LEPHT HAND

AHRC Summer School: www.acidhorizonpodcast.com/ahrc-coursesVintagia is back! www.acidhorizonpodcast.com/vintagia-basecampWhat does it mean that the music most associated with wizards, capes, and sixteen keyboards also harbored some of the most radical left politics in rock history? In this episode, Emma and Sereptie are joined by writer, bassist, and WFMU radio DJ Dave Mandl for a deep dive into the origins, aesthetics, and political contradictions of progressive rock. From the egalitarian aristocracy of prog's classical pretensions to the outright communism of Henry Cow and the Art Bears, we trace the fault lines between individualism, elitism, and genuine aesthetic liberation. Along the way we ask whether the charge of bourgeois excess ever really stuck — and what prog's capacious, boundary-pushing spirit might still have to offer a left politics in search of new forms.Dave Mandldavidmandl.comWFMU — It's Complicated: wfmu.org/playlists/GXLA Review of Books: lareviewofbooks.org/contributor/dave-mandlElevated Landscapes (photo book): roman-nvmerals.myshopify.com/products/vol-cdxl-elevated-landscapes-by-dave-mandlHis BandsEmergency Group: emergencygroup.bandcamp.comTime Trout: otoroku.bandcamp.com/album/stuck-like-jane-austenSereptie's Prog Metal Band — eENIKBandcamp: eenik.bandcamp.com/track/hints-of-mercurySpotify: open.spotify.com/album/2nQkBlBJuzhxo0fNDRtbRPSupport LEPHT HAND:Join the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/LEPHTHANDMerch and Design Shop: crit-drip.comAcid Horizon Links: https://linktr.ee/acidhorizonEmma's Substack: https://elftheory.substack.com/Sereptie (ambient project): https://sereptie.bandcamp.com/Acid Horizon Research Commons is now live: https://www.acidhorizonpodcast.com/ahrc-main

What happens to a generation raised on the civic idealism of public broadcasting when the world it promised never arrives? In this episode, Sereptie is joined by Emma Stamm and Bob Langan to unpack his recent blog post Corduroy Psychedelia: Boards of Canada and the PBS Unconscious — an exploration of nostalgia, childhood wonder, and the shared cultural commons that neoliberalism quietly dismantled. Drawing on Mark Fisher's hauntology and acid communism, Spinoza's theory of affect, and the uncanny aesthetics of films like Picnic at Hanging Rock, the conversation asks whether the affects instilled in us by PBS, Napster, and late-night diners might still carry some political charge. From Boards of Canada dads to the death of the diner, this is a wide-ranging meditation on what it means to grieve a future that never came."Corduroy Psychedelia: On Boards of Canada, Hauntology, and the PBS Unconscious": https://splitinfinities.substack.com/p/corduroy-psychedelia-on-boards-ofAHRC Summer School: https://www.acidhorizonpodcast.com/ahrc-coursesSupport LEPHT HAND:Join the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/LEPHTHANDMerch and Design Shop: crit-drip.comAcid Horizon Links: https://linktr.ee/acidhorizonEmma's Substack: https://elftheory.substack.com/Sereptie (ambient project): https://sereptie.bandcamp.com/Acid Horizon Research Commons is now live: https://www.acidhorizonpodcast.com/ahrc-main

Enroll in classes now: https://www.acidhorizonpodcast.com/ahrc-coursesWhat if the psychedelic revolution in end-of-life care is less a liberation from the medicalization of death than its most seductive intensification? In this crossover episode of LEPHT HAND and Acid Horizon, SEREPTIE and Emma are joined by anthropologist Sujit Thomas, whose research on psychedelic thanatology cuts through therapeutic optimism to ask harder questions about pastoral power, metaphysical belief shift, and the commodification of mystical experience. Drawing on Foucault, Deleuze, and Nietzsche, the conversation moves from authentic dying to the death transcendence scale and Huxley's heroic final dose — asking whether the good death being marketed to us is really a pacification of the excess and irrationality that makes life worth affirming.Letheby paper: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12152-024-09564-3Sujit Thomas:https://as.nyu.edu/departments/anthropology/graduate/alumni/doctoral-alumni/thomas-sujit.html?challenge=d06e90d7-4d8f-4b88-9d8c-10b73beb60f1Support LEPHT HAND:Join the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/LEPHTHANDMerch and Design Shop: crit-drip.comAcid Horizon Links: https://linktr.ee/acidhorizonEmma's Substack: https://elftheory.substack.com/Sereptie (ambient project): https://sereptie.bandcamp.com/Acid Horizon Research Commons is now live: https://www.acidhorizonpodcast.com/ahrc-main

