24 episodes

Field recordings and interviews from the Philippine and Asian fringe. Hosted by award-winning Manila-based journalist Karl R. De Mesa.

My cultural dead drop for everyone who's overwhelmed by online interactions and the cold curation of machine algorithms. Artifacts of creativity for others to find and be inspired by, in a global milieu where genuine surprise is at a premium. Rarely happens anymore.

Like the music tape exchange of yore, a thumb drive of journals left anonymously, a box full of mystery books. Unexpected. Welcome. Nonfiction. Get ready for a surprise.
Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/tzaddi-salazar/support

The Dead Drop Tzaddi Salazar

    • Society & Culture

Field recordings and interviews from the Philippine and Asian fringe. Hosted by award-winning Manila-based journalist Karl R. De Mesa.

My cultural dead drop for everyone who's overwhelmed by online interactions and the cold curation of machine algorithms. Artifacts of creativity for others to find and be inspired by, in a global milieu where genuine surprise is at a premium. Rarely happens anymore.

Like the music tape exchange of yore, a thumb drive of journals left anonymously, a box full of mystery books. Unexpected. Welcome. Nonfiction. Get ready for a surprise.
Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/tzaddi-salazar/support

    SUPERPSYCHOCEBU | Queen City High Times W/ Ara and Chris

    SUPERPSYCHOCEBU | Queen City High Times W/ Ara and Chris

    Chris Linaban (director) and Ara Chawdhury (producer) are the creators of the 2016 Bisaya stoner movie SUPERPSYCHOCEBU.



    With a cult following growing over the years (screenings during 4/20), in 2024 they now have screenings in the US and Philippines.



    The filmmaking and real life partners look back on how they made the movie and what it means to them now.



    superpsychocebumovie.com/

    www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7N9aQEupCE



    * Contains samples from Surrogate Prey, used with permission.


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    Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/tzaddi-salazar/support

    • 46 min
    CASTRO SMITH | Engraving Myths on Jewelry and Filipino Folklore

    CASTRO SMITH | Engraving Myths on Jewelry and Filipino Folklore

    CASTRO SMITH is one of the best known intaglio engravers in the world. The Filipino-British carver of jewelry and art pieces is based in London, known for his intricate work on signet rings.
    The signet rings often sell out fast at Dover Street Market and other upscale merchant platforms. It’s also captured the attention of A-list celebrities such as Elton John, Jeremy Strong, the actor in HBO’s Succession, and Anya Taylor-Joy from Queen’s Gambit, who have gone straight to Smith to commission pieces. 
    From A-list actors to professional gamers, scientists to elite athletes, Smith’s work caters to that mystery point between owning something tactile and precious, and celebrating life’s milestones.  Because it’s the bespoke process that makes Smith’s work pregnant with meaning. When people come to him to mark events, celebrate anniversaries, or cement personal symbols on jewelry that’s when a custom piece transcends the material. It becomes an object of personal mythology. Something beyond jewelry. Something edging closer to totemism.  
    On this episode of The Dead Drop, Smith talked to me about growing up Eurasian, about his childhood in Cagayan De Oro and Newcastle, his love for aswang stories and other Filipino lower mythology creatures, and how this almost 5,000-year-old art of carving on gold and metal is finding a resurgence with some unlikely young clients.  
    Follow Castro Smith on IG : https://www.instagram.com/castrosmith/ 
    Visit his shop to commission a custom piece: https://castrosmith.com/
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    Contains samples from Surrogate Prey, used with permission. This podcast is powered by Anchor. 

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    Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/tzaddi-salazar/support

    • 44 min
    BASALT SHRINE | Burning Up the Sludge Swamp & Track By Track of "From Fiery Tongues"

    BASALT SHRINE | Burning Up the Sludge Swamp & Track By Track of "From Fiery Tongues"

    Extreme slow metal at its tastiest. Hailed as genre-defying and a tour-de-force, BASALT SHRINE's debut LP is burning up the Pinoy sludge swamp like someone freed a quartet of gleeful arsonists. 

    The Filipino doom/post-metal super group is composed of Bobby Legaspi (Surrogate Prey, Malicious Birth), Rallye Ibanez (Ex-Religious Nightmare, Surrogate Prey) and Ronaldo and Ronnel Vivo (Dagtum, The Insektlife Cycle, Abanglupa, Imperial Airwaves, Ex-Hateure). 

    On this interview we go through each of the tracks on their excellent album "FROM FIERY TONGUES", their thoughts on extreme music, and how they found a hack for performing their previously studio-only songs live.

