iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Dr Jamie Stephenson @audioontology.bsky.social · 20h

Honest academic question. Do you ever feel like what your writing is almost taking on a life of its own as you enter into battle with it to keep it on track? I’m starting to think my current project is really two different papers, heading in different directions, both with a shared locus. Any tips?

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Dr Jamie Stephenson @audioontology.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

@uboatheflesh.bsky.social so, AtDMDaR. Are we calling it an EP, mini, or album? 🤔

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Dr Jamie Stephenson @audioontology.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Going deep into writing my essay on @uboatheflesh.bsky.social now. Expect muchos posting and fanboying from me about her for the foreseeable future.

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Dr Jamie Stephenson @audioontology.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Excited to present a paper on my favourite album of 2025 at DVRK’s Occulture as Methodology symposium at Manchester Metropolitan University this Thursday. As well as #EthelCain I cover #DFerrett, #Blanchot, #Lacan, #HuntHendrix, and #Baudrillard on a journey through trans feminism and the void.

Opening slide of my PowerPoint presentation on sonic occulture and Ethel Cain’s “Perverts”.

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Dr Jamie Stephenson @audioontology.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

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Dr Jamie Stephenson @audioontology.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

Massive honour to write for @thequietus.com about 40 years of ‘Wasted Years’ (released 25.08.86) and “Somewhere in Time” by #IronMaiden. I hope all the #metalsky clan enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Shout out to @metalclassicist.bsky.social who features therein. Up the Irons! 🤘🏻

youtu.be

Iron Maiden - Walking On Glass (Philadelphia - 1987) • FULL HD REMASTER

YouTube video by IRON BEAST

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Dr Jamie Stephenson @audioontology.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

Looking forward to getting stuck into this by @owencoggins.bsky.social. 🤘🏻

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Dr Jamie Stephenson @audioontology.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

The UK’s first academic conference dedicated to #grunge is to take place in #York next month. Grunge Included 2026 is hosted at @yorkstjohn.bsky.social on Monday 7 September in the Creative Centre at the Lord Mayor’s Walk campus in York.

yorksj.ac.uk

Grunge Included | York St John University

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Sian Berry MP @sianberry.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

Today university fees rise again, while thousands of academics across the country face job cuts, crushing workloads and shattered morale. Students deserve better than this broken system of unfair repayment that widens inequality. Abolish fees and fund universities properly!

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Dr Jamie Stephenson @audioontology.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

Received this ace @ironmaiden.bsky.social badge set from @michaelshallcross.bsky.social in the post today. 🤝🏻🤘🏻 The script is written, the PowerPoint slides are done. Hoping to #remembertomorrow fondly - the Spectral Tourism conference at @yorkstjohn.bsky.social #eddie #ironmaiden #metalsky

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Dr Jamie Stephenson @audioontology.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

Work on my PowerPoint slides for my @ironmaiden.bsky.social paper at @yorkstjohn.bsky.social this Friday (31st July) continues. Perhaps the first time #ironmaiden wristwatches, #heraclitus, and #Sufi #philosophy have shared a screen? “Like a river, we will flow/ On towards the sea, we go…” #metalsky

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Dr Jamie Stephenson @audioontology.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

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Dr Jamie Stephenson @audioontology.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

📣 Just found out that my paper on “Perverts" by #EthelCain (my favourite album of 2025) and sonic occulture as hermeneutic method has made the cut for the Occulture as Method symposium at Manchester Met Uni, 10-11 September 2026. #darksound #sound #occulture #hermeneutics #drone #noise

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Dr Jamie Stephenson @audioontology.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

Serendipitous that 1986 #IronMaiden merch included a “Somewhere in Time” wrist watch! “Tiiiiiiiiiime, is always on my siiiiiiiiiide!” #metalsky

1986 Maiden merch including an Eddie wristwatch.

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Kevin Sanders @kjsanders.eurosky.social · 23/07/2026

Extending community-led publishing to include research beyond the academy has been a feature for some time. It might be sensible to more earnestly consider how we can buttress knowledge production without the toxic university (ideally before it becomes the toxic former university.)

