What is the most unchristmasy place in the whole world? Maybe Darfur. It’s christmas at ground zero, and we are focusing on journeys of the physical and transcendental variety this week. Malcolm Cowley is most famous for discovering William Faulkner, but is also the author of a book entitled Exile’s Return, which Gabriel reads from during a segment fast becoming a tradition, and titled Book You. The question for the week is Where are you going? Any responses to this question (or any question for that matter) can be mailed to us at mail@mutablesound.com. We also sample the music of Animal Hospital, whose album, Good or Plenty, Streets and Avenues, will be out soon. The Scripted Cocktail Party was a complete success, but for the unclean underwear, after which another episode of Twilight at the Lady Jane Grey College for Little Ladies. Gabriel attempts to explain said episode afterwards in a long, rambling, and flustered monologue, Malcolm butchers a few scandinavian names, and Gabriel reports on his journey to Jacks and Jill’s Sunshine Retreat Center to meet with guru Colin Jacks. Gabriel attempted to make a world made entirely of marshmellow because he is shackled by his absurdist sense of humor. More than he has ever stared into the eyes of a woman, Gabriel stared into Colin’s eyes, which was a frightful occurrence, but what did he learn? To create a world within is to create a world without. Next thing you know, we are going to be wearing diapers and making googly sounds. Merry frickin christmas.
Whatever happened to Freud and his quaint Oedipal Complex?
Welcome. Perhaps we are implanted in your brain. Our first set of music is like lying back on a therapists couch, which brings on the question for the week, which is, Whatever happened to Freud and his quaint oedipal complex? Then Gabe reads from Oedipus the King, after which point Malcolm and Gabe are overcome, so much so that Malcolm comes close to suggesting they call it quits right here and now, but really only implies it through his musical selection. Does Malcolm eat the ears off living pigs? Of course not. Gabe pumps his scripted cocktail party, which will be friday the 19th, at 2206 N. Rockwell, at around 8. For more directions email him at mail@mutablesound.com, or call at 773-384-4642. You can also write to mail@mutablesound.com if you have a response to this weeks question or any week for that matter.
The Mutable Radioshow is a weekly spot in which Misters Felder and Boyer play their favorite melodies from years gone by, as well as a few new tunes from out the library. Topics are discussed, such as what is there to hate? A new episode of Twilight at the Lady Jane Grey College for Little Ladies is aired each week.
Recorded entirely at Mutable Sound Studios, this weekly adventure into sound will also feature new Mutable Sound acts you have just been dying to hear! As well as the squiggly sounds of yesteryear.
View all Mutable Podcasts
What's black and white and red all over?
Bloody snow rocks, among other things. Gabriel reads from A Voyage to Arcturus by David Lindsay on a new segment titled Book You! The man died of a tooth abscess. Gabriel attempts to recount what has happened in past episodes of Twilight at the Lady Jane Grey College for Little Ladies, but only succeeds in confusing Malcolm further. Then we revert back to 1903 and the actual radioplay itself. All that talk of smoking and drinking has Gabe smoking and drinking. Then Gabriel reviews 2012: Doomsday, in which mayans attempt to save the world for christ, because obviously the whole of mayan civilization is dependent upon the work of christian missionaries from the third century ad. Gabriel advises to eat only lettuce and celery on his segment, Gabe’s Guide to Better Health. Malcolm is not so certain because we all are dying in the larger scheme of things, instead believing in a balanced meal, and Gabriel pumps the scripted cocktail party that will be taking place at his house at 2206 N. Rockwell St. For more information, email mail@mutablesound.com, or call 773-384-4642.
The Mutable Radioshow is a weekly spot in which Misters Felder and Boyer play their favorite melodies from years gone by, as well as a few new tunes from out the library. Topics are discussed, such as what is there to hate? A new episode of Twilight at the Lady Jane Grey College for Little Ladies is aired each week.
