In some other cultures, being an artist and/or being gay is considered a spiritual gift and you would be revered and appreciated as a "shaman" bringing wisdom to your people. In our culture in the USA, if you are gay or trans you are treated as a 3rd class citizen who has to fight for your very existence. Creating art, while at the core of our beings as humans, is often perversely seen as some sort of weird "hobby" and you are supposed to endure all kinds of horrible jobs to pay for a way to make your art and be creative "on the side". Being a creative is not seen as a real "career" in our "society". In this edition of the Nothing Is Real Radio Hour host Sam Sebren presents some innovative work by queer and trans experimental sound artists who find ways to persevere, defy labels, and forge new sounds for everyone to be enlightened by. We celebrate LGBTQ+ Pride and all of the pioneers & warriors & artist-activists who have fought for equality. Happy Pride Universe! Support LGBTQ+ artists and non-artists alike in these dark times of oppression & bigotry. Sadly in 2026 we are still fighting for our own existence and for autonomy over our own bodies and lives.

"The Nothing Is Real Radio Hour" includes sound and transmission art works by Sam Sebren, who is based in Athens, NY, and occasionally works by other artists, both pre-recorded and performed live in the studio. In a multidisciplinary practice, much of Sebren's recent work has challenged notions of accepted reality in art, advertising, and public spaces. In mediums including sound, Sebren's work blurs actual, imagined, and technological realities as he critiques socio-political rules & regulations in our consumer "culture" and urges his audience to smile and re-think our priorities.

PLAYLIST:

Weaponized Dysphoria / Uboa
I Come From the Dirt, From the Woods, From Your Brain, From Your Darkness (excerpt) / CHRISTEENE
Return of the Spambots / Jess Rowland
Step 2 Tighten the Head / Michael Foster, Webb Crawford, Joey Sullivan
Pitch Black / Octo Octa
Meaning What Exactly / Coil
Long Gone / Stick Sellers
Sonic Origins (interview excerpt) / Moor Mother
Obsidian (feat. Pink Siifu) / Moor Mother
The Boy With A Smile / Arthur Russell
Odun-de / Jessica Williams
Repping / Octo Octa
sink my teeth into the sun or something / farrah faucet
Plastiglomerates! (excerpt) / Jess Rowland
Hanky Code (excerpt) / Lynn Loheide
Detransitioning / Uboa
Keep SCROLLING / Wheelchair Death Camp
Hot Dog Acid (Part 2) / Jess Rowland
The Right's Anti-LGBTQ Hysteria Is Now Indistinguishable From Satire (excerpt) / The Humanist Report (Mike Figueredo)
Photograph Of Alarm Codes / Stick Sellers
(I Want) To Be Different / Polar Praxis
Radio From the Volcano (excerpt) / SS space systems