Listen Closely
By AC
Headphones recommended.
Listen Closely Jan 15, 2021
4.22.2024 | Sounds of Rome | Rome, Italy
A quick podcast tour through Rome (featuring a cameo from Florence).
Sites featured include:
00:21 — Birds in our Roma courtyard
00:59 — Exiting our apartment onto the Tiber
02:38 — Walking down the Tridente, Via di Ripetta
03:50 — San Luigi dei Francesci
05:08 — Outside the Pantheon
06:01 — Inside the Pantheon
06:56 — Piazza Navona
08:01 — Early morning birds at our Roma apartment
08:29 — Yes, even more birds
09:30 — At the Vatican Museums' square (with the Pine Cone)
10:35 — Explanation of the Sistine Chapel
11:08 — Walking the Vatican Museums
11:55 — The Sistine Chapel
14:43 — Walking through the Basilica of St. Peter
15:57 — The bells of St. Peter's, plus the changing of the Swiss Guard
17:56 — Buskers in the Piazza del Popolo
18:46 — Crowds in Florence
20:28 — Sitting on a park bench in the Villa Borghese
22:20 — Mass at Basilica of Santi Ambrogio e Carlo on the Corso
03.23.24 | Feel It | Chicago, IL
01.15.2024 | W A L K I N G | Cape Flattery, WA
A relaxing walk through the woods at Cape Flattery, the northwesternmost point of the contiguous United States.
2022-2023 Year in Sound
The sounds that filled the cracks of 2022 and 2023 (I'm late, I know).
08.27.2023 | Return to Roots | Grand Junction, CO
7.30.2023 | To Make a Garden | Seattle, WA
Mary Oliver once wrote, "The most regretful people on earth are those who felt the call to creative work, who felt their own creative power restive and uprising, and gave to it neither power nor time."
Poems are by:
RikkyBoy399: https://freesound.org/people/RikkyBoy399/sounds/240389/
acclivity: https://freesound.org/people/acclivity/sounds/156550/
tim.kahn: https://freesound.org/people/tim.kahn/sounds/74891/
5.14.2023 | Sounds of Tokyo | Tokyo, Japan
A quick podcast tour through Tokyo. There were many more sounds I could have captured, but I've been a little burned out on audio lately. This is still a nice vignette of Tokyo's massive sonic fingerprint. Locations are as follows: 01:24 — Tokyo Station 04:59 — On the street by the Imperial Palace 08:05 — Hibiya Park 10:27 — In the Metro 14:45 — Kanda Matsuri, at Kanda Myojin Shrine 19:47 — Shibuya 21:21 — Kitanomarukoen 22:00 — Senjo-ji at Asakusa 23:22 — Sumo Grand Tournament at Ryogoku
02.26.2023 | Birdsong (The Global Sunrise)
There's a cool concept called "The Global Sunrise." This is the idea that, as the dawn sun hits the earth, birds are waking up and singing their morning song. As daylight moves across the planet, there's a constant hum of new birdsong ringing out somewhere.
So here's a little sonic experiment, where you can experience birdsong from all over the worth, progressively, as the day light might hit it.