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Dr Jamie Stephenson @audioontology.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

📣 🚨 Time is drawing near. I'll be delivering a paper on #IronMaiden and their 1986 album, "Somewhere in Time" at the Spectral Tourism conference at @yorkstjohn.bsky.social on 31st July. Join me for talk of temporal collapse, nostalgia, and the greatest metal band ever #eddie #spectrality #tourism 🤘🏻

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Dr Jamie Stephenson @audioontology.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

Chapter idea: #IronMaiden and Accelerationism, peaking with “Somewhere in Time.” Before “Seventh Son”’s return to a form of neo-feudalism.

Dale Cooper recording a voice note for a chapter idea on Iron Maiden and accelerationism.

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Dr Jamie Stephenson @audioontology.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

Having listened to the brand spanking new #Eartheater album a couple of times today, this is my favourite track, the epic, glacial closer, “Nova.” Sample lyric: “Cherubic nova/Fractalling out of the ambrosia” describes it well.

youtu.be

Eartheater - Nova

YouTube video by Eartheater

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Michael Shallcross @michaelshallcross.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

To expand a bit on this... First, this isn't a criticism in any way of the conference organisers, who evidently produced a fantastic event, which the panel I'd assembled was very keen to be a part of. Rather, it's a comment on a disciplinary situation that feels increasingly unsustainable. [1/7]

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Nicolete Burbach @nicoleteburbach.bsky.social · 09/03/2026

My edited collection on transness and Catholicism is coming out in paperback in September! Preorder here. (or just keep using whatever pirated version you've managed to find - I don't really care, but the support is nice) www.bloomsbury.com/uk/trans-lif...

bloomsbury.com

Trans Life and the Catholic Church Today

While transgender and non-binary identities are increasingly visible, too many Christians have either maintained a fearful silence, or have attacked 'transgende…

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Dr Jamie Stephenson @audioontology.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

Trying my hand at a bit of experimental writing. Playing with/subverting the academic form. If to subvert form is either punk or virtuosic, I feel like I’m definitely in the former category. Like, Derek Bailey could only play like that because he moved beyond mastery. I’m very much a rudimentary Dr.

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Dr Jamie Stephenson @audioontology.bsky.social · 02/06/2026

Honestly, I’m not sure which is the most satisfying: submitting a draft chapter ahead of the deadline, or closing down the tens upon tens of tabs related to the research for said chapter, the following day! #PhilosophySky #AcademicSky

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Dr Jamie Stephenson @audioontology.bsky.social · 02/06/2026

📣 Pleased as punch to say that my abstract for a conference next month has been accepted. It’s about #IronMaiden, time travel, and spectral tourism, following #Eddie from the East End to futural LA. Going to have some fun with this one. 🤘🏻 #UpTheIrons

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Dr Jamie Stephenson @audioontology.bsky.social · 24/05/2026

📣 🚨 My chapter abstract - "Black Noise and the Urban Wyrd: Afrodiasporic Sound, Hauntology, and Liminal Space" - has been picked for inclusion in a new Routledge collection. It will study Black avant-garde sonic practice, particularly the music of #AhoSsan, #KMRU, #JessicaEkomane, and #LaminFofana.

Title:
"Black Noise and the Urban Wyrd: Afrodiasporic Sound, Hauntology, and Liminal Space"

Contributor:
Dr Jamie Stephenson

Affiliation:
York St John University

Keywords:
Urban wyrd; Black Noise; Afrodiasporic sound; hauntology; liminal space; sonic ontology; psychogeography; experimental music; aesthetics; temporal disjuncture.