Recorded entirely at Mutable Sound Studios, this weekly adventure into sound will also feature new Mutable Sound acts you have just been dying to hear! As well as the squiggly sounds of yesteryear.
View all Mutable Podcasts
Josh Glenn
Friend of Mutable Sound, Joshua Glenn, has recently released a book entitled, The Idler’s Glossary, with Canadian publisher, Biblioasis, in which he explores idleness from every angle, with a comment concerning The Situationists here and Hannah Arendt there, he runs the gamut from playful to informative. Throughout, within the confines of his premise, that what he’s offering us here is an amusing glossary of arcane and everyday terms to denote the idle, he has created a very powerful critique of the work-a-day world. From Aestivate and Flazy, to Labor and Dissolute.
Glenn made his name as editor-in-chief of Hermenaut, a subversive magazine of ideas couched in readable and engaging prose. It was inspired by the teen magazine phenomenon, full of intriguing profiles and wry correspondence, and a distinctive world-view cultivated during his time at the Utne Reader. Having surrounded himself with a close circle of editors and authors often groomed by himself into maturity, Glenn went on to capture the imaginations of burgeoning elite everywhere. He rose from the zine culture of the early nineties (along with The Idler and The Baffler, among others) to achieve national reknown at the cusp of the new millenium, going on to develop the Ideas section of the Boston Globe, and continue his forays into the effluvium of culture as a freelance writer, pumping out some truly inspired pieces for N+1, a periodical itself inspired by Hermenaut. As well as continuing his cultural discourse on hermenaut.org, a blog aggregator he runs, he has put out Taking Things Seriously with Princeton Architectural Press, and of course, The Idler’s Glossary.
Mark Kingwell’s introductory essay offers a playful defence of the idler as homo superior, and it is here in this alternate universe, that Glenn has always soared. Idleness is the cornerstone from which this cultural critic has spun a collage-like discourse, his prickly critiques into everything from fake authenticity to camp, all stem from the bedrock of a simple ideology, that there is nothing more revolutionary than doing nothing. Much of his kaleidescopic learning is apparent in miniature within this book, perhaps the nicest example of which being his note about Joe Bousquet in his definition for Beautiful Loser. “My life is externally the life of a reject, and I wouldn’t want it any other way,” Bousquet is famous for saying, his own idea of the homo superior being one in which persons are excellent at what they are born to do, but failures at everything else.
Mr. Glenn paints an amusing, poignant picture, that I personally find proves more emotionally charged than Ambrose Bierce’s classic, The Devil’s Dictionary. More enlightened, less Child of the Enlightenment.
In the Mutableye is a segment that sometimes showcases something interesting that is happening somewhere in the world at this moment, and sometimes showcases some fad or person from the past that we here at Mutable acknowledge is still cool s**t.
For our first ever Is Still Cool S**t, we wanted to showcase an author with a profound sense of the worth of leisure, Josh Glenn
What is life? (Biologically speaking)
With guest Marshall, the man behind the experimental venue, AV-aerie. The great Bee Gees’ tragedy discussed, while Marshall defines biological life, and Gabriel wants to go on a search for the fountain of youth in the sewers of Chicago, but Studs Terkel’s passed away so how could he? How Malcolm and Marshall met, which transitions smoothly into a consideration of doom metal, those who play it, and what wonderful people they are. All this gingerly interspersed with melodies from out the leaves of the scrapbook, as well as another episode of Twilight at the Lady Jane Grey College for Little Ladies, and many more mystical moments. Listen to Gabe smoking very loudly while Marshall is speaking…
The Mutable Radioshow is a weekly spot in which Misters Felder and Boyer play their favorite melodies from years gone by, as well as a few new tunes from out the library. Topics are discussed, such as what is there to hate? A new episode of Twilight at the Lady Jane Grey College for Little Ladies is aired each week.
