in 2021. Topics include The Wire Magazine, the live music show, Coldplay, Fuerza Regida, Klein, aesthetics of failure and participatory discrepancy.

In this final episode of 2021, Alec and Nick wrap up the year by revisiting an early concept from the Flavortone archive: the Cochlear Wind. The Cochlear Wind is a figurative mascot, intended to both cheer and taunt the way composers bamboozle listeners (and often, themselves) through flurries of tactical language, technological posturing and evoca…

Inaugurating the launch of their Patreon and merch projects, Alec and Nick discuss their ambitious “mise en place” for a new year of podcasts, guest appearances and exclusive publications. “Mise en place”—the french culinary term for "putting in place" or "gathering” an array of ingredients—serves as a way of framing these new Patron benefits. On t…

In preparation of cooking their own turkey for Thanksgiving dinner, Alec and Nick make a broad comparison of the venerable bird to the production of music albums and the heights and depths of American culture. Topics include tensions around suspicion and comfort, the trauma of American capitalist and familial ritual, obsessive indexing and preparat…

Alec and Nick discuss a concept of the miniature in this one. Touching upon music from the onkyo, wandelweiser and microsound genres, the discussion approaches various methods of compositional and improvisatory reduction. Topics include Gaston Bachelard's "The Poetics of Space," Participatory vs. Presentational music, the Time-Image of Gilles Deleu…

Alec and Nick inaugurate a BBQ Roast sub-series of the podcast, where a guest of honor is subjected to jokes and analysis at their expense. The series begins with a roast of British singer, songwriter, and producer James Blake as a relatively “neutral” starting point for these juicy, sizzling take downs. The conversation discusses the cringe-to-coo…

Reprising the "flavor-phonic," "gastro-acoustic" discussion charted in Flavortone Episode 4: Tasting Menu 1 (Dégustation), Alec and Nick step into the kitchen once again in this second edition to the Tasting Menu series, as they articulate a concept of the Stinky. Considering a range of malodorous musical and culinary selections, this episode takes…

Flavortone has produced a mini episode for Edition Erich Schmid on Montez Press Radio. Alec & Nick articulate “The Fudd-Flynt Complex” which charts a Fuddsian analysis of the work of Henry Flynt as splicing the species war between Math & Language (Rabbit & Duck Season) into the world of Elmer Season—where Flynt’s ideas of “Meta-Technology,” “Concep…

Fresh from a visit to the Billie-Jean King National Tennis Center for the U.S. Open Grand Slam tournament, Alec & Nick consider a comparison between the sport of tennis and music. The episode charts out three conceptual spaces shared by sports and arts: the cultural production of iconic figures, an emphasis on the management of time, and political …

Having recently celebrated experimental hodgepodgeist and artist Ying Liu’s 10th anniversary as a resident of New York City, Alec & Nick embark on discussing a central question she has asked Flavortone: what is an experiment? The episode features a self-checklist of questions Ying asks herself when inquiring if something “is an experiment.” The con…

In this episode, Alec and Nick discuss the daily life poetry of digital workflows. Through a range of topics including the media art works of Yasunao Tone, Walter Benjamin's paradigm of Distraction vs. Concentration, Ableton Live, iOS, and more, the episode conceives of the laptop computer as a kind of “Flat Stanley,” which accompanies us in life’s…

Named after Theo’s recent Longform Editions release, the episode features Alec, Nick, and Theo embarking on a slightly turnt post-red-sauce conversation that discusses his work as well as ideas around sincerity, duration, ambient music vs. ambivalent music, the piano, “Blue” Gene Tyranny, Tim Hecker, Phillip Corner, Dark Souls, and more. Opening Th…

Alec and Nick discuss Blighttown, a notoriously punishing level in the video game Dark Souls where everything wants to poison you, or give you toxic status. The discussion uses the level as way of talking about “condemned structures” in contemporary music & discourse. Subversions of ascent and reward, the curatorial platform Blank Forms, anarchy, i…

Alec and Nick discuss some of the quandaries of reopening the live music and performance economy. Ideas around liveness, civic engagement, participation, self-determined infrastructure, commitment, diminishing returns, site, assemblage, and citation are discussed—specifically in experimental, improvised, and popular music, as well as in the work of…