All the bird sounds in this episode came from the following:
https://freesound.org/people/EduFigueres/sounds/266376/
https://freesound.org/people/Vortichez/sounds/432523/
https://freesound.org/people/Vortichez/sounds/432523/
https://freesound.org/people/robyn.levy323/sounds/519206/
https://freesound.org/people/taylordonj/sounds/521366/
https://freesound.org/people/rbnx/sounds/268080/
https://freesound.org/people/tbirch55/sounds/340091/
https://freesound.org/people/rbnx/sounds/268080/geotag/
https://freesound.org/people/straget/sounds/411849/
https://freesound.org/people/Franki-01234/sounds/214869/
https://freesound.org/people/DCPoke/sounds/387978/
https://freesound.org/people/hargissssound/sounds/345851/
https://freesound.org/people/1ratatosk1/sounds/392181/
https://freesound.org/people/ciccarelli/sounds/442844/
https://freesound.org/people/mmiinneerr/sounds/649218/
https://freesound.org/people/kyles/sounds/452411/
https://freesound.org/people/Martin.Sadoux/sounds/423908/
https://freesound.org/people/EpicWizard/sounds/394291/
https://freesound.org/people/burgersmoke/sounds/642005/
https://freesound.org/people/burgersmoke/sounds/640991/
https://freesound.org/people/Oxlaey/sounds/371881/
https://freesound.org/people/hendricbona/sounds/294467/
https://freesound.org/people/coalcon/sounds/636071/
https://freesound.org/people/Lydmakeren/sounds/510480/
https://freesound.org/people/royshavit/sounds/653915/geotag/
https://freesound.org/people/thegreatbelow/sounds/546794/geotag/
https://freesound.org/people/99021905683/sounds/571316/
https://freesound.org/people/99021905683/sounds/571316/geotag/
https://freesound.org/people/sphion/sounds/158527/
https://freesound.org/people/MartinDanta/sounds/511486/
https://freesound.org/people/baryy/sounds/409145/
https://freesound.org/people/jigmet/sounds/479324/
https://freesound.org/people/liseclavier/sounds/463530/
https://freesound.org/people/guanescape/sounds/640088/
https://freesound.org/people/universildo/sounds/151773/
https://freesound.org/people/cartoonrob/sounds/588465/
https://freesound.org/people/ollermarc/sounds/426276/
https://freesound.org/people/sama66/sounds/462136/
https://freesound.org/people/titi2/sounds/509937/
https://freesound.org/people/emmanuel.faivre/sounds/611615/
https://freesound.org/people/Tito%20Lahaye/sounds/332025/
https://freesound.org/people/Rajaraman/sounds/362211/
01.28.2023 | Fragments of an Infinite Memory | Seattle, WA
I turn on my phone, open TikTok, and the hours blur away. So much content, I had to make some more. Where were you when you made your first Facebook account?
This is podcast #CoreCore. Sonic #NicheCore.
11.03.2022 | Haze | Orlando, FL
*This is a language warning*
Be a host body.
Haze's linktree: https://linktr.ee/TheHippieTrippyFrog
You can find Haze's content on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/user/CaptainSheo
You can listen to Witchcraft Banjo here: https://anchor.fm/hippiehobbity/episodes
9.29.2022 | Sounds of Paris | Paris, France and Brussels, Belgium
Some thoughts on listening and some things to listen to. Enjoy on a walk and with good headphones.
02:57 — Outside Newark Airport
04:10 — A bench in the Jardin des Plantes
05:54 — Walking the 5th Arrondissement
06:46 — A cafe outside Saint Chapelle cathedral
07:36 — Walking the 5th Arrondissement (contd.)
09:48 — The Paris Catacombs
12:33 — Paris Metro
16:24 — In and around Saint Sulpice, the second largest church in Paris
18:31 — The Jardin de Luxembourg, including a Sunday big band performance
22:50 — Walking the Louvre
25:08 — The window at our Air BnB, including someone practicing opera
27:29 — Gare du Nord
28:20 — At a bar in Brussels
29:54 — An accordion player in the Brussels backstreets
30:25 — A choir rehearsal at the Cathedral of Saint Michael and Saint Gudula, Brussels
09.06.2022 | Motif 1 Test 1
Combing frequencies, playing with pans, and a whole bunch of "WTF is this?"
06.25.2022 | What would you do | Washington, DC San Francisco, CA Seattle, WA
I've always been bad at journaling. I've started four to five notebooks, but have only ever finished one (last year).
Lately, I've been thinking about alternate life plans, spent time, different timelines. I revisited some experiences in my journal to remind myself a bit about who I am, and where I've gone. I wanted to take you on that journey as well.
Freesound Exercise 3: Philosophies
It goes like this: use a random word generator to source ten sounds from freesound.org. Then, combine them together to make an interesting sound.
1.10.2021 | Greg Hawkins, Acting in The Philippines
A mission leads to a change, a change to an opportunity. What's life like when you find sudden fame?
2.20.2022 | Poems in the Park
Join me for a sunny winter day in the park, along with some Mary Oliver poems.
11.6.2021 | Waiting for the bus
Audio poem? Audio journal? An errant note on my phone turns into an experience.
Freesound Exercise 2: Ventriloquism
It goes like this: use a random word generator to source ten sounds from freesound.org. Then, combine them together to make an interesting sound.
2021 Year in Sound
The sounds that filled the cracks of 2021.
