Ernst Karel
@sesamecircuits.bsky.social
electroacoustic noise / sonic ethnography / Expedition Content (w Veronika Kusumaryati, 2020); 47 Gates (w Bhob Rainey, Erstwhile Records 2024) / Local Locations (KWMR) / https://ek.klingt.org
Pinned
Ernst Karel
@sesamecircuits.bsky.social
· Dec 10
Program Guide | 2025 Sundance Film Festival
Discover the 2025 film lineup.
festival.sundance.org
announced for Sundance, a film I’m contributing sound design for:
Aanikoobijigan [ancestor/great-grandparent/great-grandchild]
by Adam Khalil & Zack Khalil
festival.sundance.org/program/film...
Aanikoobijigan [ancestor/great-grandparent/great-grandchild]
by Adam Khalil & Zack Khalil
festival.sundance.org/program/film...
Reposted by Ernst Karel
painter kerry james marshall loaned the black panther HQ door to the dusable museum
February 15, 2026 at 11:03 PM
painter kerry james marshall loaned the black panther HQ door to the dusable museum
Reposted by Ernst Karel
YESSS
In a blind test, audiophiles couldn't tell the difference between audio signals sent through copper wire, a banana, or wet mud
In a blind test, audiophiles couldn't tell the difference between audio signals sent through copper wire, a banana, or wet mud — 'The mud should sound perfectly awful, but it doesn't,' notes the experiment creator
Who knew listening to a banana sounded so good?
www.tomshardware.com
February 15, 2026 at 8:15 PM
YESSS
Reposted by Ernst Karel
I asked this to the dean of the Harvard FAS at the faculty meeting yesterday. I didn’t expect or receive a straight answer; nonetheless, I wanted to speak it into the archive.
February 4, 2026 at 3:40 PM
I asked this to the dean of the Harvard FAS at the faculty meeting yesterday. I didn’t expect or receive a straight answer; nonetheless, I wanted to speak it into the archive.
Reposted by Ernst Karel
this is comically evil. brazenly anti-social. just absolute black-pilled nihilism. we will not have a republic, we will not be free, until we regulate these companies to the point where — at a bare minimum — they're too afraid to put stuff like this down on paper.
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/13/t...
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/13/t...
February 13, 2026 at 2:54 PM
this is comically evil. brazenly anti-social. just absolute black-pilled nihilism. we will not have a republic, we will not be free, until we regulate these companies to the point where — at a bare minimum — they're too afraid to put stuff like this down on paper.
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/13/t...
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/13/t...
Reposted by Ernst Karel
maybe we could find a place to post shows that isn't an effing Meta product?
February 13, 2026 at 2:30 PM
maybe we could find a place to post shows that isn't an effing Meta product?
Reposted by Ernst Karel
That's 100% why I created leavesubstack.com -- got tired of re-hashing the points; wanted to make a simple 1-pager.
You Should Probably Leave Substack
You should probably leave Substack. Here’s why and how.
leavesubstack.com
February 12, 2026 at 4:54 AM
That's 100% why I created leavesubstack.com -- got tired of re-hashing the points; wanted to make a simple 1-pager.
Reposted by Ernst Karel
Your writing is great and your thoughts are valuable and whatever you’re reporting is insightful and will illuminate my thoughts, but I won’t read it because you posted it on the transphobic Nazi blog network
I just wish it wasn’t a Substack link
February 12, 2026 at 3:59 AM
Your writing is great and your thoughts are valuable and whatever you’re reporting is insightful and will illuminate my thoughts, but I won’t read it because you posted it on the transphobic Nazi blog network
Reposted by Ernst Karel
If you're wondering whether your town was a sundown town?
Check this map.
Shout out to everyone that immediately noticed that most sundown towns were not in the South.
Check this map.
Shout out to everyone that immediately noticed that most sundown towns were not in the South.
Sundown Town Map | History and Social Justice, inspired by James W. Loewen
A database contributed by people across the nation underlies these maps and the tables you can generate.
justice.tougaloo.edu
February 11, 2026 at 4:18 PM
If you're wondering whether your town was a sundown town?
Check this map.
