ACFM Trip 36: Festivals

ACFM Trip 36: Festivals

Author: Novara Media September 3, 2023 Duration: 2:09:27
Novara Media
NewsCulturePhilosophyPoliticsSocietySociety & Culture

Festivals. The perfect embodiment of the ACFM aesthetic, and even social politics… or are they? As the season comes to a close, Nadia, Jem and Keir ask themselves what festivals are really about. Is it music? Camping? The breakdown of everyday hierachies? Or is it just 20,000 people standing in a field?

With help from Bakhtin’s concept of the “carnivalesque” and Bataille’s “excess”, the gang discuss hippies and punks, counterculture and commerce, and the role of Glastonbury in the national imagination. Music under discussion comes from Banco De Gaia, Hawkwind, The Magic Mushroom Band and more patchouli-scented wanderers.

Subscribe to the mailing list: https://novara.media/ACFMnewsletter
Help us build people-powered media: https://novara.media/support

Music: David Bowie – ‘Memory of a Free Festival’ / Pulp – ‘Sorted For E’s and Wizz’ / Seize The Day – ‘With My Hammer I Break The Chains’ / Hawkwind – ‘Silver Machine’ / The Magic Mushroom Band – ‘Revolution’ / Ozric Tentacles – ‘Dissolution (The Clouds Disperse)’ / Culture Shock – ‘Stonehenge’ / Autechre – ‘Flutter’ / Banco De Gaia – Excerpt from Deep Live

TV: Festivals Britannia (BBC)

Books & articles: Mikhail Bakhtin – Rabelais and His World / Jeremy Gilbert & Ewan Pearson – Discographies: Dance Music, Culture and the Politics of Sound / Georges Bataille – The Accursed Share / Frederic Jameson – Archaeologies of the Future / Penny Rimbaud / The Last of the Hippies


Tune in to Novara Media for a distinct and probing take on the world as it is, and as it could be. This independent podcast offers a necessary space for the conversations often sidelined elsewhere, weaving together sharp analysis of current affairs with deeper explorations of culture, philosophy and power. Each episode naturally delves into the interconnected crises shaping our time-be it the fraying edges of our economic system, the urgent fight for climate justice, or the enduring struggles against structural inequality. The discussions are built on a foundation of radical thought and a commitment to imagining alternatives, moving beyond the day's headlines to examine the root causes and potential futures. Hosted by the team at Novara Media, the audio format brings a direct, engaging and often challenging perspective, featuring interviews, panel debates and solo commentaries that refuse simplistic answers. It’s for anyone who finds mainstream narratives insufficient and is looking for a podcast that treats politics, society and culture as the complex, urgent and deeply human matters they truly are.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 306

Official website RSS
instagramyoutubetiktokredditlinkedinsoundcloud
Novara Media
Podcast Episodes
Novara FM: Trillions of Tiny Flying Particles w/ Jay Owens [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:07:52
Last month it was revealed that 98% of Europeans are breathing toxic air. We’re slowly realising that the modern world is covered in the dust of environmental devastation, from particle air pollution to nuclear fallout a…
Downstream: Into The Mirror World w/ Naomi Klein [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:13:20
When we were in lockdown, conspiracy theorists went on the march. The emergence of anti-vaccine scaremongering coupled with virulent antisemitism was disconcerting for all of us. But it was even more nuts for renowned jo…
Novara FM: The Other Enlightenment w/ Kenan Malik [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:01:04
For the second episode of our series on class, writer and broadcaster Kenan Malik takes us through three centuries of thought to explain the origins of identity politics. It all starts with Haitian Revolution and its con…
Downstream: Big Pharma’s Secrets w/ Nick Dearden [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:19:04
Nick Dearden has been an economic justice campaigner for over 20 years, and his attention was on the pharmaceutical industry when Covid-19 hit. But as the world began to sing the praises of pharmaceutical companies, Nick…
Novara FM: Is It Time For Post-Doom Politics? w/ Jem Bendell [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:16:54
The politics of ‘deep adaptation’ is as intriguing as it is controversial. Jem Bendell, a former professor of sustainability leadership, launched the Deep Adaptation movement in 2018 by claiming that social collapse is n…
Novara FM: What Does Class Mean Now? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 54:43
We’re going back to basics on Novara FM this autumn with a series about the big one: class. What does it mean to look at the world through the lens of class in the 2020s, an era of precarious work, rising inequality and…
Downstream: Here’s How Power Really Works w/ Grace Blakeley [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:15:45
Most people know that the game is rigged. Those who set the rules – win the game. Grace Blakeley has made a career of studying the rules, exposing the exploitative ways in which powerful institutions govern our lives and…
Downstream: Oligarchs Are Ruining This Country w/ Sam Bright [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:16:11
Who exactly is the ruling class? The conspicuous top hat and tailed Bullingdon Club still exert dominance, but their era is waning. There are new folks in town. They can’t beat the obscene wealth of petrostate oligarchs,…

«1...2425262728293031»