-- How did this episode make you feel? If you have a moment, please fill out this short survey: https://forms.gle/SUcphdvFDRkN4eNa9
-- Your responses will not be used for anything without additional contact and will help shape the future sound of diary entries. Want to take part? Reach out at podcastalec [at] gmail [dot] com.
Freesound Exercise 1: Almost a religion
It goes like this: use a random word generator to source ten sounds from freesound.org. Then, combine them together to make an interesting sound.
"A religion, almost a religion, any religion, a quintal in religion, a relying and a surface and a service in indecision and a creature and a question and a syllable in answer and more counting and no quarrel and a single scientific statement and no darkness and no question and an earned administration and a single set of sisters and an outline and no blisters and the section seeing yellow and the centre having spelling and no solitude and no quaintness and yet solid quite so solid and the single surface centred and the question in the placard and the singularity, is there a singularity, and the singularity, why is there a question and the singularity why is the surface outrageous, why is it beautiful why is it not when there is no doubt, why is anything vacant, why is not disturbing a centre no virtue, why is it when it is and why is it when it is and there is no doubt, there is no doubt that the singularity shows."
Excerpts from the poem Tender Buttons, part 3, "Rooms" by Gertrude Stein. Reading by Ariane Stolfi, in preparation to be performed at the Web Audio Conference in Berlin (19-21 September 2018).
Words for this exercise included:
Iron
Bake
Social
Conservative
Microphone
Demonstrator
Item
Quaint
8.17.2021 | Send a postcard | New York, NY
Hello from the street, the tunnels, and a basement full of jazz.
-- How did this episode make you feel? If you have a moment, please fill out this short survey: https://forms.gle/SUcphdvFDRkN4eNa9
-- Your responses will not be used for anything without additional contact and will help shape the future sound of diary entries. Want to take part? Reach out at podcastalec [at] gmail [dot] com.
4.27.2021 | Leaving California | San Jose, CA and Seattle, WA
A chance for something new, and a chance to do something over. I ask the question: how do you leave a place properly?
-- How did this episode make you feel? If you have a moment, please fill out this short survey: https://forms.gle/SUcphdvFDRkN4eNa9
-- Your responses will not be used for anything without additional contact and will help shape the future sound of diary entries. Want to take part? Reach out at podcastalec [at] gmail [dot] com.
The pacifistic origins of anime
In the 1940s, Osamu Tezuka was drawing manga panels in his spare time when he realized something: due to government censorship, nobody was willing to talk about the problems that led to WWII. And so, with a pen in hand, he set to change that -- and what he created ended up changing the world.
-- Read the full story here: https://aleccowan12.medium.com/how-anime-took-off-in-the-u-s-8d6354557867
-- How did this episode make you feel? If you have a moment, please fill out this short survey: https://forms.gle/SUcphdvFDRkN4eNa9
-- Your responses will not be used for anything without additional contact and will help shape the future sound of diary entries. Want to take part? Reach out at podcastalec [at] gmail [dot] com.
Spoken Through: Overstory
This project seeks to answer questions about my Pentecostal experience, as told through my experience and the journeys of other ex-Pentecostals. There is one Overstory episode, which includes my personal experience and the composite stories of a handful of ex-Pens.
Listen to the full series, including interviews with a spiritual abuse therapist and other ex-Pentecostals, on the Spoken Through podcast. It can be found wherever you get your podcasts.
3.21.2021 | Audio Playground, Assignment #18: Roll of the Dice | San Jose, CA
Roll a pair of dice. Make a 1-minute doodle inspired by that number. Guest prompt from Rob Rosenthal and Gwen.
Audio Playground is masterfully put together by Sarah Geis, "a radio and podcast maker, editor, and teacher working in Chicago and beyond." Find more information at https://www.audioplayground.xyz/hello
-- How did this episode make you feel? If you have a moment, please fill out this short survey: https://forms.gle/SUcphdvFDRkN4eNa9
-- Your responses will not be used for anything without additional contact and will help shape the future sound of diary entries. Want to take part? Reach out at podcastalec [at] gmail [dot] com.
Trailer: Spoken Through
What do you know about Pentecostalism? Growing to 200 million people in the last 100 years, it's a spirited and feisty sect. But it's famous for more than its growth -- its fervent prayer, isolationism, and belief in the "gifts of the spirit" make it one of the most controversial -- and cultic -- Christian faiths. In this upcoming short-run documentary, I explore my upbringing in the Pentecostal church and speak with other ex-Pentecostals about why they left. And why they believe it's a cult.
