Infocult: Uncanny Informatics

More fine Gothic audio from the Zombie Astronaut

The Zombie Astronaut is at it again, with another fine haul of audio Gothic goodness.  I haven't heard the whole thing, but am very fond of three.

Susanna Clarke's "The Dweller In High Places" is charming and funny, taking place in a universe much like Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell.

Nick Moulton's "The Quick And The Dead" is surreal and lovely, haunting and sad.  Same for Fiona McFarlane's "Elegy Underground".

Halloween music from Jesse Walker

Jesse Walker did a three-hour show of freeform audio goodness for Halloween.  "Celebration of Fear" races across the sonic world, from spoken word to rock to metal.  Being Jesse, there's a healthy helping of country.  Stream or download, and enjoy.

EDITED TO ADD: check out Jesse's playlist.  Man, that's a fine show.

Public domain Lovecraft podcasts

A new Lovecraft reading podcast appeared from Librivox this week.  The theme: HPL stories in the public domain.

Two new audio Gothics for downloading

Two fine Gothic tales have been read and recorded by the Librivox crew.

"The Willows" is a classic Algernon Blackwood tale.  It focuses on eerie ground, a part of the Danube, and isn't quite like any other haunting one usually reads.

The Castle of Otranto is usually considered the first Gothic novel.  It's a short, frantic tale, rapidly unfurling a series of Gothic tropes: sick families, vast underground passageways, monsters,

Radio market in decline, while podcasting grows: the process continues

The American radio market is a troubled one, according to a new report.  Revenues from broadcast radio are heading downwards.  Off-air stuff is doing better.

This describes my own experience pretty closely.  I listen to radio (local and national public radio) only when I'm working in the kitchen and can't listen to podcasts on my mp3 player.  Otherwise, it's podcasts for me, and happily.  I haven't bought a thing based on on-air radio ads.

(via Podcasting News)

Radio Unknown

Does anyone know about an old radio show called Exploring the Unknown?  My father is researching his father, who was a radio announcer.  Here's his query:

did you ever hear or see one with "Unknown" in the title?  I found reference to it in one of my Dad's letters of 1946 -- he was rehearsing and announcing live a "Journey" program, and rehearsing and announcing live an "Unknown" program. I finally figured out that "Journey" referred to a soap opera, "Lone Journey," but I haven't been able to find a radio program that apparently aired on Sundays with "Unknown" in the title.

I found one reference in this old-time radio anthology recording:

...perhaps your more in the mood to take a trip into the brain of a young woman who is going insane. In that case, you’ll enjoy an exciting episode of Exploring the Unknown, where a surgeon pokes inside a brain. The program features stories from Science Magazine, and stars such Hollywooders as Veronica Lake.

Ancient sounds of death

Terrific Gothic opening to this MSNBC article:

Scientists were fascinated by the ghostly find: a human skeleton buried in an Aztec temple with a clay, skull-shaped whistle in each bony hand.
But no one blew into the noisemakers for nearly 15 years. When someone finally did, the shrill, windy screech made the spine tingle.
If death had a sound, this was it.

The article is about the reconstruction of preColumbian musical instruments.  What a fine device for horror stories.  One is reminded of this classic MR James story, for instance.

More fine sf aural podcast delights from Starship Sofa

Starship Sofa keeps offering fine sf podcasts.  Case in point: this one (mp3; why no links to a post?), which leads off with a funny Kage Baker story, then a wrenching Peter Watts flash fiction, followed by a poem with a grand title.

ProtoARG Chesteron story podcasted

The classically proto-ARGish Chesterton story "The Tremendous Adventures of Major Brown" has just been podcasted by Librivox.  They also did the rest of the stories which appeared in the Club of Queer Trades (1905) collection.  Enjoy!

Mindwebs, a trove of sf podcasts

I've been listening to podcasts of Mindwebs, a grand 1970s radio show which read science fiction and horror short stories.  The readings are excellent.  There's music, often electronika.  Some stories have multiple voice actors.  A ton of them are hosted on Archive.org.

Stories range across the 20th century, with somewhat of a focus on the 1960s and 70s.

The stories tend to be gloomy, curiously.  They often end badly, or sarcastically.  Even the older stories are grim in the end.

(via BoingBoing)