CD Esoterik

TEAM ESOTERIK

CD ESOTERIK was a record store from the early 2000's in Montréal, Quebec, Canada. After a short 15 year or so pause to rethink, we decided to finally re-open the store as a podcast. Formely on Ste. Catherine Street in a basement beside a comic book shop, now fully of the ether.

  1. EPISODE 16: Dead C Atmos (a.k.a the couples show) w/ Catherine Debard

    30 DE JAN.

    EPISODE 16: Dead C Atmos (a.k.a the couples show) w/ Catherine Debard

    We are joined by the magical and sylvan Catherine Debard, artist known as Tenses, Ylang Ylang, 1/2 of Mue, and many other great pieces of the Montréal tape underground. Fruits everywhere. Cushions. Luxury. A lot of drums. Quarantines are broken: Girls play guys music. Guys playing girls.   An awful YouTube doc on ‘unrecorded mysterious sounds’. What is Netflix missing? Definition hiding in unexpected places: Dense air, dead horses, radioactivity.  Who’s going next down the waterslide? It all feels like momentum at the end. The eternal music? Sing along with your appliances and the world is a better place. The harmonics change. It speeds up and slows itself down. And where are we now physically? Colorado—trying to wrap ourselves around space. Yet things start bubbling in the back. It’s really jarring.  We're starting fresh: A series of beer caps strung together at the end of a broom handle. A raw condensed emotion. There’s a lot of space. It might go off the rails. What ARE people doing today with their charming MIDI sound palette and their post-prog attitude? You’ll get the point in 10 minutes. I don’t know what to say. “of which of which it's of then which is it not that’s."  It's almost a sports feeling. I think it’s the best feeling.   James Schidlowsky invokes the greatest corrugaphone performance of all time. You get glazed over. It's like falling down the stairs but you get hooked on it. Stories are nice but sometimes you need microclimates… situations with stuff going on, just playing it out. It shouldn’t logically be able to end.  It’s a glazing. We listened to:1. Adam Bohman – Burgundy Barrage2. The Miracle – Choir Boys From Jupiter (excerpt)3. Anne Tardos – Refrigerator Defrosting with Vocal Improvisation4. Amelia Cuni – Melopea (excerpt)5. Richard Earl – Intensest Weakness6. Jean-Marie Mercimek – Le Camion7. Clark Coolidge – Polaroid (excerpt)8. Richard Youngs –  Zulaqrex I Shouts:Julien Champagne: https://julienchampagne.com/Deadhorse bay: https://flybravely.substack.com/p/unearthing-history-at-brooklyns-dead Eric Lanzilotta / Anomalous records mailorder: https://ribexibalba.com/mailorder.html Wil Murray: https://www.mutualart.com/Artist/Wil-Murray/C78FBB4F60501FC4/Artworks Of polaroid: https://writing.upenn.edu/epc/authors/coolidge/polaroid.html James Schidlowsky: https://www.jamesschidlowsky.ca

    2h1min
  2. EPISODE 15: Bye Bye 25. AKA “the Jacques Cousteau episode” ft. Christof Migone, Larry Dolman, Mark Loeser, Alex Moskos and Virtual Borzeix

    30/12/2025

    EPISODE 15: Bye Bye 25. AKA “the Jacques Cousteau episode” ft. Christof Migone, Larry Dolman, Mark Loeser, Alex Moskos and Virtual Borzeix

    A year end celebration with the larger circle. The theme: Terrifying in a beautiful instead of a dangerous way. We start the episode under the icecap. We celebrate life in a subaquatic hydrophone terror attack by ghosts who remind us of the life-giving force of death in a connected world.  It sounds joyful.  The Book of Revelation, written by stylophone, with no consonants, only vowels. Intentional connections that open onto unintentional ones, via over-modulated saxophones. We spend time unpacking "destitution", then Mark brings the esoterik cannon, full stop. Mahler leads to criminally neglected spiritual visitations from the Chicago dollar bins. Solo unknowability ensues. Jacob drinks a huge milkshake. The other way of making music. The fundamental music: The one person with their instrument once the energy grid collapses. Neon hunks fashioning Flemish dance-folk stringed instruments on homesteads. Moskos suddenly appears. A very slow computer processing in a yurt, creating a virtual Borzeix. You don’t show up? You get represented anyway. The world moves in predictable ellipses: Michigan > Africa > Montreal. The servers run hot making sound design from the future. Roger brings the now sound by looking backwards and forwards at the same time. Octavia Butler-style benevolent aliens oversee the episode and monitor the controlled feedback. Finally, we visit that guy in a basement at GRM for 25 years still trying to make a computer play like Charlie Parker. 2025: Strange resonance and bloody fingers. 2026: Things Have Got to Change! We listend to:1. Chester Beachell – Orcas and Belugas (excerpt)2. Eyeless in Gaza – John Of Patmos3. Sarah Clausen – Intro/Cry5. Robert Lippok – Close6. Donny Hathaway – I Love the Lord, He Heard My Cry7. Tal Coal – Cruèla8. A Magic Whistle – My Cuckoo/We Fly/Secret Spring11. Refuse Stealing Band – Ndirande (OJPB's Stealth edit)12. Server Farms – With Fake Beach, Fake Sun13. Archie Shepp – Things Have Got to Change Shouts: Chris Wrench, always A phone call from below the arctic ice MF. 10-11: Covid empty city recordings Audre Lorde – CoalRLW box set – Tulpas Blastitude best of 2025 Refuse stealing band original clip DJ PICA PICA PICA (aka EYEEEEEE)

