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, and elsewhere. With co-host J. F. Martel he is working on a book titled Weirding, to be published by Strange Attractor Press.
Phil is a pianist, rabid Wagnerite, crap Buddhist, degenerate fight fan, and avid consulter of the I Ching. He wishes that just for once he had an enthusiasm that he didn't have to apologize for or explain to his academic peers.
Phil Ford has hosted 178 Episodes.
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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.
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Episode 38: Style as Analysis
Episode | January 16th, 2019 | 1 hr 10 mins
music, writing
Phil and JF discuss a recently published article of Phil's authorship on how to write about music.
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Episode 37: Entities, with Stuart Davis
Episode | January 2nd, 2019 | 1 hr 14 mins
interviews, mysticism, paranormal, stuart davis
JF and Phil discuss nonhuman beings in an aesthetic universe with filmmaker, musician and mystic Stuart Evan Davis.
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Christmas Bonus: Hyperstition Addendum
Episode | December 25th, 2018 | 24 mins 1 sec
academic life, ideology, politics
The final segment of our conversation on hyperstition, i.e., fiction that turns real.
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Episode 36: On Hyperstition
Episode | December 19th, 2018 | 1 hr 13 mins
hyperstition, magic, metaphysics, occult
JF and Phil talk hyperstitions, entities born in the realm of fantasy that slowly become denizens of the real.
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Episode 35: Whirl Without End: On M.C. Richards' 'Centering'
Episode | December 5th, 2018 | 1 hr 1 min
art, creative process, individuation, mc richards
Phil and JF discuss the first chapter of "Centering," M.C. Richard's penetrating essay on the artistic process.
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Episode 34: The Weird Realism of Robert Aickman
Episode | November 21st, 2018 | 55 mins 25 secs
dreams, folklore, robert aickman, weird fiction
JF and Phil discuss Robert Aickman's masterwork of weird fiction, "The Hospice," from his 1975 collection "Cold Hand in Mine."
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Episode 33: The Fine Art of Changing the Subject: On Duchamp's 'Fountain'
Episode | November 7th, 2018 | 59 mins 57 secs
aesthetics, duchamp, modern art
JF and Phil discuss the profound effects of Marcel Duchamp's "Fountain" (the urinal) on the development of the arts since 1917.