Growing Circuits

Space Is The Machine

Courtesy of @nightschool & @tristwchyfenywod

Tristwch y Fenywod - Tristwch y Fenywod LP
Label: Night School Records

SONDUKE is pleased to share Tristwch y Fenywod’s (@tristwch_y_fenywod) 5th track “Byd Mewn Cysgod,” from their upcoming studio album debut self-titled, ‘Tristwch y Fenywod (NIM014)’ premiering exclusively on SONDUKE. 

Tristwch y Fenywod are a Welsh-language gothic avant-rock power trio from Leeds’ experimental underground featuring Gwretsien Ferch Lisbeth, Leila Lygad, and Sidni Sarffwraig. Their self-titled debut album—recorded after just 10 gigs and a live demo—is a chilling and evocative collection of 8 tracks. Singing black-lit liturgies of bog bodies and nocturnal landscapes, their music blends dual zithers, electronic drums, and bass guitar to create a unique Celtic darkwave sound.

Influenced by The Cure, Svitlana Nianio, and Dead Can Dance, Tristwch y Fenywod’s album opens with “Blodyn Gwyrdd,” featuring lumbering bass and 6/8 rhythms. Other tracks like “Ferch Gyda’r Llygaid Du” and “Awen” showcase their ability to weave siren-like vocals with martial rhythms and swirling strings, resulting in an atmospheric, occult feminist goth sound that feels both haunting and stirring.

Premiere: Tristwch y Fenywod - Byd Mewn Cysgod [Night School]

Dr. Tara B. M. Smith is an early career interdisciplinary academic that works in the fields of science fiction, literature, religion and popular culture. Tara is currently a research affiliate at the University of Sydney. In 2024 Tara was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Center for the Study of World Religions at the Harvard Divinity School, Boston, writing on religious ideas and experiences of people that paint and play within the science fiction “grimdark” universe of Warhammer 40,000. Tara is a passionate educator who holds a Graduate Certificate of Higher Education and has taught in academic settings for over 5 years across a variety of units including media studies, religious studies, writing skills and composition. When Tara is not studying, she spends time with her two cats Thomas and Momo and her fiancé Luke in Sydney, Australia.

While most people who talk and think about the story of Dune focus on the political and religious aspects of the series [for example, the Bene Geserit with their genetic breeding program and the Kwisatz Haderach, or the Butlerian Jihad -the war against thinking machines = technology and AI], Tara's article, “The Anthropocene in Frank Herbert’s Dune Series” from 2021 takes a different approach and explores the ecological/philosophical aspects of the story. As she notes, Frank Herbert was warning his readers about their anthropocentric tendencies and urging people instead to think about ecological conservation, or at least he appears to be planting a seed in the minds of the readers to be more aware of their place or role on the Earth.

You can find the full episode at my Patreon: www.patreon.com/RejectedReligion 

Patreon Tier 2 Free Content Dr. Tara Smith Ecology & _Dune Trilogy_

Credits;
"Comedy Bang! Bang!" (for Reggie's Musical Interludes)
and
"Q with Jian Ghomeshi" (for sample of Reggie's insight into his performances)

Reggie... this one's for you!

Lots O' Watts

Episode Notes
In preparation for next month's mini-roundtable discussion about' Hellier' and everything 'high strangeness', this episode will attempt to lay a foundation about the documentary 'Hellier,' the podcast 'Penny Royal,' and 'everything else' that seems to be connected to these phenomena - Secret Ciphers, magick rituals and gateways, the Mothman incident, Twin Peaks, and more. 

 

RESOURCES

'Hellier' Season 1: Hellier Season 1: Episode 1 | The Midnight Children - YouTube

'Hellier' Season 2: Hellier Season 2: Episode 1 | Noise and Signal - YouTube

'Penny Royal' Podcast: Penny Royal Podcast – A New Podcast of Magic, Mystery and High Strangeness On The Penny Royal Plateau.

The Secret History of Twin Peaks by Mark Frost: Amazon.com: The Secret History of Twin Peaks: A Novel (9781250075581): Frost, Mark: Books

Twin Peaks: The Final Dossier by Mark Frost: Amazon.com: Twin Peaks: The Final Dossier (9781250163301): Frost, Mark: Books

The Mothman Prophecies by John Keel: Amazon.com: The Mothman Prophecies: A True Story (9780765334985): Keel, John A.: Books

The Complete Secret Cipher of the UFOnauts by Allen Greenfield: The Complete SECRET CIPHER Of the UfOnauts: Greenfield, Allen H., Phillips, Olav: 9781718645356: Amazon.com: Books

The Super Natural: A New Vision of the Unexplained by Whitley Strieber and Jeffrey J. Kripal: The Super Natural: A New Vision of the Unexplained: Strieber, Whitley, Kripal, Jeffrey J.: 9781101982327: Amazon.com: Books

The Morning of the Magicians by Louis Pauwels and Jacques Bergier: The Morning of the Magicians: Secret Societies, Conspiracies, and Vanished Civilizations: Pauwels, Louis, Bergier, Jacques: 9781594772313: Amazon.com: Books
 

Cover image: Hellier: A Planet Weird Original Series  


Theme music: Daniel P. Shea

Additional music: Stephanie Shea

Patreon Tier 2 Free Content Dr. Tara Smith Ecology & _Dune Trilogy_

Rejected Religion

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