Recorded entirely at Mutable Sound Studios, this weekly adventure into sound will also feature new Mutable Sound acts you have just been dying to hear! As well as the squiggly sounds of yesteryear.
View all Mutable Podcasts
When will this kick in?
Live at the AV-aerie and sounding like some sort of smooth jazz dj, only to then let loose some orchestral maneuvers and discuss zeppelins covered in sequins. Gabriel is most obviously drunk and perhaps twinkling with hidden knowledge, the question for this week being when will this stuff kick in, and breast implants for George W., ultimately making it to episode 2 of Twilight at the Lady Jane Grey College for Little Ladies, then on to amateur victorian beat-boxing, to symbols of human hubris, to the sexiest industrial corridor, to where we have been, the past and the future, imagining our lives as graphs or pie charts, and everywhere in between.
The Mutable Radioshow is a weekly spot in which Misters Felder and Boyer play their favorite melodies from years gone by, as well as a few new tunes from out the library. Topics are discussed, such as what is there to hate? A new episode of Twilight at the Lady Jane Grey College for Little Ladies is aired each week.
Recorded entirely at Mutable Sound Studios, this weekly adventure into sound will also feature new Mutable Sound acts you have just been dying to hear! As well as the squiggly sounds of yesteryear.
View all Mutable Podcasts
What Are Friends Really For?
Imagine you forgot how to speak, but got to address the local planning committee. You test the microphone, look off to your left, but eventually some sound must be emitted. This is us.
We played records and made small-talk. A cover of a Syd Barrett original caused Gabe to sputter and coo. Malcolm wanted to showcase other lights, of both yesteryear and today, though as to tomorrow he was reticent about making any definitive statement. We did, however, make mention of our upcoming releases, such as a A Survey of My Failures This Far, and what friends are for, and also introduced Twilight at the Lady Jane Grey College for Little Ladies, episode one.
This was in the Kinsey Industrial Corridor, and the two of us were smoking furtively, attempting to work the other up into a frenzy so as to awaken interest in an otherwise bored and (at the time at least) nonexistent audience. Marshall popped in to clean up from a private party of the evening previous, occasionally stopping to listen when something funny was said, or a choice side brought silence and admiration.
The Mutable Radioshow is a weekly spot in which Misters Felder and Boyer play their favorite melodies from years gone by, as well as a few new tunes from out the library. Topics are discussed, such as what is there to hate? A new episode of Twilight at the Lady Jane Grey College for Little Ladies is aired each week.
Recorded entirely at Mutable Sound Studios, this weekly adventure into sound will also feature new Mutable Sound acts you have just been dying to hear! As well as the squiggly sounds of yesteryear.
View all Mutable Podcasts
Jean-Baptiste Oudry - Swan Attacked by a Dog, 1745
Welcome to Mutable Sound
Mutable Sound was originally Mutable Press, a company founded with Zachary Katz and the publication of a small book titled Seven Short Plays for the Bedroom. We had it printed at Kinko’s. We bound them ourselves using a saddle stitch on the floor of my bedroom at 180 Green Street where the plays themselves had been performed. We had discussed it in Brooklyn over eggs.
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Boyer reads from Dracula
Lofty standard they perform 'Bedroom Theater' in one of JP’s dwindling artist spaces
in Press
Scott S. Greenberger, Globe Staff
A curtain is furled under a pipe that runs just beneath the ceiling, and a spotted cat wanders in. On the makeshift stage there is a ripped couch, a battered metal file cabinet labeled “This Was Your Life,” and a swath of green shag carpet.
Sporting long sideburns and blue Chuck Taylor sneakers, Gabriel Boyer takes the stage and launches into a reading of “Dracula.” The spectators arrayed on the performer’s bed are less than comfortable: The slats beneath his mattress aren’t nailed in, so they tend to shift whenever somebody moves too much.
