this was intetesting up until this point. seriously, people really need to stop pretending as if Biden is anywhere even near the Left. it's ridiculous and simply not true. 

on very shaky grounds when you say there hasn't been innovation in music. You should go back to Jameson's original quote on the negation of the concept of counterculture - he said this because of the internet monetising and gutting musical movements before they have been incubated in their local scenes

you can't criticise Bill Gates without being called a crank? mourning the fall of socialism in the 90s as a global cultural ballast? that's tankie talk. otherwise reasonable thesis that still pays obeisance to the centrist lunacy

In this extended Trip, Keir Milburn, Nadia Idle and Jeremy Gilbert wrestle with the idea of “the long '90s”: a set of cultural, political and affective assumptions that have outlasted the 20th century, and from which a certain cohort of today's politicians, commentators, columnists cannot seem to escape.

With music from Massive Attack, Stereolab and Kula Shaker, the gang discuss to what extent the long '90s were shaped by Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and the Chinese Communist Party, how "new laddism" emerged as a riposte to cultural pluralism, and what people really meant when they declared "the end of history". Finally, they agree to disagree on the musical and social value of Britpop.

Music: Roni Size - 'Brown Paper Bag' / M-Beat ft. General Levy - 'Incredible' / Kula Shaker - '303' / Spice Girls - 'Wannabe' / Stereolab - 'Ping Pong' / Asian Dub Foundation - 'Fortress Europe'

Books and articles: Eric Hobsbawm - The Age of Extremes: The Short Twentieth Century, 1914–1991 / Gavin Mueller - 'Stereolab's Revolutionary Horizon' / Francis Fukuyama - The End of History and the Last Man

Produced and edited by Chal Ravens and Matt Huxley. PRS Licence Number: LE-0016481

Novara Audio: Radio for a Different Politics

#ACFM Trip 16: The Long '90s

Games are all around us. They let us escape from drudgery and experiment with other worlds and ways of being. But they can be traps too: apps designed to be addictive, producing only the most hollow sense of achievement.

In this Trip, Nadia, Jeremy and Keir throw their polyhedral dice to explore how games shape our inner and outer lives. How has game theory been used to explain human behaviour? How can we make play emancipatory in a gamified world? Is there such a thing as a left-wing game? And how has the figure of the 'gamer' become synonymous with introversion, misogyny and reactionary politics?

The gang discuss games both ancient and modern – from chess to Super Mario, Go to Dungeons & Dragons – with music from Koji Kondo, The Who, Tinie Tempah and more. An ever-expanding playlist of all the music discussed on the show can be found on Spotify – just search ACFM.

Look out for a Microdose episode on Dungeons & Dragons coming soon.

Books & articles: Ludwig Wittgenstein - Philosophical Investigations / Roger Caillois - Man, Play and Games / Johan Huizinga - Homo Ludens / Patrick Jagoda - Experimental Games: Critique, Play, and Design in the Age of Gamification / James Carse - Finite and Infinite Games / Alex Williams & Jeremy Gilbert - Hegemony Now: How Big Tech and Wall Street Won the World (And How We Win it Back)

Music: Koji Kondo - Super Mario Bros. Theme Song / Masato Nakamura - Sonic Theme Song / The Clash - ‘The Card Cheat’ / Joe South - ‘Games People Play’ / Tinie Tempah - ‘Passout’ / Janet Kay - ‘Silly Games’ / Business Man AKA Trentemøller - 'Dubby Games' / The Who - ‘Pinball Wizard’ / Amy Winehouse - ‘Love is a Losing Game’ / Koji Kondo - The Legend of Zelda Theme Song

Games: Apocalypse World / Chess / Comrades / Dixit / Dungeons & Dragons / Go / Microscope / Sonic The Hedgehog / Super Mario Bros /  Red Plenty Games / Tomb Raider

ACFM Trip 25: Games

It's cleaners all the way down!

How can we care for each other within a system that doesn't care about us? In this episode, Nadia Idle, Jeremy Gilbert and Keir Milburn get to grips with birth, death and all the social reproduction in between.

When did we start putting our elders in care homes instead of our own homes? What happens when childcare is socialised instead of privatised? And why do we seem to be talking about "self-care" more than caring for others?

The gang consider these questions and more in a suitably extended episode, with help from Foucault, feminist theory and caring tunes by Kate Bush, Bill Withers and Rihanna.

Music: Vashti Bunyan - 'Lately' / Bill Withers - 'Lean On Me' / Kate Bush - 'The Man With the Child In His Eyes' / George McRae - 'Rock Your Baby' / The Beatles - 'When I'm 64' / Sam and Dave - 'Hold On I'm Coming' / Rihanna - 'Umbrella'

Books, podcasts & videos: Joan Tronto - Caring Democracy / Michel Foucault - The Care of the Self / The Care Collective - The Care Manifesto / David Graeber on Novara FM / Plan C - WTF is Social Reproduction?