Can machines imagine, or do they merely recombine the vast archive of images and language we have already produced? In this episode of LEPHT HAND, Emma Stamm and Sereptie speak with Fabian Offert about his forthcoming book Vector Media and the philosophical stakes of machine learning. Together they explore machine vision, the politics of images, and the strange epistemology of vector space, where culture, language, and visual media are flattened into new regimes of abstraction. Along the way, the conversation touches on critical technical practice, AI art, and whether these systems reveal something about human perception or instead confront us with an alien form of thought.Buy Fabian's book: https://www.upress.umn.edu/9781517921675/vector-media/Fabian's website: https://zentralwerkstatt.org/“The Method of Critical AI Studies, A Propaedeutic,” Fabian Offert and Ranjodh Singh Dhaliwal: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2411.18833"Generative Digital Humanities," Fabian Offert and Peter Bell: https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2723/short23.pdfSupport LEPHT HAND:Join the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/LEPHTHANDMerch and Design Shop: crit-drip.comAcid Horizon Links: https://linktr.ee/acidhorizonEmma's Substack: https://elftheory.substack.com/Sereptie (ambient project): https://sereptie.bandcamp.com/Acid Horizon Research Commons is now live: https://www.acidhorizonpodcast.com/ahrc-main

Access Emma's archived course, enroll in Stuart's new course, and discover more: https://www.acidhorizonpodcast.com/ahrc-mainWhat happens when love is absent from the stage, yet remains the hidden force driving every act of power and betrayal? In this episode of LEPHT HAND, we sit down with Phil Ford of Weird Studies to explore Richard Wagner’s Das Rheingold and the mythic machinery of the Ring Cycle. Moving between politics, metaphysics, and music, we examine the curse of gold, the logic of contracts, and the catastrophic singularity of love. Along the way, we ask whether Wagner’s aesthetic vision can be disentangled from his ideology and what it still reveals about the modern soul.Enroll in Phil's course on music and the tarot: https://weirdosphere.mn.co/Support LEPHT HAND:Join the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/LEPHTHANDMerch and Design Shop: crit-drip.comAcid Horizon Links: https://linktr.ee/acidhorizonEmma's Substack: https://elftheory.substack.com/Sereptie (ambient project): https://sereptie.bandcamp.com/Acid Horizon Research Commons is now live: https://www.acidhorizonpodcast.com/ahrc-main

Emma and Sereptie debrief the 'Weird Academia' conference in Bloomington, Indiana, reflecting on what it means to make space for the strange within and beyond the academy. We explore animal consciousness, interdisciplinary research, and the “closet” of weird scholarship, asking how encounters that rupture established methods can open new forms of knowledge. The conversation turns toward meta-politics, examining non-communication, collective retreat, and para-academic practices as forms of resistance amid digital exhaustion and institutional collapse. Along the way, we connect weirding to acid communism, communal learning, and the ongoing struggle to sustain the humanities as a living, shared practice.Support LEPHT HAND:Join the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/LEPHTHANDMerch and Design Shop: crit-drip.comAcid Horizon Links: https://linktr.ee/acidhorizonEmma's Substack: https://elftheory.substack.com/Sereptie (ambient project): https://sereptie.bandcamp.com/Acid Horizon Research Commons is now live: https://www.acidhorizonpodcast.com/ahrc-main

Aragorn Eloff, a postdoctoral research fellow specializing in psychedelic ontogenesis, discusses the intersection of psychedelics and philosophy. He critiques computational models of mind, advocating instead for enactivism and non-representational thought. Eloff connects Deleuze’s ideas with psychedelic experiences, emphasizing individuation and the transformative potential of these substances. He explores the risks of psychedelic journeys and the importance of setting, while proposing that spirituality can emerge from simple, imminent dynamics. A thought-provoking conversation on consciousness and agency awaits!

