52 episodes

Emil Amos charts the birth and development of the classic archetype 'The Outsider', telling disturbing and often humiliating stories about growing up in a small town in the 90’s. Every other episode digs into the archaeology of lesser-known music to illuminate the same themes from a more objective, historical perspective.

Emil Amos' Drifter's Sympathy Talkhouse Podcast Network

    • Music
    • 4.9 • 360 Ratings

Emil Amos charts the birth and development of the classic archetype 'The Outsider', telling disturbing and often humiliating stories about growing up in a small town in the 90’s. Every other episode digs into the archaeology of lesser-known music to illuminate the same themes from a more objective, historical perspective.

    BONUS EPISODE - "STEPHEN MALKMUS"

    BONUS EPISODE - "STEPHEN MALKMUS"

    Ever since he heard the Trigger Cut 7" in high school, Emil has been a big fan of Stephen Malkmus' contributions to the American underground. Emil stopped by Stephen's house while visiting Portland a few years ago and had a rare conversation about his younger years and early experiences in Pavement.

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    • 1 hr 9 min
    BONUS EPISODE - "RON GETS FAN MAIL!"

    BONUS EPISODE - "RON GETS FAN MAIL!"

    Ron & Emil recently began a ritual of Sunday brunching at the same family restaurant they worked at back in 1992. After a pleasant brunch Ron is granted his customary 'hard cider' and the mics are fired up. Questions were posed by listeners on Patreon and, while Ron is initially shocked that he's gotten fan mail, his storied wisdom comes rolling out just the same. It begins with the unwrapping of some rare 8-track tapes Emil's just added to his collection, which to Ron's astonishment and inevitable arousal, contains the entire Bob Dylan discography. And then when the cider eventually starts hitting, Ron regales the true, unknown story behind his friendship with the, now un-locatable, "Ecstasy Damaged Chef".
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    • 52 min
    LONER LEGENDS III

    LONER LEGENDS III

    "LONER LEGENDS III" is the final episode of Season Five & features::
    *an overview of Eden Ahbez & the writing of Nature Boy*
    *a difficult dive into the dastardly world of John Phillips*
    *an overview of Alan Hull's work with Lindisfarne and his solo LPs*
    *a section on Basil Kirchin and his pioneering of 'ambient music'*
    Thanks so much for listening
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    • 1 hr 14 min
    FOUR WALLS

    FOUR WALLS

    Emil has a mid-life crisis... and records it. This episode is a sequel to "The Outsider", the other purely philosophical episode that anchored Drifter's Sympathy into a hardcore existentialist stance. This cast uses the holy trinity of American Country Music, Taoism and the Twilight Zone to illustrate our fruitless attempt to resolve the perpetually unfinished nature of consciousness itself. In the form of a classic Existentialist thesis, 'Four Walls' puts forward that escapism only erodes what integrity and strength we have... and that the only way forward is straight through the murk & confusion directly. At the very least, you'll never hear the song "Hello Walls" the same again... and at the very best, this cast helps demonstrate why Kurtz's last words in 'Heart of Darkness' are "The horror, The horror."
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    • 55 min
    THE DAWN OF SELFISH MUSIC II

    THE DAWN OF SELFISH MUSIC II

     The sequel of "THE DAWN OF SELFISH MUSIC" goes a little darker into the consequences of gaining total freedom. On the other side of this new frontier, Dylan finds people breaking into his house to find their leader, Miles Davis tries to shake off imitators chasing his every aesthetic move and a never-ending supply of drugs causes David Crosby's life to fully crash and burn. Gene Clark is the patron saint of this episode, while managing to commit various sins no saint has ever conceived of. If this particular cast ever seems overly negative, its really just an attempt to grapple with the true ugliness that went on behind the making of some of our favorite music. Because treating that music as a product alone doesn't really honor the spiritual confusion that came alongside the "me generation" and selfish music's announcement that anything was now fair game. When does being too selfish cause total destruction...? - All of the characters in this episode flirt with total freedom and some don't make it out.🔥
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    • 1 hr 14 min
    THE LECTURER II

    THE LECTURER II

    Duncan Trussell returns to Drifter's Sympathy for the continuation of "The Lecturer". Emil and Duncan get into the archaeology of their friendship, their early development and how they were molded by completely different forms of trauma to come to a similar internal place. The second half dives into their artistic process and how Taoist methods have helped lead them towards creating their body of work over the years.
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    • 1 hr 7 min

Customer Reviews

4.9 out of 5
360 Ratings

360 Ratings

Miller9091 ,

Strange & Wonderful

I feel Emil has definitely created something special here… I came for the story but soon was pulled into the music history, theory and obscure artist I’ve never herd, it’s a delight to say the least.

HazelNoon ,

for anyone digging their way out

non "inspirational" comforting but candid companion for anyone digging their way out, you don't need to know music to feel this. listened while in recovery from a near-death accident that interrupted an internal crisis. this was home in the hospital and the weeks after. still my favorite

cubichotwing ,

Hoping another season appears

The best podcast I’ve found

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