This podcast is an experiment with NotebookLM, Google’s “AI-powered research partner”. The platform allows users to upload research materials such as PDFs, websites, YouTube videos, audio files, Google Docs and Google Slides and also performs searches on research topics. It then summarises this material using Google’s advanced multimodal AI systems and its Gemini AI assistant. It delivers its findings in novel ways that are not limited to text, including video, slide shows and an “Audio Overview” function. An affiliated project, Bureau of Race Neutrality, took it for a test drive through the topics of racism and racial capitalism in Germany using sources that included:
This episode also include excerpts from the Bureau of Race Neutrality Berlin’s recently published sound piece, Antifascist Noise (2025) [Bandcamp].
You might have noticed that the last section uses a different voice? NotebookLM has limited features for non-subscription accounts, so the final chat summary used an AI generated text-to-speech voice from elevenlabs , named “Rachel”.
This month’s episode is a recording of a sound and spoken word performance by Singaporean poet Wahid Al Mamun [Instagram] and the Bureau of Race Neutrality Singapore [Bandcamp] at Sing Lit Station, 5 August 2025. It occurred soon after the launch of Wahid’s first book of poetry, What God Took Your Legs Away (2025) on AFTERIMAGE press. The improvised pieces documented in this recording recall the so-called “Little India Riots”, 8 December 2013. Sparked by a fatal accident at a bus terminal the unrest implicated numerous migrant workers. One cosequence was the building of a special bus terminal for migrant workers, which many argue is an example of hostile architecture. The performance is followed by a Q&A, and a montage of recordings made in the streets of Little India round off this podcast.
A mix made in “collaboration“ with Klimaton, a hybrid data sonificatíon tool/musical instrument. Developed by artist duo Adnan Softić and Nina Softić, Klimaton uses data collected from the Arctic to shape sounds according to six evocative parameters: “Sea Ice”, “Biochemistry”, “Atmosphere”, “Ecosystem”, “Ocean” and “Snow”.
This mix was recorded live on Friday 5 September 2025, as part of a series of events marking the opening of 20nine30 [Instagram], a space for sonic arts in a former church in Berlin.
When I was preparing for this event, I was under the impression that the mix would be patched into Klimaton, which would alter the sound like an outboard effects unit. Because I did not understanding how these different parameters worked, I curated a crate of predominantly “bare-bones” rhythms; instrumentals and drum tracks that I hoped could be shaped, textured and twisted by others. When I arrived to set up, I realised this was not possible with the version of Klimaton on offer and resigned to just playing a DJ set. So I was delighted that the instrument piped up when I began to play, groaning and gasping through a six channel speaker array. So, this episode is a room recording, rather than something direct from the mixer. It captures some of the acoustics and ambience of the former church hall, alongside the spontaneous contributions from this hybrid machine.
Many thanks to Timo Kreuser [Instagram] for the invitation alongside Nischal Khadka [Instagram] and YNZN [Instagram] who also played on the night and Sylvia Maglioni and Graeme Thomson from Firefly Frequencies for hanging in there. You can hear Graeme setting off Klimaton at the beginning of the mix, his hands are in the playback thumbnail above. Nischal comes in at the end to say our time is up!
A collection of field notes from Les Village, North Bali recorded during Dinacon Digital Naturalism Conference, 22 June– 23 July 2025 with Sea Communities. It features voices and contributions from Pak Garri Bernal (Sea Communities), Jro Pasek (Les village leader), Bajra Suara Girilestari Desa Les (Rindik group) recorded by Dinoj M. Local divers Gombal (Nyoman Teriada), Gombal’s father known as Kakek (grandfather) and Pak Eka (Made Merta) were interviewed by Tessa Zettel. From Sea Communities we hear from Wira, Pippin (Luh), Putu, Naya, Wilan, Rangga, Komang, Pak Komangwi and Luh in collaboration with Lucinda Dayhew. The song “Bali Ayu” was written and produced by Dinoj M in collaboration with Wira Artawan, using samples from a recording of Bajra Suara Girilestari Desa Les.
Many thanks to all from Dinacon 2025, especially Andy, Lee, Paula, Sid for all the work they put into making it happen. It was like a dream!