Check out Emma's Substack: https://elftheory.substack.com/Join Emma for 'Acid Communism: A World That Could Free': https://www.acidhorizonpodcast.com/2026-classes/p/qny873rafa9ibhcyj2t2x1cwsuvtlnIn this episode, Craig is joined by Emma Stamm as LEPHT HAND begins a new chapter in 2026. Rather than centering on a single text, the conversation reflects on early encounters with philosophy and how those formative experiences shape the way thinking is pursued today. Together, Craig and Emma begin to sketch what rigorous philosophical research might look like outside traditional academic institutions, emphasizing collective study, depth, and experimentation. The episode serves as a calibration, setting the terms for how LEPHT HAND will think, work, and research going forward.Support LEPHT HAND:Join the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/LEPHTHANDMerch and Design Shop: crit-drip.comAcid Horizon Links: https://linktr.ee/acidhorizonEmma's Substack: https://elftheory.substack.com/Sereptie (ambient project): https://sereptie.bandcamp.com/Acid Horizon Research Commons is now live: https://www.acidhorizonpodcast.com/ahrc-main

In this end-of-year installment, we’re sharing a conversation originally released on LEPHT HAND as we take a rare and well-earned brief hiatus from regular publishing. This pause marks a moment of transition rather than retreat, as both LEPHT HAND and Acid Horizon continue to evolve beyond the podcast form! Closing out the episode is a reflection on Gianni Vattimo’s essay “Beyond the Subject,” engaging questions of weak thought, interpretation, and the limits of the sovereign self. As we close out the year, we’re also preparing a new slate of courses through the Acid Horizon Research Commons, and we look forward to returning soon, welcoming many of you into the classroom in the weeks ahead.Support LEPHT HAND:Join the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/LEPHTHANDMerch and Design Shop: crit-drip.comAcid Horizon Links: https://linktr.ee/acidhorizonEmma's Substack: https://elftheory.substack.com/Sereptie (ambient project): https://sereptie.bandcamp.com/Acid Horizon Research Commons is now live: https://www.acidhorizonpodcast.com/ahrc-main

Can a genuinely liberatory politics survive without mystery, imagination, or the spiritual experiences that give life its depth?  Sereptie speaks with Graham Jones about Jacobin’s article “The Forgotten History of Socialism and the Occult” and why its knee-jerk rationalism gets the history wrong. We explore the intersections of Marxism, mysticism, occult traditions, utopian thought, and the warm stream of revolutionary desire. The discussion moves through materialist spirituality, political subjectivity, Boycott Watkins, and how radical movements can reclaim the ecstatic and the ineffable.Graham's Substack: https://sublimerevolutionaries.substack.com/subscribe?next=https%3A%2F%2Fsublimerevolutionaries.substack.com%2F%3Futm_source%3Dglobal-search&later=true&just_signed_up=true&subscription_id=1053278865&referral_token=g501q&requires_confirmation=&utm_source=cover_page&email=sereptie%40gmail.com&skip_redirect_check=trueBoycott Watkins in IG: https://www.instagram.com/boycottwatkins/Support LEPHT HAND:Join the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/LEPHTHANDMerch and Design Shop: crit-drip.comAcid Horizon Links: https://linktr.ee/acidhorizonEmma's Substack: https://elftheory.substack.com/Sereptie (ambient project): https://sereptie.bandcamp.com/Acid Horizon Research Commons is now live: https://www.acidhorizonpodcast.com/ahrc-main