Shout out to everyone that immediately noticed that most sundown towns were not in the South.
Check this map.
Shout out to everyone that immediately noticed that most sundown towns were not in the South.
Reposted by Ernst Karel
NEW: ICE is leasing offices throughout the US as part of a secret, months-long expansion campaign. WIRED is publishing dozens of these locations.
ICE Is Expanding Across the US at Breakneck Speed. Here’s Where It’s Going Next
ICE plans to lease offices throughout the US as part of a secret, months-long expansion campaign. WIRED is publishing dozens of these locations.
www.wired.com
February 10, 2026 at 4:07 PM
NEW: ICE is leasing offices throughout the US as part of a secret, months-long expansion campaign. WIRED is publishing dozens of these locations.
Reposted by Ernst Karel
This is an object lesson in how Buddhist bullshit enables AI "consciousness" bullshit. As I have argued elsewhere, an analysis of consciousness in Buddhism shows that there's simply no way it is compatible with any notion of AI "intelligence" or "consciousness".
meaningless.ai
Bhante Sujato on why AI is bad and we should stop using it.
sujato.github.io
February 9, 2026 at 11:54 PM
This is an object lesson in how Buddhist bullshit enables AI "consciousness" bullshit. As I have argued elsewhere, an analysis of consciousness in Buddhism shows that there's simply no way it is compatible with any notion of AI "intelligence" or "consciousness".
Reposted by Ernst Karel
Exclusive: Site takes a cut of subscriptions to content that promotes far-right ideology, white supremacy and antisemitism
Revealed: How Substack makes money from hosting Nazi newsletters
www.theguardian.com
February 9, 2026 at 9:57 PM
Exclusive: Site takes a cut of subscriptions to content that promotes far-right ideology, white supremacy and antisemitism
Reposted by Ernst Karel
I’m jabbering at UC Berkeley on April 3rd, stop by! Music and CSEAS joint event.
events.berkeley.edu/cseas/event/...
events.berkeley.edu/cseas/event/...
Discarded Civilization: Music, Intimate Nightlife Labor, and the Development of Thailand during the Cold War
Thailand was dramatically transformed, both spatially and economically, during the historical period called ยุคจีไอ, or the G.I. era....
events.berkeley.edu
February 9, 2026 at 7:09 PM
I’m jabbering at UC Berkeley on April 3rd, stop by! Music and CSEAS joint event.
events.berkeley.edu/cseas/event/...
events.berkeley.edu/cseas/event/...
Reposted by Ernst Karel
Put it in a textbook
February 9, 2026 at 10:31 PM
Put it in a textbook
What I was doing with trumpet and analog electronics one evening in 1999 —
Here is an excerpt from a show at Roby's in Chicago with Ernst Karel @sesamecircuits.bsky.social and Ben Miller from 1999
19990524 Ernst Karel_Ben Miller_Brent Gutzeit_Roby's - Chicago pt2
Ernst Karel - Trumpet, Electronics
Ben Miller - Guitar, Electronics
Brent Gutzeit - Electronics
Recorded live at Roby's, Chicago
May 24, 1999
soundcloud.com
February 9, 2026 at 8:28 PM
What I was doing with trumpet and analog electronics one evening in 1999 —
Reposted by Ernst Karel
I hope folks grasp the fascistic resentment underpinning this shit, and the fact that there is nothing these AI robber barons would like more than to automate human creativity because they resent it and wish to devalue, own, and control it and us.
The whole article is repulsive but this passage is at the core of it. She has no interest in writing books, she wants to win some kind of competition that nobody entered
February 8, 2026 at 4:06 PM
I hope folks grasp the fascistic resentment underpinning this shit, and the fact that there is nothing these AI robber barons would like more than to automate human creativity because they resent it and wish to devalue, own, and control it and us.
Reposted by Ernst Karel
There is joy to be found in The Internet Archive Avant Garde Project archive.org/details/iaagp
February 2, 2026 at 11:18 PM
There is joy to be found in The Internet Archive Avant Garde Project archive.org/details/iaagp
Reposted by Ernst Karel
Alison Knowles & Pauline Oliveros. Postcard Theatre, 1970
February 6, 2026 at 1:30 PM
Alison Knowles & Pauline Oliveros. Postcard Theatre, 1970
Reposted by Ernst Karel
Switching fully over to @bookshop.org was both very easy and very pleasing. Cannot recommend highly enough.