    2h27min
  3. Episode 14: Fuck Super Neighbours Playlist ft. Mark Loeser

    30/11/2025

    Episode 14: Fuck Super Neighbours Playlist ft. Mark Loeser

    This is not what I signed up for, this is exactly what I signed up for. Legendary experimental film maker and the perfect person to be on any podcast, Mark Loeser, shows up at all the usual tables, in a t-shirt that says Aztec camera.  Enthusiasm beats considered intellectualism every single minute. We learn through lost super 8 cartridges that fascination is the root of all suffering. Yet, anything is possible! Love, sure, is a good example. Another is Alice Coltrane’s visitation by Stravinsky’s ghost to be told about Jacob’s episode pick... not to mention the wire and light John Coltrane. Truly we are living in the best of all possible worlds. We start the show with foot fetish snuff films. This leads through some pzm mic cables to an understanding how the things that attracted you become you.  Vancouver in the 90s:  Feldman tapes stolen from the Pofi bar while the holes get drilled in spoons. Japanese noise at Edison electric Dance club bass leakage into Dixieland inns makes microsound better while the glasses sway and free jazz combats Plus... toilets on the Fourth of July. Eastern zero's counterpoints:Cinemontas delivered up spiral staircases.   Projections on parketts, projections through mirrors, projections on canadian tires.  The drugs hitting too hard too fast / crickets on the Ohio Speako Wio Neighbours learn suffering as the first step on the paths of enlightenment. JAPAN shows up to prove that Maher is the greatest punk of all. Fuck ingenious efficient results based chaos we want real ego death! CAIRO shows up to bring the post punk infinite fire.  To end, Saint George appears as the collective warmth- a power greater than itself - to close with the sound of the cosmos. Musicians reckoning with life: Where does listening start, what it transforms. The only way to end is the fade out.  Perfection = the thoughtfulness of the organizing principle and the looseness with which it is applied. Or as Sam Shalabi asks: “are you guys musicians…actually?” We listend to:1. Uncredited artists – Canceling Stamps At The University Of Ghana Post Office2. Jean Guérin – Triptik 23. Cyril Scott – Lotus Land4. Good Horsey – Delighted5. Dj Carhouse &  Mc Hellshit – Air Rappers6. And the Native Hipsters – You Sleep I Dance7. Bernard Fort – Fractal i8. Destroy 2 – Standing Piss is Legal9. Tori Kudo – 目を瞑って歩く夜道は10. Ahmad Adaweya – Mawwal Ya Betaa El Tofah11. George Lewis – Homage To Charles Parker Shout outs TMU motion picture lab Enrico Pacella Viennese Actionist Museum  Bill Eggeleston lost his shoes in canton!  Indiamore Chassol  Esoterik says: Sign up for the blast stack!  Shane Ehman, good horsey album artist  Tori Kudo’s bandcamp  62 Rachel, again. Geroge lewis homage live at moers And because everyone needs it at least once in their life: SPECIAL EXCLUSIVE BONUS FEATUREComplete Fuck Super Neighbours playlist!!!

