Phil is an associate professor of musicology at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. He is the author of the book Dig: Sound and Music in Hip Culture (a cultural history of hipness from the 1930s through the 1960s), the long-running blog Dial 'M' for Musicology, and various essays that have appeared in Representations, Journal of Musicology, Musical Quarterly, Daedalus, North American Review, and elsewhere. With co-host J. F. Martel he is writing a book titled Weirding, to be published by Strange Attractor Press.
Phil is also a classical pianist, meditator, assistant teacher at Open Mind Zen Indiana, lapsed magician, and avid consulter of the I Ching.
Phil Ford has hosted 201 Episodes.
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Episode 54: Lobsters, Pianos, and Hidden Gods
Episode | August 28th, 2019 | 1 hr 17 mins
music, panpsychism, philosophy
JF and Phil discuss Errol Morris's fascinating essay, "The Pianist and the Lobster."
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Episode 53: Astral Jet Lag: On William Gibson's 'Pattern Recognition'
Episode | August 14th, 2019 | 1 hr 2 mins
capitalism, consumer culture, occult, technology
Phil and JF discuss Gibson's masterwork of speculative naturalism.
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Episode 52: On Beauty
Episode | July 31st, 2019 | 1 hr 15 mins
aesthetics, art, morality
JF and Phil discuss the nature and power of beauty.
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Episode 51: Blind Seers: On Flannery O'Connor's 'Wise Blood'
Episode | July 17th, 2019 | 1 hr 35 mins
christianity, literature, morality, nihilism
Phil and JF discuss Flannery O'Connor first novel, interpreting it as an investigation into the implications of the modern.
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Episode 50: Demogorgon: On 'Stranger Things'
Episode | July 3rd, 2019 | 1 hr 36 mins
criticism, metaphysics, stranger things
JF and Phil discuss the eldritch metaphysics of the Netflix series 'Stranger Things.'
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Episode 49: Out of Time: Nietzsche on History
Episode | June 19th, 2019 | 1 hr 22 mins
friedrich nietzsche, history, philosophy
Phil and JF discuss Nietzsche's seminal essay, "On the Uses and Disadvantages of History for Life," from Untimely Meditations.
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Episode 48: Walking the Tightrope with Erik Davis
Episode | June 5th, 2019 | 1 hr 24 mins
erik davis, interviews, literature, metaphysics
JF and Phil sit down with Erik Davis to discuss his new book, "High Weirdness: Drugs, Esoterica, and Visionary Experience in the Seventies."
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Episode 47: Machines of Loving Grace: Technology and the Unabomber
Episode | May 22nd, 2019 | 1 hr 7 mins
cybernetics, technology, utopia
A wide-ranging conversation on technology, utopia, and the ethics of cybernetics.
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Episode 46: Thomas Ligotti's Angel
Episode | May 8th, 2019 | 1 hr 29 mins
metaphysics, theology, thomas ligotti, weird fiction
An in-depth discussion of horror writer Thomas Ligotti's short story, "Mrs. Rinaldi's Angel."
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Episode 45: Jeffrey J. Kripal on 'Flipping' Out of Materialism
Episode | April 24th, 2019 | 1 hr 9 mins
idealism, interviews, jeffrey kripal, materialism
JF and Phil talk to Jeffrey Kripal about his new book, "The Flip: Epiphanies of Mind and the Future of Knowledge"
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Episode 44: Doomed to Enchantment: The Psychical Research of William James
Episode | April 9th, 2019 | 1 hr 33 mins
parapsychology, pluralism, william james
Phil and JF discuss two articles by William James on the early years of psychical research in Britain and the US.
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Episode 43: On Shirley Jackson
Episode | March 27th, 2019 | 1 hr 15 mins
evil, shirley jackson, virtuality, weird fiction
JF and Phil discuss two weird masterworks, "The Lottery" and "The Summer People" by the American horror luminary, Shirley Jackson.
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Episode 42: On Pauline Oliveros, with Kerry O'Brien
Episode | March 13th, 2019 | 1 hr 3 mins
composers, interviews, meditation, music
Music scholar Kerry O'Brien join Phil and JF for a conversation on the work of American composer Pauline Oliveros.
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Episode 41: On Speculative Fiction, with Matt Cardin
Episode | February 27th, 2019 | 59 mins 52 secs
fantasy, horror, interviews
JF and Phil talk fantasy and horror with writer and editor Matt Cardin.
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Episode 40: On Jonathan Glazer's 'Under the Skin'
Episode | February 13th, 2019 | 1 hr 17 mins
cinema, film scores, horror, science fiction, synchronicity
Phil and JF discuss the recent masterwork of weird cinema starring Scarlett Johansson.
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Episode 39: The Challenge of the Paranormal, with Jeffrey J. Kripal
Episode | January 30th, 2019 | 1 hr 2 mins
interviews, jeffrey kripal, paranormal
JF and Phil discuss the paranormal with the esteemed professor and philosophy and religious thought, Jeffrey J. Kripal.