Sublime eclectic mayhem. That’s been my playlist project and musical life, one that begins with The Muppet Movie soundtrack and later involves performing hymns, death metal, surf, and bluegrass. I’ve played in theaters, tents, and basements, for multi-stage festivals and squirrel rodeos. I’ve written and recorded music for The Drunken Odyssey. Sublime eclectic mayhem. A warning and a welcome for joyous noise, for those navigating what Beckett called “this bitch of an earth.”

“And the Earth—they tell me”

                                    (after Emily Dickinson)

Sometimes the ale is white.
Sometimes the ale is brown.
Sometimes the men undress
before they swim and drown.
Maybe the unrested mind
revelates, burns, and screams.
Or maybe the unrested mind
is colder than it seems.
“And the Earth—they tell me”
within four years will burn.
I bought new swimming trunks.
Some men will never learn.

And the Earth–they tell me

Listen on Tidal. Listen on Spotify.

1. “The Inchworm” – Carl Allen
2. “QNPLC” – Guaynaa, Tropikal Forever
3. “Love” – Lambrini Girls
4. “Punish” – Ethel Cain
5. “Fahrenheit 451: The Reading” – The Lord
6. “Destroy Each Other” – Haunted Horses
7. “Gogol (Live)” – Chilly Gonzales
8. “Monicas Vals” – Tea Lundgren, Gustav Lundgren Trio
9. “Debussy: String Quartet in G Minor, CD 91: II. Scherzo. Assez vif et bien rythmé” – THe Nash Ensemble
10. “Leghreeb” – Jawhar
11. “About the Culture of Death (Kerretu mahrû)” – Wyatt E.
12. “Restaurant Not” – Doseone, Steel Tipped Dove
13. “High Tide & The Rust” – Kinnship
14. “The Drowned World” – Laura Agnusdei
15. “There was and there was not” – Thea Farhardian
16. “Zénith (Tape #2)” – Hanry

Stephen McClurg (Episode 473) composes and improvises in Serenity Dagger, The Abdomen, and other projects. Along with session work for mid-Alabama singer/songwriters, he frequently collaborates with musicians across the state adding bass, guitar, and synths to friends’ recordings. He currently writes reviews for Horror DNA and is the substitute low end wrangler for Mobile-based punk rock band Future Hate. You can find out more about his work here.