This is “Bedroom Theater,” freewheeling performances that take place in Boyer’s Jamaica Plain loft every eight days. Boyer, 26, is a frequent actor and the author of some of the plays and skits that have been staged in his bedroom for the past year. He and a friend have even published a guide, “Seven Short Plays for the Bedroom.”
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Colin Winnette
Colin Winnette is from Denton, Texas.
He is the author of Revelation (Mutable Sound), Animal Collection (Spork), Fondly (Atticus Books), Coyote (Les Figues), and Haints Stay (Two Dollar Radio). His novels have been translated into Italian and French. His latest novel, The Job of the Wasp, was published by Soft Skull Press in 2018.
He was the winner of Les Figues Press's NOS Book Contest, a runner-up for Cleveland State University Poetry Center’s First Book Award, and a finalist for Gulf Coast Magazine’s Donald Barthelme Prize for Short Prose.
His writing has appeared in numerous publications, including Playboy, Lucky Peach, The Believer, BuzzFeed Books, and others.
He's represented by Kevin O’Connor at Sheedy Literary.
Releases
Submit your poems!
Back in the ’60s and ’70s, ads in the back of magazines beckoned readers to submit their very own “song-poems,” original ditties of often dubious quality. Hopeful songwriters were then given an offer they (thankfully) couldn’t refuse: for a few hundred bucks, creative session musicians would do their best to use the public’s lyrics and churn out an actual, honest-to-goodness recorded album that they could cherish forever. Some of the finest recorded results — not counting those still awaiting to be discovered in thrift store dime bins — can be found on The American Song-Poem Anthology, songs with names like “Do You Know the Difference Between Big Wood and Brush” and “I Lost My Girl to An Argentinean Cowboy”.
We here at Mutable admire this innovative idea, and have decided to begin our own version of this service, but we would do it absolutely FREE. (Of course, we will select only the best among your submissions, based on whatever skewed standards we are using to judge you and your poetic genius.) Just send your poems to us via the internet: submissions@mutablesound.com, and wait to hear back! You too can hear your words captured in song!
If we pick your song it will be made into magical music by our resident music-makers, Normal Feelings (Chicago or Eugene contingent) and posted on the website as the Mutable Sound of the Month! Fun, right?
-Gabriel Boyer
Artist renditions of Satan’s reproductive organs.
Episode 29
Boo Boo and Simone have been sucked into another dimension by their always wily imaginary bear friends. Simone is being sucked into the Earth, while back at the infirmary Archibald the Professor of Arcane Knowledge has just now realized he forgot to pay Pieter for the monkey he’s been experimenting on in the hopes of creating a new breed of humanzee with the help of Satan, who may or may not also be the narrator of our little story. Listen for the sounds of Butcher Billy struggling to free himself from Handyman Jack’s iron grip only to then be zapped by Archibald the Professor of Arcane Knowledge and teleported to the moors where he will wander, naked and enraged.
A new episode of Twilight at the Lady Jane Grey College for Little Ladies aired on a semi-weekly basis.
A battle in Hell
Episode 30
A war is being waged in Hell between different factions of demons, while Simone and Isabel sit on the hill above watching each with a pleasant grin plastered on face, or Isabel is any case, and Simone is being sucked into the Earth as, back in the infirmary, Grammar Instructor Gundrun is violently ill. Could this be morning sickness from the anti-christ growing in her womb? Did a giant vagina just appear in the sky? What are the faeries up to? And as for the imaginary bears…
A new episode of Twilight at the Lady Jane Grey College for Little Ladies aired on a semi-weekly basis.
What mysterious forces are at work now?
Episode 31
What could all this be? Faerie orgies? Metal buckets full of bile? A light emanating from The Lady Jane College for Little Ladies that spans the globe? Somehow all these things are connected. Could imaginary bears have something to do with it? Or the young scholars currently lost in the far reaches of hell? Handyman Jack believes he can make a portal to hell himself with the help of his fleet of miniature porcelain mechanized hot air balloons and perhaps the powers of Archibald the Professor of Arcane Knowledge. But they need a human sacrifice to fill out the picture. Just then the doorbell rings.