ACFM Trip 26: Care

We don't get enough of it. We take drugs all day to fend it off. We'll do it when we're dead. And it's our last line of defence against 24/7 capitalism.

Sleep, the main course in life's feast! The ACFM crew rouse themselves from slumber to wokeness in this month's Trip, exploring the political and cultural aspects of shut-eye. How has a biological necessity been manipulated by everything from mechanical clocks, electric lighting, screen addiction and the insatiable needs of capitalism?

Nadia Idle lives up to her name and argues we should all be spending more time in bed, Keir Milburn worries about an insomniac culture obsessed with productivity, and – despite his sideline as a party organiser and DJ - Jeremy Gilbert rails against the culture of all-night dancing. Plus, music from Faithless, The Fall and The Beatles.

An ever-expanding playlist of all the music discussed on the show can be found on Spotify.

Music: The Beatles - I'm Only Sleeping / Nirvana - Where Did You Sleep Last Night / John Coltrane - Russian Lullaby / Alex De Grassi - Luther's Lullaby / Faithless - Insomnia / The Beatles - I'm So Tired / Flowered Up - Weekender / The Fall - Rowche Rumble

Books & articles: E. P. Thompson - Time, Work-Discipline and Industrial Capitalism / Paul Lafargue – The Right to Be Lazy / Jonathan Crary - 24/7: Late Capitalism and the Ends of Sleep

Produced and edited by Matt Huxley and Chal Ravens. PRS Licence Number: LE-0016481

Novara Audio: Radio For A Different Politics

ACFM Trip 29: Sleep

Ghosts have already got their own festival: Halloween. So why do they spook us at Christmas too? Do they represent forces of goodness and charity, or some nameless demonic evil? And what gifts have they brought?

Jeremy Gilbert shields his eyes from the ghostly apparitions of Jacques Derrida, Lee 'Scratch' Perry and M.R. James as he explores the connections between festive cheer and spectral fear in this Microdose, which accompanies the recent Trip episode on Gifts.

An ever-expanding playlist of all the music discussed on the show can be found on Spotify – just search ACFM.

Books & articles: M.R. James - Collected Ghost Stories / Jacques Derrida - Specters of Marx / Plato - Phaedrus / Francis Fukuyama - The End of History and the Last Man / Mark Fisher - Ghosts of My Life: Writings on Depression, Hauntology and Lost Futures / Raymond Williams - Border Country / Jeffrey Sconce - Haunted Media: Electronic Presence from Telegraphy to Television / Steven Connor - 'Angels in the architecture: the economy of the supernatural' / David Toop - Haunted Weather: Music, Silence and Memory / Derek Johnston - Haunted Seasons: Television Ghost Stories for Christmas and Horror for Halloween / Charles Dickens - A Christmas Carol

Music: Pierre Schaeffer - 'Etude aux chemins de fer' / Brian Eno and David Byrne - 'My Life in the Bush of Ghosts' / Lee Perry (The Upsetters) - 'Black Board Jungle' / Burial - 'Archangel' / Rufige Kru - 'Ghosts of My Life' / The Sabres of Paradise - 'Haunted Dancehall'

ACFM Microdose: A Ghost Story For Christmas

The Trans Atlantic Music Experience opened the year with two hours of jazz, Ethio, and downtempo music for the soul.

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TAME Experience - January 2023

Despite the gains won by a century of feminism, the conveyor belt of normie life still pushes us towards the nuclear family and the picket fence. We can sense that our freedom is still limited by our material conditions – the prohibitive cost of housing, for instance – but is it also limited by our lack of imagination?

In her debut book, Novara Media contributor Sophie K. Rosa explores that question and makes the case for 'radical intimacy': the idea that expanding our notion of intimate, caring relationships will not only engender happiness, but a kind of revolution. 

She joins Rivkah Brown for a conversation about deconstructing the patriarchal family, the promise of queer parenting, and why it's so hard to actually build the commune of our dreams.

Music by Matt Huxley.

Novara FM: Much More Freedom Is Necessary W/ Sophie K. Rosa

What’s the point of comedy? Stand-ups were at the forefront of the cultural backlash against Thatcherism, but today’s meme-driven lols are rarely in the service of left-wing politics. Meanwhile, the world’s most powerful people seem intent on having a laugh, from podcasting politicians to presidential comedians.

In this Trip, Jeremy Gilbert, Nadia Idle and Keir Milburn put together an ACFM theory of humour. Does satire make us more cynical? Is there such a thing as a national sense of humour? Are men funnier than women? Where did all the comedy songs go?

The gang consider theories of laughter from Lauren Berlant, Freud and Bergson and the efforts of jokemongers like Phyllis Diller, Larry David and Alexei Sayle. Brace yourself for musical humour from The Wurzels, Afroman and Half Man Half Biscuit.