Look for Spoken Through in your feeds this April.
1.1.2021 | The Same Ocean Twice | Crescent City, CA
"No man ever steps in the same [ocean] twice, for it's not the same [ocean] and he's not the same man." A routine post-vacation phone call diverges into that tricky exercise of remembering. And as Rachel Carson reminds us, can anything remember more than the ocean?
-- How did this episode make you feel? If you have a moment, please fill out this short survey: https://forms.gle/SUcphdvFDRkN4eNa9
-- Your responses will not be used for anything without additional contact and will help shape the future sound of diary entries. Want to take part? Reach out at podcastalec [at] gmail [dot] com.
2020 Year in Sound
A compilation of the sounds that defined the tempestuous and exhilarating year, 2020.
-- How did this episode make you feel? If you have a moment, please fill out this short survey: https://forms.gle/SUcphdvFDRkN4eNa9
-- Your responses will not be used for anything without additional contact and will help shape the future sound of diary entries. Want to take part? Reach out at podcastalec [at] gmail [dot] com.
2.8.2018 | The Train Retrospect | Eugene, OR
I find a trove of tape for a project that never materialized. This is audio behind the scenes, before the cuts, in their context and without it. Choo choo.
-- How did this episode make you feel? If you have a moment, please fill out this short survey: https://forms.gle/SUcphdvFDRkN4eNa9
-- Your responses will not be used for anything without additional contact and will help shape the future sound of diary entries. Want to take part? Reach out at podcastalec [at] gmail [dot] com.
12.6.2020 | Movin' Out (Michael's Song) | New York, NY
Moving in the middle of a pandemic is freeing, but it ain't easy.
-- How did this episode make you feel? If you have a moment, please fill out this short survey: https://forms.gle/SUcphdvFDRkN4eNa9
-- Your responses will not be used for anything without additional contact and will help shape the future sound of diary entries. Want to take part? Reach out at podcastalec [at] gmail [dot] com.
11.2.2020 | New Friends | Cape Town, South Africa
With some inspiration and help from YouTube Filmmaker Dan Mace, I reach out to a South African Musician in a shared Facebook group.
-- How did this episode make you feel? If you have a moment, please fill out this short survey: https://forms.gle/SUcphdvFDRkN4eNa9
-- Your responses will not be used for anything without additional contact and will help shape the future sound of diary entries. Want to take part? Reach out at podcastalec [at] gmail [dot] com.
10.30.2020 | Circadian | San Jose, CA
7 months into a pandemic, and home is starting to spin.
Enable the "Listen Closely" Alexa skill today to stay up to date on the latest log.
How did this episode make you feel? If you have a moment, please fill out this short survey: https://forms.gle/SUcphdvFDRkN4eNa9
Your responses will not be used for anything without additional contact and will help shape the future sound of diary entries. Want to take part? Reach out at podcastalec [at] gmail [dot] com.
10.2.2020 | On the Road | Route 66 at Kingman, AZ
What makes a Great American Roadtrip? A look at the life on the road now and back then.
Enable the "Listen Closely" Alexa skill today to stay up to date on the latest log.
How did this episode make you feel? If you have a moment, please fill out this short survey: https://forms.gle/SUcphdvFDRkN4eNa9
Your responses will not be used for anything without additional contact and will help shape the future sound of diary entries.
8.15.2020 | The Pandemic Mantra | Marin Headlands, CA
"It doesn't matter how so slow you go so long as you do not stop."
Enable the "Listen Closely" Alexa skill today to stay up to date on the latest log.
How did this episode make you feel? If you have a moment, please fill out this short survey: https://forms.gle/SUcphdvFDRkN4eNa9
Your responses will not be used for anything without additional contact and will help shape the future sound of diary entries.
8.7.2020 | An Intricate Context of Things
An Intricate Context of Things is my new lo-fi hip-hop album based on the things getting me through quarantine.
Find the full album with instrumental tracks here: https://soundcloud.com/alec-cowan/sets/an-intricate-context-of-things
How did this episode make you feel? If you have a moment, please fill out this short survey: https://forms.gle/SUcphdvFDRkN4eNa9
Your responses will not be used for anything without additional contact and will help shape the future sound of diary entries.