    2h44min
  4. Episode 13: By What Signs Will I Come to Understand

    30/10/2025

    Episode 13: By What Signs Will I Come to Understand

    Another early Sunday. Leon asks the infernal 8-ball what’s up. Flipped over, it says: go both speeds at once. When we take its advice, the sun is driven poorly by the wild son. The earth scorches. The father smites the son. The cycle continues—through the Iraq War, maybe all the way to 2025. We move to frozen Canada and double down on the vowels.The CD Esoterik exclusive track hits the sweet spot where the snake eats its own tail, and recursive logic extrapolates toward its ultimate goal: ecstatic ghost hum production. Beginner’s mind is the key to keeping the Kaoss Pad unlimited. The universe explodes into so many layers of simulation— and then: Whitney Houston confetti, powered by a nuanced critique of the colonialist anthropological instinct. We close our trip to the Canadas in the ultimate hall of Kierkegaardian expensive cassette mirrors, to look at some paintings somewhere near Niagara Falls.  Back to Brooklyn for delicate shredding and something new with guitar.You can do it still! We visit Japan for the hollow sound, where the dishwasher brings the responsible vocal shred. Something short shows us the bubbles we live in. And: New York hates you. Finally, a convincing case that live music is better than recorded music can ever be. Episode warning:Do not listen while driving or operating heavy machinery.We want problems. We don’t want peace. We listend to:1. Ian Crause – Phaethon's Call2. Christof Migone – ooooo (demo)3. Michael Snow – Si Nopo Da (By What Signs Will I Come to Understand)4. Chris Wind ft. Jurgen Rodriguez – Paintings 75. Chuck Roth – Twister6. Hako Yamasaki – Wandering7. Milan Grygar – Akustická kresba A158. DEATHBYSHEEP – DEATHBYSHEEP PRESENTS- BLUNTED POSSE SAMPLER MIX 2022-2023 PART 2 (excerpt)9. Josephine Foster – All I Wanted Was The Moon (live at MeetFactory, Prague, May 16., 2024) Shout Outs: Le Laps one of many Marie-Douce St Jacques' awesome endeavours. Rest in epic strangeness, Brian CatlingHollow — B. Catling Michael Snow! thank you! Chris Wind's excellent website Marie Brassard’s film Le TrainMicroclimat Films — The Train Another Mark Loeser shout. Penelope Spheeris — The Decline of Western Civilization (Parts I-III) Part IPart IIPart III

    1h56min
  5. Episode 12: Amerikraut Trucker Funk w. Larry "Fuzz-O" Dolman

    30/09/2025

    Episode 12: Amerikraut Trucker Funk w. Larry "Fuzz-O" Dolman

    In which we are joined by one of the OG inspirations for Esoterik, esteemed blogger, substacker, brilliant writer and legendary ear-having proprietor of Blastitude, Larry “Fuzz-O” Dolman. We discuss the economics of the 30-600 split, Utopias and Distopias. The openess of open access. Cassandra Miller vs Cassandra Wilson.  The 80% (corrected) EPA scale delivers short form long form. We get over the Robert Wyatt hump by mineralizeing Leon. Fishing with a sausage, an apple and a sandwich lands a Ukrainian architect tipping the Zulawski meter into the red. The vibe shift clause is invoked leading us back to the trucker funk, down the deep history of the ugliest edits to the perfect bpm. Jeff Mills shows up, as he does, to complicate the narrative. After that, we hit the tornado coffee shop bringing the go-go back. We close on the hopeful resilient shimmering pickled herring of 1989. As usual we get 1/91st of the way to the 6000 cassettes in the kiosk, It is what it is. There’s no changing it.   Finally, we ask the eternal quesiton: Was RollerDerby 1.95 or 2.95 per issue? We listend to:1. Shutaro Noguchi and the Roadhouse Band – Olympic 3.52. Bill Orcutt – The Four Louies II3. Robert Wyatt – Biko4. Ihor Tsymbrovsky – Bilya Morya (By The Sea)5. Ron Hardy –  Live at the Music Box, 1985 (excerpt)6. Jeff Mills – Memory Reset 97. Reaction Band –  Coffee Shop8. Оселедець – Хто поблагословив незрячі очі Shout outs:Gridface's Ron Hardy archivesArthur Magazine's Jay Babcott's substackRoller Derby's Lisa Carver's patreon

    2h30min
  6. Episode 11: Beauty stabs at the perfect gradient.

    30/08/2025

    Episode 11: Beauty stabs at the perfect gradient.

    Violence is easy. Nostalgia, complexity, they all are easy to make a case for. The beautiful? It’s impossible to approach. Yet, we try, without intending to, because it’s Sunday morning and music speaks directly on Sunday morning, and absolute unmixed attention is prayer. Melody. That singer from orang, what’s her name? Simone Weil. So much control over something uncontrollable. The nations foremost player bowing instead of plucking. How rawness affects the opening of ears. Fractal sand that egress the vibes to create the oyster and the pearl. Then, a short sailing trip back to the gradient. What about tomorrow?  We got up in the morning and we had to eat again. It’s a disaster by god.  Too short soulful collage from a small little country.  Better. Richer. More complex sonic youth cover closing the gradient in perfect tone but still getting hurt by songs with drums recorded miles away. Beauty kills. Beauty is the murderer. What we learned: To speak better: Talk less. Make music more. We listend to:1. Henryk Górecki feat. Beth Gibbons, Krzysztof Penderecki – Symphony No. 3 Final Movement2. Cassandra Miller – I cannot love without trembling3. Hwang Byungki feat. Hong Sin Cha – The Labyrinth (Excerpt)4. Tom Johnson – Combinations for String Quartet III5. Gary Marks – Sailing6. Ziad Rahbani feat. Jospeh Saqr – Esmaa Ya Reda7. Collage –  Halb Sirp (Bad Sickle)8. Silvia Tarozzi – La sostanza dell’affetto9. Marnie – Songs Hurt Me Shout outs:Watch Beth Gibbons singing Górecki with Krzysztof Penderecki conductingDomenico Caliri guitarist on the Silvia Tarozzi track (she is also listed so it could be her!)

