Lounge Music For Alien Life + Phetasy Digest
Kill Switch? More like “Kill SNITCH” | The L.A. Mayor Race is Getting Spicy | The Internet Is Dying And So Are We | The Roots of “Antisemitism” | Bridget’s Latest Viral Bangers
Exotica/Lounge is one of the most intriguing musical genres—weird bachelor-pad music that emerged in the 1950s. The genre takes the first half of its name from Martin Denny’s Exotica (1957). You’ve probably heard “Quiet Village,” which I place alongside “Yellow Bird” by Arthur Lyman. These songs capture the genre’s enchanted island croon, Hawaiian Easy Listening. Another gem is Eden’s Island (1960) by Eden Ahbez, a vaguely psychedelic jazz-folk album with sporadic poetry readings. “Mongoose” features Ahbez, backed by a beautiful chorus, repeatedly telling a mongoose to chase a snake away.
The “Lounge” part of the genre is twofold: 1) Latin-jazz cocktail music like Esquivel’s Latin-esque (1962), featuring “Mucha Muchacha,” which would later appear in Beavis and Butthead Do America, and 2) Wacky synthesizer space music. This is where Exotica/Lounge gets weird. Polymath composers like Les Baxter and Jean-Jacques Perrey applied their expertise to the Moog, the original synthesizer. These digital compositions are layered and at times cartoonish and sometimes downright beautiful. There’s elements of Retrofuturism, visions of a humorously 1950s-coded technological future. Funny enough, this Space Pop has become the most influential part of the subgenre, laying the foundation for electronica-driven pop from Depeche Mode to Brittney Spears, Lady Gaga, and Billie Eilish.
The Obscuro dual-genre of Exotica and Lounge supplies the soundtrack that plays during our most dreamy yet futuristic moments, a pleasant mindframe we could all use more of. Playful but not silly. Industrious, masterful, but never quite austere. Songs that take place either in another galaxy or on a beach in Honolulu. Although there has been a revival of Exotica/Lounge, as seen in “Lena’s Song” by the Sweet Enoughs, the genre had a short life. By the late 60s, it was mostly done, too innocent for an era characterized by Moon landings and nonstop assassinations. Next time you host a dinner party, sneak this playlist into the background and watch what happens.
DUMPSTER FIRE - EPISODE #313
Spencer Pratt STUNS at LA Mayor Debate
Spencer Pratt — yes, that guy from The Hills — lost his $3.8 million Palisades home in the LA wildfires and decided to run for mayor against the people who let it happen. He’s crushing debates, winning 88% of post-debate polls, and making the best political content on the internet. Then there’s the arsonist who started the Palisades fire: a Luigi Mangione superfan might as well have Googled “how to start a forest fire” before torching a city.
WALK-INS WELCOME - EPISODE #389
Why the Word “Antisemitism” No Longer Works | Adam Louis-Klein
Bridget Phetasy sits down with Adam Louis-Klein, anthropologist and founder of the Movement Against Antizionism (MAAZ), to examine why the word “antisemitism” has stopped working — and what language we actually need to name and confront the Israel hatred spreading across campuses, media, and institutions. Klein traces antizionism from its roots in Nazi and Soviet propaganda through its capture of Western academia, explains how it functions as a libel machine resistant to any counterevidence, and lays out why defeating it — not just defending Israel — is the only path to peace.
DUMPSTER FIRE - EPISODE #312
The End of Roadhead: Why the Government Wants to See Your Eyes
There’s a kill switch being built into every new car in America by 2027 — and both parties voted for it with a smile. Bridget breaks down the AI that decides if you’re too emotional to drive, why the mandatory seatbelt law was always a slippery slope, and how the surveillance state got built — not by the government, but by us, one smart home device and ignored terms of service at a time. The Alexa, the Ring doorbell, the face scan to unlock your phone — we handed all of it over for the sake of convenience. Don’t worry though, you can opt out. You just won’t be able to participate in society.
THE SPECTATOR
The internet is dying and so are we
There is a lot of proof that the internet is dying. People aren’t burned out of politics, although that’s part of it. They are burned out from going “is this real?” No one has the bandwidth to become an investigative reporter for each post.
Leave Me Behind
Mar 29
I caught clips of Tucker Carlson interviewing Nick Fuentes, and the thing that struck me was the body language. Here was a man who had the biggest show on cable news, who once commanded an audience of 5 million adults, sitting across from a twenty-something New-Age shock-jock with the energy of a guy trying to impress his son’s friends.
A Love Letter to the Sane Women Holding It Down
Mar 22
I’ve been wanting to write this for a while because, more often than not, I find myself doomscrolling, screaming “NOT ALL WOMEN!” It seems like most of the women represented in media are, for lack of a better word, insane. I blame the algorithms for elevating the craziest of us. So this is for you—the woman reading this who has been quietly holding it t…
THE DAILY WIRE
America Tried To ‘Fix’ Men For Two Decades. Here’s What It Got Instead.
America spent two decades trying to “fix” masculinity. It nearly broke the country — and the guys who complained the loudest about it turned out to be the ones with the least ability to fix it. America needs manly men — not men who are afraid of their masculinity, and not men who only talk about it.
I love this genre. If you aren’t aware of it, there is an ad-free, no sign-up radio station with a couple dozen channels that include a few really cool lounge and tiki playlists. I think you will find it an indispensable source of great music - and without the BS. Check out;
somafm.com