While independent bookstores are giving out free whistles, hosting protest sign making events, and donating proceeds to mutual aid, Amazon is *checks notes* providing technology that assists ICE in their terrorizing of communities.
Independent bookstores deserve your support. Amazon does not.
Independent bookstores deserve your support. Amazon does not.
February 7, 2026 at 5:47 AM
Switching fully over to @bookshop.org was both very easy and very pleasing. Cannot recommend highly enough.
Reposted by Ernst Karel
OK, *ongoing* thread of books to read on Palestine. Some recent, some not at all so recent.
I’ve been thinking on this as I read more. Also how the settlers trigger response that the army uses to validate excessive force.
Also, I’ve concluded 100 Year War on Palestine. Do you have other suggestions for reading? If you don’t mind. I’d actually love a thread if you do. Not that you have to.
Also, I’ve concluded 100 Year War on Palestine. Do you have other suggestions for reading? If you don’t mind. I’d actually love a thread if you do. Not that you have to.
February 7, 2026 at 12:53 AM
OK, *ongoing* thread of books to read on Palestine. Some recent, some not at all so recent.
Reposted by Ernst Karel
Degradation of humans based on race is the logical extension of degradation of animals based on species.
We will not eradicate evil until we recognize that all life on this abundant world is rare and precious.
“May they be happy and safe!
May all beings be happy!”
We will not eradicate evil until we recognize that all life on this abundant world is rare and precious.
“May they be happy and safe!
May all beings be happy!”
SuttaCentral
Early Buddhist texts from the Tipitaka (Tripitaka). Suttas (sutras) with the Buddha's teachings on mindfulness, insight, wisdom, and meditation.
suttacentral.net
February 6, 2026 at 10:17 PM
Degradation of humans based on race is the logical extension of degradation of animals based on species.
We will not eradicate evil until we recognize that all life on this abundant world is rare and precious.
“May they be happy and safe!
May all beings be happy!”
We will not eradicate evil until we recognize that all life on this abundant world is rare and precious.
“May they be happy and safe!
May all beings be happy!”
Reposted by Ernst Karel
Apparently I also have a new release for Bandcamp Friday. It’s a reissue of a cassette released on Apraxia in 1993 — edited via tapes-by-mail by Patrick Barber and Jeph Jerman. I seem to hear my trumpet and electronics setup mostly on tracks 2, 4, and 7.
blowhole-us.bandcamp.com/album/innards
blowhole-us.bandcamp.com/album/innards
Innards, by Blowhole
14 track album
blowhole-us.bandcamp.com
February 6, 2026 at 9:35 PM
Apparently I also have a new release for Bandcamp Friday. It’s a reissue of a cassette released on Apraxia in 1993 — edited via tapes-by-mail by Patrick Barber and Jeph Jerman. I seem to hear my trumpet and electronics setup mostly on tracks 2, 4, and 7.
blowhole-us.bandcamp.com/album/innards
blowhole-us.bandcamp.com/album/innards
Apparently I also have a new release for Bandcamp Friday. It’s a reissue of a cassette released on Apraxia in 1993 — edited via tapes-by-mail by Patrick Barber and Jeph Jerman. I seem to hear my trumpet and electronics setup mostly on tracks 2, 4, and 7.
blowhole-us.bandcamp.com/album/innards
blowhole-us.bandcamp.com/album/innards
Innards, by Blowhole
14 track album
blowhole-us.bandcamp.com
February 6, 2026 at 9:35 PM
Apparently I also have a new release for Bandcamp Friday. It’s a reissue of a cassette released on Apraxia in 1993 — edited via tapes-by-mail by Patrick Barber and Jeph Jerman. I seem to hear my trumpet and electronics setup mostly on tracks 2, 4, and 7.
blowhole-us.bandcamp.com/album/innards
blowhole-us.bandcamp.com/album/innards