Palestinians call for the boycott of Sónar festival
The Barcelona festival has failed to drop all of its complicit partnerships with BDS priority targets pic.twitter.com/rYZ0VtrLrg — PACBI – BDS movement (@PACBI) June 2, 2025
A significant number of artists have signed an open letter and are boycotting the major summer festival due to its associations with KKR, a major investment and equity company with interests in the Israeli military and illegal settlements in Palestine. KKR is a major shareholder in Superstruct, the parent company of numerous major music industry platforms and festivals including: Boiler Room, Field Day, DGTL, Flow Festival among others.
Responding to an article published by Shawn Reynaldo on First Floor and a similar campaign to have UK desi platform Dialled In [Instagram] break its partnership with Boiler Room, I asked Berlin-based journalist, DJ and music industry professional Andra Amber Nikolayi [Instagram] to help me unpack this issue of BDS rising in the clubbing industry and its implications for Berlin, a major clubbing “mecca”.
Already in May 2019 Germany’s parliament passed a motion declaring the BDS movement to be antisemitic and that any indivduals or organisations associated with the movement would be ineligible for funding. This was met with some resistance by its cultural and intellectual sector. Following Hamas’ 7 October operation in 2023 and Israel’s ongoing retaliatory actions, there has been a campaign to Strike Germany, applying BDS tactics to the Bundestag for its commitment to supplying arms and political support for Israel. This affected festivals such as Transmediale and CTM, Berlin Biennale and the city’s legendary Berghain club and was acutely felt after concerns about Israel’s genocidal intentions and Hamas’ possible war crimes were raised in the International Court of Justice, the Hague, January 2024. Then in November 2024 the Bundestag passed resolution adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism, which has been widely criticised, including by one of its lead authors, Kenneth Stern.
Boiler Room have consulted with PACBI who released a statement approving of their adopting of BDS guidelines and Dialled In also announced their intention to follow suite. It remains to be seen if Boiler Room will still participate in Sónar after PACBI’s recent announcement. Ravers for Palestine [Instagram] are the other authorities on this matter, offering advice to artists and organisations seeking to withdraw from Superstruct owned events and platforms.
Over tea, Amber and I think aloud together and she recalls episodes such as Berlin’s about_blank’s cancelling of the regular Room 4 Resistance [Instagram] club night following this post circa 2019.
We also touch on the “proximity clauses” that major clubs, such as Berghain include in their contracts, preventing artists from performing in the city for periods of time before and after their bookings, affecting their capacity to earn.
We reflect on how clubbing culture has become fungible even as certain festivals and platforms seek to intellectualise and politicise their activities. As a once “underground” scene goes mainstream there is also burgeoning counterculture. In Berlin there has been a proliferation of smaller venues and crews producing events to raise money for Gazans—Amber mentions the upcoming Sad Prompts for Palestine at Panke—but we are still left wondering: “How are artists getting paid?”
Arabian Panther, a French-Lebanese DJ and producer who spoke out about their experience dealing with Berghain early in 2024, prompting many to reconsider their patronage of this clubbing institution.
Anticipating an upcoming trip to Indonesia and Malaysia, this mix features artists from or connected to so-called “South East Asia.” Recorded live at fugitive radio’s safe house in Berlin, it digs into labels including [Bandcamp]: CHINABOT, DIVISI62, Yes No Wave Music, SVBKVLT, Post World Industries and more, conjuring up a kind of fantasy club for a diasporic imagined community.
Tina Coupé is a mobile party machine, pop-up karaoke booth and participatory art intervention devised by Berlin-based artists Lola Göller and Flavio Degen. Where ever it pulls up, bystanders, interlopers and art goers are invited to sing along with karaoke videos that they have likely never seen before. These music videos, made in collaboration with artists and communities, have evolved since the Covid pandemic when friends would get together to sing online. Tina Coupé adopts the phenomenon of karaoke as a globalized, cross-cultural and popular social practice, to address issues of space, accessibility and economic precariousness and it chimes with my interests in the social function and health benefits of singing.
A bunch of songs exhumed from the hard drives that document novel moments of singing, music, musicking and of course karaoke recorded across numerous projects over the last five years!
08. Clara Nune’s “Canto das Três Raças” , recorded during a rally held in the lead up to the Brazillian Presidential Elections, 29 October 2022, São José do Vale do Rio Preto, while in residence at Residencia São João.
09. Hari Raya at Geylang Serai Market, Singapore (2024)