    Buy the digital album on their Bandcamp: https://basaltshrine.bandcamp.com/releases

    Buy the physical releases on the ff platforms.

    Electric Spark (Netherlands) / Vinyl
    www.electricsparkrecords.com

    Surrogate Rec. (Ukraine) / Jewel Case CD
    www.surrogaterec.com

    Cruel Nature Records (UK) / Special Edition Cassette Tape
    cruelnaturerecordings.bandcamp.com

    Three Moons Records (Poland) / Limited Edition Cassette Tape
    www.threemoonsrecords.com

    Aim Down Sight Records (Germany) / Limited Edition Cassette Tape
    aimdownsightrecords.bandcamp.com

    𝗨𝗦𝗔

    Electric Talon Records (Philadelphia) / Digipak CD / Cassette
    www.electrictalonrecords.com

    𝗔𝗦𝗜𝗔

    PAWN (Ph) / Cassette Tape
    pawnrecords.com

    Harrowing Industries (Indonesia) / Digipak CD
    harrowingindustries.bandcamp.com

    ***

    Contains samples from Surrogate Prey, used with permission. This podcast is powered by Anchor. 


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    Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/tzaddi-salazar/support

    • 1 hr 42 min
    Cliff-Diver RHIANNAN IFFLAND | Elite Mental Secrets for Injury Recovery

    Cliff-Diver RHIANNAN IFFLAND | Elite Mental Secrets for Injury Recovery

    Australian phenom Rhiannan Iffland is one of the most dominant female Olympic divers in the world and the undisputed Queen of Cliff-Diving. 

    A five-time consecutive Red Bull Cliff-Diving Series World Champion, she still credits one of her biggest wins to the time she came back from a devastating MCL injury in 2017, claiming the championship title despite a six-week rehab layoff. How did she bounce back so fast? Visualization and mental training were crucial to her recovery. 

    This is a field recording from 2019, when Red Bull held an event off Palawan Island, in southwestern Philippines.        

    Read my feature story on Rhiannan: https://aomnl.com/sports/Cliff-diving-red-bull-rhiannan-iffland 

    Music provided by Surrogate Prey, used with permission. This podcast is powered by Anchor. 


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    • 8 min
    Such Violent Criminals | Writing Pinoy Crime Thrillers with RONALDO VIVO Jr.

    Such Violent Criminals | Writing Pinoy Crime Thrillers with RONALDO VIVO Jr.

    RONALDO VIVO Jr. may be a well known musician and visual artist in Filipino metal and extreme music, being in bands like sludge supergroup Basalt Shrine and Abanglupa, but he is also an indie publisher, director, and popular writer of transgressive crime literature. On this episode, we talked about his recent release that's since become a cult hit "Ang Bangin sa Ilalim ng Ating mga Paa" (The Abyss Beneath Our Feet) and his first book "Ang Kapangyarihan Higit sa Ating Lahat" (The Power Above Us All), both available on independent presses.


    CONTAINS sound samples from "Cottonmouth" by Surrogate Prey. Used with permission.

    DDP is powered and distributed by Anchor.fm.






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    • 1 hr 11 min
    MANIC MUNDANE | KATH DIZON ON MAKING THE 'Narrative 3' EP

    MANIC MUNDANE | KATH DIZON ON MAKING THE 'Narrative 3' EP

    MANIC MUNDANE is the musical moniker of solo artist Kath Dizon. 

    A young, bedroom producer based in Mindanao, she crafts a particularly robust strain of electronic music out of deceptively simple riffs, spiced up by sci-fi synths imbued with a triphop vibe, garnished with 80s post-punk. 

    “Narrative Three,” is Manic Mundane’s debut EP under the Cebu-based record label Melt Records. It’s Dizon’s big coming out as a solo artist as well as a return to her roots, literally being back in her hometown of Koronadal City in South Cotabato. 

    A college rocker who used to front a hardcore punk band in Iligan city, she has since made the jump to crafting moody hymns about the imagined ecstasies of psychic travel and exorcising religious demons.

    On this episode of the Dead Drop Podcast, I talked to Dizon in late 2021 as she was putting the finishing touches to her album. Check out her music, now available on Bandcamp, and listen to it on any of the major streaming platforms. 

    Excerpt from "Astral Bodies" used with permission, all rights to Melt Records.

    Buy MANIC MUNDANE's music on BANDCAMP. 

    CONTAINS sound samples from "Cottonmouth" by Surrogate Prey. Used with permission.
    DDP is powered and distributed by Anchor.fm.






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    • 38 min

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