As threatened last week, I appear to have more energy for this again. So, I sat down with my compadre Rob Weale from DMU for some jibber-jabber about the process of making as a protest of creativity. Rob works as a learning technologist, and is a Leicester City fan, father, animal husband/chicken organiser, and a maker of sound art, soundscapes, organised sounds, digital compositions. He writes and makes as Rae Elbow and the Magic Beans, as has two albums out (the human species and ambivalence is no escape), with a third slated for next year. I am very pleased that Rob has gifted me (for the price of curry and a few beers) some sounds for this podcast.

In our conversation, we discussed: our experiences of Durham and Lincoln Christmas markets; the comparative pain of writing (text, digital artefact, sound, whatever); whether making was enough in a world of pain and what making means in the context of saying no!; the boundary between nihilism and activism; the anxiety surrounding the release of new digital and instrumental music if the track titles are not quite right; and, what to do when cynicism is ascribed to one’s work. Rob had a few things to say about hopelessness and the end of the end of history. Sadly, we did not get on to talking about our favourite Christmas films or records – maybe next year.