A new episode of Twilight at the Lady Jane Grey College for Little Ladies aired on a semi-weekly basis.
The Professor of Arcane Knowledge in a Lighter Mood.
Episode 32
Can no one see that Grammar Instructor Gundrun has been transformed into a sweaty-toothed demon? Is the boy that Archibald the Professor of Arcane Knowledge succumbs using his and-now-I-have-your-mind spell really going to be sacrificed to the forces of darkness? While in the astral plane, the young scholars, Simone, Isabel, and Nathaniel wander aimlessly over undulating mounds while being harassed by snickering insects. Be warned.
A new episode of Twilight at the Lady Jane Grey College for Little Ladies aired on a semi-weekly basis.
The wolf eyes the faeries in a hungry way.
Episode 33
A young boy from the preparatory school down the lane has been put under a trance so as to be used by Headmistress Ursula to create a portal into the realm of death. Grammar Instructor Gundrun has grown awfully quiet on account of how she is transforming into Satan, or an approximation of Satan. Other young scholars, specifically Simone, Isabel, and Nathaniel, are wandering through the astral plane, but whatever happened to Butcher Billy? And why are the Invisible Bears singing that irritating song? And what are the fairies discussing in their emergency council? Only time will tell. Or will it?
A new episode of Twilight at the Lady Jane Grey College for Little Ladies aired on a semi-weekly basis.
The science behind our young scholars’ trip into the future explained.
Episode 34
This pivotal episode in our story involves many things, some to do with time, some to do with dog-sized whales, and some to do with people who just can’t take it anymore because they’re possessed by Satan and crave human flesh, not to mention having an immense dislike fir monologues by overbearing administrators. If you listen closely, you can hear the entire storyline of the up-and-coming episodes splayed out along the strings of time Simone, Isabel, and Nathaniel are traversing after she’s eaten the cursed fruit blooms from out her belly into the most adorable little bird. Be prepared!
(Also listen for Butcher Billy falling through the skylight during Ursula’s monologue only to stop short of the floor with the help of her wizardry.)
A new episode of Twilight at the Lady Jane Grey College for Little Ladies aired on a semi-weekly basis.
Episode 35
The young scholars are battling their way through the nine levels of hell, but are there nine levels or is it just a single infinite expanse full of chipmunk-voiced mongrels manning the controls within the heads of bleary-eyed walking trees pictured above? While back on earth, the administrators at the Lady Jane Grey College for Little Ladies are all being sucked into a vortex when Grammar Instructor Gundrun gives in to her demonic desire to suck the flesh of a poor boy from the preparatory school down the lane. Dark days are here again!
A new episode of Twilight at the Lady Jane Grey College for Little Ladies aired on a semi-weekly basis.
Nothing like this will ever happen in our story.
Episode 36
The astral plane has consumed everybody. True, Gundrun will be trapped in an in between place for all eternity, but as for the rest, they are stuck now in a world without windows, a place tickles at the heartstrings and beats upon the brain, where nothing is what it seems, and everything is very much what it seems, where the darkness is blinding bright, and the brightness is pitch black, where nothing could be better, and everything could be far far worse, where Butcher Billy finds a leg in a swamp, lines this marble hall chock full of vegetation moves like snakes in the high grass to cut off any and all escape. Be warned!
A new episode of Twilight at the Lady Jane Grey College for Little Ladies aired on a semi-weekly basis.
Behold the proof and know our story to be true.
Episode 37
Is Jack or is Jack not touching Headmistress Ursula’s breast? What happened to Butcher Billy and Archibald the professor of Arcane Knowledge? Why does Satan sound so suspiciously like the narrator? Who are that strange couple that just showed up at the front door of the Lady Jane Grey College for Little Ladies? Watch, listen, and learn.