Machine Listener is an audio essay series featuring musicians, researchers, scientists, and artists whose work intersects with the topic of listening in the digital age. The episodes take a close look at the ways in which the listening sense has transformed through our interactions with technology, and the ways in which technology is informed by the listening sense. Produced by Aimée Theriot with the support of Stimuleringsfonds, NL.

Emile Frankel’s research focuses on processes of the imagination, irolation + it’s collective opposite, play, and emerging technologies. His 2019 book Hearing the Cloud (Zero Books), explores the changing conditions of online listening by analysing streaming services, accelerationism, and the politics of mood curation.

“Who’s doing the enjoying for us when the playlist decides to play the next song? There’s something being stripped away from us in that choice. The enjoyment has come before us. These new technologies take away choice from the act of engaging in something which is meant to be pleasurable.” - Emile Frankel

Bio

Emile’s current research focuses on processes of the imagination, isolation, and its collective opposite, play, and emerging technologies. He has been interested in the changing conditions of online listening, leading him to write a the book Hearing the Cloud (Zero Books, where he discusses streaming services, accelerationism, stochastic composition, and the politics of mood curation. He’s currently finishing a PhD at Melbourne University.

→ Music

Himera - You Are Safe and Loved, to The Stars And Back

Julia Forever 줄리아 - Clarity

Rapallo - Waiting To Leave

Trevor Wishart - Arrival

→ Resources

In the Blink of a Ear - Seth Kim Koen

French paleonthologist André Leroi-Gourhan