The End of the World with Michael and Stu
The Apocalypse is Everywhere. The End of the World with Michael and Stu is a (hopefully) insightful and (hopefully) humorous exploration of the rise of apocalyptic news, apocalyptic thinking and apocalyptic culture. Each week, we’ll be looking at a work of art, a piece of media, or an historical event related to the (hopefully not) impending End of the World.
The End of the World with Michael and Stu
64: A Cyclops Walks Across the Sky
This week we are discussing two recent albums by mainstays of 2000s era indie rock that deal directly and obliquely with climate change, namely Mount Eerie's 2024 release Night Palace and Dirty Projectors/David Longstreth/s t a r g a z e's 2025 record Song of the Earth. We talk a bit about the history of both artists and why it might be that they are turning to considering the question of climate at this perilous moment in our world's history. We also get into topics like Romanticism and Modernism, the role of ambition and fame in undertaking a music career, and the question of didacticism in art.
The episode opens with a conversation about Bernie Sanders' recent rally in Los Angeles (at which Dirty Projectors performed) and what future progressive leadership in the United States might have as the second Trump era dawns.
Links to the music discussed in this episode can be found below:
Mount Eerie/the Microphones
the Glow pt. 2 by the Microphones
A Crow Looked at Me by Mount Eerie
the Microphones in 2020 by the Microphones
Dirty Projectors
Slaves' Graves & Ballads by Dirty Projectors
The Getty Address by Dirty Projectors
Bitte Orca by Dirty Projectors
Song of the Earth by David Longstreth/Dirty Projectors/s t a r g a z e
New Yorker profile of David Longstreth
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