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Stuart Elden @stuartelden.bsky.social · 24/05/2026

Heidegger, Space and the New Translation of Being and Time progressivegeographies.com/2026/05/24/h... Some initial comparison of the different translations on the first theme I worked on in Heidegger, space and spatiality.

progressivegeographies.com

Heidegger, Space and the New Translation of Being and Time

Cyril Welch’s version of Heidegger’s Being and Time: An Annotated Translation has been published by Yale University Press, in the United States in February, and the United Kingdom in May …

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Dr Jamie Stephenson @audioontology.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

I know @literarymetal.bsky.social through 🦋 and he’s a dude. I organised a panel at @yorkstjohn.bsky.social last summer around Sound and the Occult, inviting Jasmine to give a wonderful talk on wolf tones and black metal. She’s ace. This book will be splendid.

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Dr Jamie Stephenson @audioontology.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

One of the students in attendance at the colloquium today mentioned #JacobCollier’s graduation speech at Berkelee yesterday in reference to some of the ideas I was trying to express. I wasn’t familiar with it so just watched it. It’s a wonderful thing. Music is the healing force of the universe. ✌🏻

youtube.com

Berklee Commencement Speech 2026 🎓

YouTube video by Jacob Collier

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Dr Jamie Stephenson @audioontology.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

And it gave me a perfect opportunity to talk about Japanese noise, John Peel, black metal, grindcore, blast beats, #Liturgy, #Uboa, ontology, #SOPHIE, Kyoto school metaphysics, #JohnCage, Buddhism, #JohnZorn, and play some great clips like this amazing performance footage of #MASONNA.

youtu.be

Masonna Festival Beyond Innocence, Bridge, Osaka 2002 Japanoise

YouTube video by distortculture

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Dr Jamie Stephenson @audioontology.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

I really enjoyed delivering this talk as part of the #Language and #Linguistics colloquium series at @yorkstjohn.bsky.social today. Really helpful in trying to articulate some of my philosophical ideas in a different register. 25 minutes worth of really interesting discussions/questions after too. 😊

Week 11 Colloquium
RESEARCHING
JAPANESE PHILOSOPHY:
AN ISSUE OF TRANSLATION
DR JAMIE STEPHENSON
YORK ST JOHN UNIVERSITY
WEDNESDAY 13 MAY 16:30, DG/017
Tea and biscuits provided!

Dr Stephenson, an interdisciplinary researcher, composer, and lecturer working across sound, aesthetics, and critical musicology, will deliver a talk titled:
• Researching Japanese Philosophy:
An Issue of Translation
Short abstract
This talk will attempt to discuss some of the philosophical issues concerning the translation of ideas from "East" to "West"
and vice versa. Eastern and Western philosophy are closely connected. My interest lays in how these links are expressed. As an example, the Japanese term "tetsugaku", coined by Nishi Amane to translate Greek "philosophia" shows this exchange. It relates to "ongaku" ("music") through "on", meaning "sound," which echoes the Greek "on", meaning "being."

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Dr Jamie Stephenson @audioontology.bsky.social · 03/05/2026

📣 Here it is, my new essay in Open Philosophy (@degruyterbrill.bsky.social), wherein I set out some ideas of my “ambient metaphysics”, drop in some @litvrgy.bsky.social, and even get that long promised @billorcutt.bsky.social epigraph in there! 🫡 Open access: www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi...

First page of my new essay “‘Auditioning’ Ontology: Ambient Realism and the Practice of Critique” (2026) from “Open Philosophy” journal.

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Dr Jamie Stephenson @audioontology.bsky.social · 05/05/2026

Well, that’s my 33 ⅓ book proposal submitted. Good luck to everyone else that’s having a go. ✌🏻🤞🏻

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Dr Jamie Stephenson @audioontology.bsky.social · 03/05/2026

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Paul Langley @paullangley.bsky.social · 25/04/2026

University management spent £80 million on new building that wasn't needed (presently for sale at £14 million) and now decide 600 staff should go to 'save' £50 million. This is the math currently shaping future of UK HE. Staff paying the price for mismanagement. Govt looking the other way

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Dr Jamie Stephenson @audioontology.bsky.social · 22/04/2026

📣 🚨 Receiving proofs is still a novel experience for me as an early career researcher. But I hope the thrill of seeing my work set out in a publication’s house-style never palls. Here’s the abstract for my forthcoming essay in #OpenPhilosophy journal for @degruyterbrill.bsky.social. #Sound

Proof version of the abstract for my forthcoming essay in “Open Philosophy” journal.

