The Thaw & Die Grenze

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Ice cubes fall from a tray in the clouds. Digital render by Jeff Emtman.

 

Jeff walks to the edge of Berlin and explains why the Here Be Monsters feed has been quiet for so long. 

On the way, Jeff talks about plans for upcoming episodes, looks at the ways that moving to Berlin has changed him, and discusses a pair of films featuring Tilda Swinton: Cycling the Frame (1988), and The Invisible Frame (2009). Both movies feature Swinton riding a bicycle around the entirety of the Berlin Wall—or, in the case of the latter, where the Berlin Wall used to be. 

Please follow Here Be Monsters on Patreon: patreon.com/HBMpodcast

Field recordings heard in this episode (starting around 17:20) : a former site of the Berlin wall in Marienfelde  ~  birds and insects near Portbou, Spain  ~  canoe paddling near the in Germany’s Spreewald  ~  geese and peacocks calling on Peacock Island (Pfaueninsel)  ~  dusk crickets near Locarno, Switzerland  ~  a massive pipe organ that was part of Italy’s submission to the 2024 Venice Biennale  ~  public transport boats in Venice revving their engines  ~  Jeff singing in a bathroom while a faucet drips  ~  Water splashing against cement in Banyuls-sur-mer, France  ~  Hiking the Walter Benjamin memorial trail on the France / Spain border  ~  Baby goat at the peak of a mountain on the France / Spain border  ~  A canal boat passing in Amsterdam, Netherlands  ~  An announcement bidding visitors to be quiet while visiting France’s Cathedral of Our Lady of Strasbourg.  

Producer: Jeff Emtman
Music: The Black Spot

 

Season 10 is Coming!

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Season 10 is nearly here!  The season starts on March 9th and episodes will be released on a rolling basis until all ten shows are published.

Want to advertise on an episode? Fill out the sponsorship request form. 

Want to support HBM with a small monthly donation?  Become a patron on Patreon. 

Can’t wait to share the season with you.  More soon. 

Producer: Jeff Emtman
Music: The Black Spot

 

Leaving Spotify

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I’ve decided to remove the podcast from Spotify.  It’s not just their recent controversies around Joe Rogan, it’s a much bigger problem with the way that Spotify treats the medium.  

If you listen on an app other than Spotify, you don’t need to change anything, just stay subscribed, and you’ll get all the new episodes (Season 10 is coming soon!).

If you do listen on Spotify though, you’ll need to download a different app to keep listening.  Personally, I’m a big fan of  Pocket Casts, but there are a lot of good options out there. 

Direct links to HBM’s listing on several podcast apps: 

Last thing: If you’re a podcaster and you’re interested in removing your own work from Spotify, I just published an article called “How to remove your podcast from Spotify without losing (all) your listeners”.  Perhaps an overly bold title, we’ll see..  

Thank you for all the support for all these years.  I really appreciate it.  Season 10 will be here soon. 

Producer: Jeff Emtman
Music: The Black Spot

 

Season 9 = February 17th

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Image by Jeff Emtman.

Image by Jeff Emtman.

 

Season 9 will be here soon!  We’ll bring you ten new episodes about fear, beauty and the unknown.  

We’ll see the fight for survival and beauty of the microscopic world.  We’ll learn how balloons can be used to capture the souls of doomed buildings.  We’ll listen for alien transmissions on a reserved shortwave frequency.  We’ll luxuriate in the scent discarded cocoa bean husks. and you’ll get quick-fixes to all your problems from the all-knowing, hyper-dimensional entity that sometimes advises Jeff in his sleep. 

As a side note, we’ve been re-shuffling some things behind the scenes on the podcast feed.  If you’ve got duplicate episodes showing up, you can likely fix that by unsubscribing and re-subscribing to Here Be Monsters.  Thanks for your patience! 

Also, we have a Patreon now.  Your support is very much appreciated.  Thank you! 

Producer: Jeff Emtman
Music: The Black Spot