    2h3min
  7. Episode 10: Le son sauvage w. Anne-F Jacques

    30/07/2025

    Episode 10: Le son sauvage w. Anne-F Jacques

    Amazing sound artist, label runner, contextual one-time author, unlandlord and friend since Esoterik days Anne-F Jacques joins us for our tenth (TEN!) episode. We start with 2-3 notes and the inimitable pacing of Mo Tucker, then go pure timbre and tape when actually it’s lots of notes and no melody. Lots of space between notes makes the notes feel less note.Ellen Fullman ditches long strings and creates rainbows in Poland. Boiling speakers bring the montreal rains.We discover that China is a big place and there is a lot of good stuff happening there right now. Rotterdam however is boring as hell. And so is the internet as a means for discovering culture. Can things just be allowed to be things?  Contraptions!  The power of patience. The heart of the speaker. We meditate. we destroy. What’s going to happen next? Episode lesson: Teenage suburban metal bands are essential in creating the material conditions for experimental music  We listend to:A. Intro theme1. Glorias Navales – Carta a Maureen Tucker - 01 Lado A (excerpt)2. Joris De Laet – Envelopes3. ake 阿科 – mismatch 不合4. Ellen Fullman – The Gardner (Excerpt)5. Zhao Cong – home recording 16. Atsushi Tominaga – 0137. Leandro Barzabal & Céleste Gatier – Sans titre 18. Eliane Radigue, Ensemble Dedalus – Occam – Hepta IZ. Outro theme Shout outs: https://metaphon.be/ for all your tape music needsShawn at Bar L'Hémisphère Gauche for keeping the neigbourhood tightWrK records Japan for the colour photocopiesZhao Cong for the toys

    2h27min
  8. Episode 9. Prinzendorf Impressions: Süßes Erden Mysterien Theater

    30/06/2025

    Episode 9. Prinzendorf Impressions: Süßes Erden Mysterien Theater

    In this very special episode one of our hosts is transmogrified in Prinzendorf. Another is levitated multiple times, raised into the air!  We discuss the relationship between the thing-in-iteslf, knowing the thing as represented, and the thing-as-experienced.  A lot of blood. A lot of fruit. A lot of entrails. Plus:  Dandelion Magic!The best way to find a virtual therapistNitsch at Bayeuruth Mekas with colour commentary Kubelka at dawnLoud sneezes and the red wine tastes like blood for weeks. Gardens of stone. Gardens of delicacies.Indissoluble binomials. The ascendant power of poetic translation of song.Justin finally plays a short track. Sensational! Special bonus lathe cut: anarchists impressions: “Empire!”Tip of the week: Homemade Magma t shirts get you gigs We listend to:A. Intro theme 1. Hermann Nitsch – Orgien Mysterien Theater 25.Aktion – Untitled IV 2. Mariolina Zitta & Patricia Meyer – Il Giardino Delle Stelle 3. Wolf Vostell – Il Giardino Delle Delizie – Fluxus Opera (excerpt) 4. Walter Maioli & Nirodh Fortini – Suoni ottenuti soffiando dentro due gambi di taraxacum (do e fa) registrati in un prato con sottofondo di suoni d_insetti (brano n.3). Suoni successivamente rallentati di velocità 5. Denis Wize – Celestial Cungo Dub 6. Jerome Rothenberg – Horse Songs 7. Marion Brown played by Paul Bley – Sweet Earth Flying (Pt. 1) 8. Sensational & Unbuilt – Erques9. Eric Schmid – Giorgio Agamben (excerpt) Z. Outro theme Shout outs:Blake Hargreaves Mystical Knights of the Taiga Spa, WienServer FarmsRosi Braidotti Special thanks / Rest in power Cortical Foundation / Gary Todd

    2h46min

Sobre

CD ESOTERIK was a record store from the early 2000's in Montréal, Quebec, Canada. After a short 15 year or so pause to rethink, we decided to finally re-open the store as a podcast. Formely on Ste. Catherine Street in a basement beside a comic book shop, now fully of the ether.