“Auditioning" Ontology: Ambient Realism and the Practice of Critique

Abstract: This essay develops ambient realism as a critical reorientation of contemporary realism that challenges the persistence of anthropocentric and ocularcentric assumptions in Western metaphysics. I argue that philosophy's inherited reliance on visual metaphors - presence, access, and disclosure - continues to structure realist discourse even within post-Kantian and posthumanist frameworks. The argument begins by identifying a scopic inheritance: a long-standing alignment of vision with cognition and ontological access that encourages a model of reality composed of stable objects presented to a perceiving subject. This visual paradigm also stabilises familiar binary oppositions - object and relation, static and dynamic, being and becoming - by privileging spatial form and perceptual mastery. In response, the essay proposes "auditioning" ontology as a methodological shift that foregrounds sonority, resonance, and affect as alternative registers for articulating being. Rather than replacing sight with sound, auditioning names a philosophical attunement to vibration and relational interaction - processes through which entities register one another beyond the frame of visual representation. Adjacent to this approach is the concept of ontological aphonia, which designates a deliberate suspension of the demand for epistemic mastery.
Drawing on the work of Martin Heidegger, Jean-Luc Nancy, affect theory, and contemporary sound studies, the essay reconceives being as relational, dynamic, and excessive of representation. These insights culminate in the formulation of ambient realism: an ontological orientation in which entities persist neither as isolated objects nor as dissolved relations, but as participants in a transjective field of resonant interaction - ambience. Attending to ambience, I argue, enables a more…

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Nicolete Burbach @nicoleteburbach.bsky.social · 21/04/2026

I feel bad for not including her in my trans theology course (bc I cover her in a different one) but can we all take a moment to appreciate Vanessa Sheridan WHO INVENTED AN ENTIRE FIELD OF THEOLOGY but no-one remembers bc trans & was driven out the Church by transphobia whosoever.org/happily-chri...

whosoever.org

Happily Christian, Openly Transgender and — A Seminary Student?

My name is Vanessa Sheridan and I'm a proud, happily transgender person who is also a Christian -- a follower of and a believer in Jesus Christ as my Savior, teacher, and role model. I consider my sta...

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Dr Jamie Stephenson @audioontology.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

When two worlds collide! Reading Zillah Bethell’s “The Song Carrier” to our 7yo at bed time last night & suddenly these pages really resonated with my ideas for an essay I’m writing on @uboatheflesh.bsky.social, queer ecology, Hauntological trauma, Indigenous knowledge systems, & noise aesthetics!

Page of text from Zillah Bethell’s “The Song Carrier”.

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Dr Jamie Stephenson @audioontology.bsky.social · 06/04/2026

I’m always a bit “argh” when I see academic work sailing close to my own yet-to-be published stuff. Then I unclench and realise it’s all good. Ana Davies, I salute you. This is a really interesting paper on @uboatheflesh.bsky.social and posthumanism. May we share pages in a #Uboa Reader one day! 🫡

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Emily @suika.bsky.social · 01/04/2026

With the start of a new fiscal year, 15 more local governments in Japan have started "partnership systems" to recognize relationships of LGBT couples in the absence of marriage equality, bringing the total count to (at least) 557 local governments, covering 93.5% of Japan's population! 🏳️‍🌈

marriageforall.jp

パートナーシップ制度導入自治体 | 情報データベース | 結婚の自由をすべての人に - Marriage for All Japan -

パートナーシップ導入自治体を紹介しているページです。性のあり方に関わらず、誰もが結婚するかしないかを自由に選択できる社会の実現を目指して活動しています。

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