Episode 142: The Music of the Spheres: On Jóhann Jóhannsson's "Last and First Men"

Episode 142: The Music of the Spheres: On Jóhann Jóhannsson's "Last and First Men"

Author: SpectreVision Radio March 15, 2023 Duration: 1:22:04
Jóhann Jóhannsson was one of contemporary cinema's greatest score composers when he passed away in 2018 at the young age of 48. Last and First Men, his enigmatic directorial debut, was released shortly after in 2020. Based on a novel by the same name by the British science fiction writer Olaf Stapleton, the film offers a sustained meditation on the prospect of extinction, the eventuality of humanity's disappearance from the comos. In this episode, JF and Phil discuss the images and sounds of the film as they flicker and swell against the backdrop of nonbeing that envelops us all. The conversation touches on the idea of beauty, Brutalist architecture, modernism, and futurity. Preorder Pierre-Yves Martel's album Mer bleue. Support us on Patreon and gain access to Phil's ongoing podcast on Richard Wagner's Ring Cycle. Listen to volume 1 and volume 2 of the Weird Studies soundtrack by Pierre-Yves Martel Find us on Discord Get the T-shirt design from Cotton Bureau! Get your Weird Studies merchandise (t-shirts, coffee mugs, etc.) Visit the Weird Studies Bookshop REFERENCES Jóhann Jóhannsson, Last and First Men Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer, SNL character Spomeniks, Yugoslavian monuments Olaf Stapleton, The Last and First Men Woody Allen, Hannah and Her Sisters The Last of Us, television show Ray Brassier, Nihil Unbound: Enlightenment and Extinction Weird Studies, Episode 2 on Garmonbozia Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Nobel Prize Speech Weird Studies Episode 139 on Art Power Numenius, Platonist philosopher Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, What is Philosophy? Jia Tolentino, “The Overwhelming Emotion of Hearing Toto’s “Africa” Weird Studies, Episode 110 on “The Glass Bead Game” D. H. Lawrence, Lady Chatterley’s Lover Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

At the heart of Weird Studies, a podcast from SpectreVision Radio, you’ll find long-form conversations between Professor Phil Ford and writer J. F. Martel. Their discussions aren’t simple reviews or straightforward analyses; instead, they wander through the tangled undergrowth where art and philosophy meet, giving generous time to concepts that resist easy understanding and to creative works that fracture our ordinary sense of the world. This podcast deliberately lingers in that ambiguous space, treating the “weird” not as a genre but as a particular mode of experience-one that reveals the cracks in what we comfortably assume is real. Each episode feels like joining a deep, meandering dialogue between two friends who are both deeply knowledgeable and endlessly curious, covering a vast terrain that includes literature, film, music, and esoteric thought. It’s a show for anyone who suspects that the most profound truths are often found in the shadows, the anomalies, and the strangely beautiful. As part of the SpectreVision Radio network, which specializes in content that explores the uncanny edges of creativity, Weird Studies builds a unique community of listeners who are eager to think differently. You won’t find pat answers here, but you will encounter compelling questions and a shared sense of exploration that makes each installment a distinctive journey.
Author: Language: en-us Episodes: 100

Weird Studies
Podcast Episodes
Halloween Special: A Reading of Arthur Machen's "The White People" [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:39:55
Originally released in 2018 but remixed for your listening pleasure, here's Phil reading Arthur Machen's classic weird tale, "The White People." Happy Halloween! Machen's "The White People" was discussed all the way back…
Episode 200 – On 'The Call of Cthulhu' [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:27:34
For their 200th episode, JF and Phil turn their attention to H. P. Lovecraft’s “The Call of Cthulhu,” a story foundational not only to modern horror fiction but to the very idea of the Weird. In revisiting this tale of f…
Episode 199 – On Michael Jackson, with Shannon Taggart [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:15:25
Photographer and paranormal researcher Shannon Taggart joins JF and Phil to explore the phenomenon that was Michael Jackson. One of the most brilliant and successful musicians of the modern era, Jackson was also a limina…
Episode 197 - Sounding the Otherworld: On Bryn Chainey's 'Rabbit Trap' [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:10:31
In a rare surfacing in the contemporary world, JF and Phil discuss a film that has just been released. Bryn Chainey’s Rabbit Trap is psychological horror in the tradition of Repulsion, Jacob’s Ladder, and Angel Heart. Bu…
Weird Studies Trailer [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 2:00
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Mid-Break Bonus: On Trust [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 57:06
We're breaking up our late-summer pause with an audio extra originally recorded for our Patreon supporters. This episode also includes an essay JF wrote on the philosophy of Henri Bergson. A whole course on Bergson's phi…
Episode 196 – Lost and Never Found: On 'The Blair Witch Project' [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:32:13
Of all the flavors of horror, few are as dreadful as that of being lost in the wilderness. In this episode, JF and Phil revisit The Blair Witch Project, the classic 1999 found-footage film that inspired a thousand imitat…