6.28-30.2020 | Mountain Sunset | Trinity Alps, CA
Painting legend Bob Ross walks us through a painting come to life: the Trinity Alps in northern California, where hijinks and sore muscles are to be found.
How did this episode make you feel? If you have a moment, please fill out this short survey: https://forms.gle/SUcphdvFDRkN4eNa9
Your responses will not be used for anything without additional contact and will help shape the future sound of diary entries.
7.4.2020 | July 4th: Fire | San Jose, CA
Don't buy fireworks, people.
How did this episode make you feel? If you have a moment, please fill out this short survey: https://forms.gle/SUcphdvFDRkN4eNa9
Your responses will not be used for anything without additional contact and will help shape the future sound of diary entries.
6.7.2020 | This place called San Jose | San Jose, CA
A trumpet ensemble, drive-in COVID test, and annoying midnight bird walk into a bar.
How did this episode make you feel? If you have a moment, please fill out this short survey: https://forms.gle/SUcphdvFDRkN4eNa9
Your responses will not be used for anything without additional contact and will help shape the future sound of diary entries.
2.24.19 - 5.27.20 | This was Home | Seattle, WA
To be heard is a blessing and some days a miracle. I'm so thankful for my name and voice to have been weaved into the sound of this city, to be played over radios and heard through ears.
To Seattle, the Emerald City and my welcome home for the past year. Goodbye. Thank you for listening.
How did this episode make you feel? If you have a moment, please fill out this short survey: https://forms.gle/SUcphdvFDRkN4eNa9
Your responses will not be used for anything without additional contact and will help shape the future sound of diary entries.
5.31.20 | Summer '93, on tape | Grand Junction, CO and Mesquite, NV
The summer of '93 was a busy one. Fun times were to be had at the pool and on the golf course.
Videocameras grab everything you see, but today the goal is to grab everything you can hear.
How did this episode make you feel? If you have a moment, please fill out this short survey: https://forms.gle/SUcphdvFDRkN4eNa9
Your responses will not be used for anything without additional contact and will help shape the future sound of diary entries.
5.22.20 | No One But the Wind | Olympic National Park
Over the ferry, through the woods, to foamy shore and crystal lake we go. Recorded in Olympic National Park in Washington.
How did this episode make you feel? If you have a moment, please fill out this short survey: https://forms.gle/SUcphdvFDRkN4eNa9
Your responses will not be used for anything without additional contact and will help shape the future sound of diary entries.
12.18.19 | Moments of sound, moments of silence | Maui, HI
In order of appearance:
- Wailuku
- The Iao Valley
- Kihei
- Haleakala National Park
- Wailuku
How did this episode make you feel? If you have a moment, please fill out this short survey: https://forms.gle/SUcphdvFDRkN4eNa9
Your responses will not be used for anything without additional contact and will help shape the future sound of diary entries.
11.10.19 | The old piano | The Mission, San Francisco
Memories of old saloon times over a cafe coffee and caprese. Just off Mission St. in San Francisco's Mission District.
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Your responses will not be used for anything without additional contact and will help shape the future sound of diary entries.
11.27.18 | A Vital Organ | Bells of Berlin
This combines two pieces of tape from two very different places in Berlin: the bells of a glass tower next to the Kaiser Wilhelm church in West Berlin, which was never reconstructed after WWII; and an organ from a church by Alexanderplatz, a main plaza in the former Soviet East Berlin. These two sounds mingle, compete, and twist -- they are two sounds of a cohesive but divided Berlin. Nevertheless, they are the musical undercurrent of the city.
How did this episode make you feel? If you have a moment, please fill out this short survey: https://forms.gle/SUcphdvFDRkN4eNa9
Your responses will not be used for anything without additional contact and will help shape the future sound of diary entries.
5.18.18 | Voices in the Waves | Cape Coast Castle
Cape Coast Castle was the seat of power for the British slave trade in Ghana. This story is a tour through the stone fortress and an attempt to translate what it means to walk the same steps that masters and slaves did only 400 years ago.
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Your responses will not be used for anything without additional contact and will help shape the future sound of diary entries.
12.28.17 | Music in the Tunnels | Montreal Metro
Sounds from street performers throughout the Montreal Metro.
How did this episode make you feel? If you have a moment, please fill out this short survey: https://forms.gle/SUcphdvFDRkN4eNa9
Your responses will not be used for anything without additional contact and will help shape the future sound of diary entries.