Subscribe to the newsletter: novara.media/ACFMnewsletter

Books & articles: Juvenal – The Satires / Lauren Berlant and Sianne Ngai – Comedy Has Issues / Christopher Hitchens – Why Women Aren’t Funny / Henri Bergson – Laughter: An Essay on the Meaning of the Comic / Sigmund Freud – Jokes and Their Relation to the Unconscious / Thomas Hobbes - Human Nature / Alenka Zupančič – The Odd One In: On Comedy / Todd McGowan – Only a Joke Can Save Us

Music: Benny Hill – Ernie / The Wurzels – The Combine Harvester (Brand New Key) / The Commentators – N-N-Nineteen Not Out / The Tiger Lillies – Gin / Spinal Tap – Big Bottom / Calimar White – Never Do S#!t At Work / Chumbawamba – Bigmouth Strikes Again / Half Man Half Biscuit – Joy Division Oven Gloves / Bob Dylan – Lenny Bruce Is Dead / Afroman – Because I Got High / The Beat – Tears of a Clown / Monty Python – Always Look on the Bright Side of Life

TV & film: The Thick of It / Brass Eye / Have I Got News For You / Spinal Tap / 30 Rock / Curb Your Enthusiasm

Produced and edited by Matt Huxley and Chal Ravens. PRS Licence Number: LE-0016481

ACFM Trip 33: Comedy

In this bumper Trip, the gang survey the totalising modern phenomenon that is The Internet. Nadia, Keir and Jem dredge up their early interactions with a primitive web and explain how the dream of free and open communication was displaced by closed networks of e-commerce and data harvesting.

Following Keir’s recent Microdose episode with Malcolm Harris, they discuss the connections between self-optimising techies and the pseudo-science of eugenics.

They also talk about digital hygiene, the “Californian ideology”, why the Soviets didn’t invent the internet, and whether psychedelic drugs were the driver of Silicon Valley’s dominance.

Music comes from The Fall, Le Tigre and the very online Lil Pump and Macintosh Plus.

Join the mailing list: novara.media/ACFMnewsletter

Music: Knife Party - ‘Internet Friends’ / Le Tigre - ‘Get Off The Internet’ / The Fall - ‘Telephone Thing’ / The Penguin Cafe Orchestra - ‘Telephone and Rubber Band’ / Wiley - ‘Eskimo’ / Hannah Diamond - ‘Hi’ / Grimes - ‘Oblivion’ / Macintosh Plus - ‘リサフランク420 / 現代のコンピュー' / Lil Pump - ‘Elementary’ / FKA twigs - ‘Ride The Dragon’

Books and articles: Daniel Levitin - The Organised Mind / Alison Winch & Ben Little - The New Patriarchs of Digital Capitalism / Benjamin Peters - How Not to Network a Nation / Richard Barbrook & Andy Cameron - ‘The Californian Ideology’ / Malcolm Harris - Palo Alto / Jeremy Gilbert & Alex Williams – Hegemony Now / Nick Couldry & Ulises Ali Mejias - The Cost of Connection

ACFM Trip 35: The Internet

Festivals. The perfect embodiment of the ACFM aesthetic, 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 many more patchouli-scented wanderers.

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

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

ACFM Trip 36: Festivals

Is surrealism a style of art or a mode of living? How can irrationality be a political position? Nadia, Jem and Keir follow a thread of off-kilter expression, from Dadaism and André Breton’s manifesto through to Situationism, punk and Afrosurrealism. 

The gang explore the importance of surrealism to socialist thought and anti-colonial struggle, considering Meret Oppenheim's fur cup, Lenin at the Cabaret Voltaire, surrealist women's art, Freud’s ideas of the subconscious and a canon of surreal songs from Ivor Cutler to Devo.

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Music: Ivor Cutler - 'Life In A Scotch Sitting Room' Vol. 2, Ep. 11 / Anton Giulio Bragaglia - 'Fotodinamismo Futurista' / Eric Satie - 'Gymnopédie No.1' / King Crimson - 'Moonchild' / Devo - 'Jocko Homo' / Prince Fatty & Shniece Mcmenamin - 'Black Rabbit' / Caberet Voltaire - 'Nag Nag Nag' / Prince Paul - 'Introduction to Psychoanalysis (Schizophrenia)' / The Coup - 'Oyahytt 

Books:  Robin D. G. Kelley - Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination / Helena Lewis - Dada Turns Red: The Politics of Surrealism / Freud - The Interpretation of Dreams / Joyce Mansour's poetry / Dorothea Tanning - Chasm: A Weekend / Phosphor magazine / Simon Reynolds - Rip it Up and Start Again

Produced by Matt Huxley and Chal Ravens.

#ACFM Trip 16: The Long '90s

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