The Battler

This week the w*rker jih*dis are talking kkkaos in Ausstralia and Amerikkka, from RBA class war to the Shoebridge Program, to the Nation of Juggaloes, to the Trump Ass Patrol and competence nostalgia, to Anakin/Malfoid lore and back to Latham Undone. Ep recorded before midterms, photo confected thereafter. Thanks as always to “Demokkkrat” Dan Dare for production. Song is No Strain by the Southend...

This week the r*thless two are chatting with music and film writer Anwen Crawford about her book on the 2002 film Morvern Callar by Lynne Ramsay. They talk about the cinema of the early 21st century, the false promises of “classless” British culture, the utopian impulse of raves, and the film itself, before moving to more familiar territory of activist memory and security culture in the Australian...

Mrs Timwintoncellectuals is back from his nuptial bliss and straight back into the guts of the kulturkampf as he and Pat walk through the wasteland of the last couple of weeks. From the Jordon Steele-John allegations, to endemic abuse and misogyny in politics right and left, to rising violence, to the absolutely cactus machinery of diagnosis that our media and political class use to make sense of...

BATTLERS! While 'Tim' is 'away' 'marrying' his 'wife', Pat chats to writer, critic, cinephile, and film historian, Simon Miraudo, about their upcoming book, 'Last Rites for Lost Films', which is out October 28 vis Simon's imprint, Low Heroes Press. (Simon is launching the book on the 29th of October at Planet Books, Mt Lawley, for any Perh Battlers interested).  Thanks as always to Dan 'Da Man' Da...

This week the Y*ppie D*gs are talking to Mitch L. Ryan, musician, author, record seller and author of a new book on Dick Diver’s Calendar Days, the seminal album.  They chat dolewave, post-Howard political culture, the death of the music industry and the flowering of criticism in the 2010s blogosphere. Beforehand, the l*ds talk about the NRL Grand Final, Shoebridge’s worker Jihad, white Isis, brot...

This week the D*sgraced S*nators talk to their first repeat-guest, the perennial Max Easton.  Max brought out his new novel, Now, Autonomy, a couple of months ago, and he’s on to chat the Sydney scenes (DIY, Music, Literature, Politics); writing the present; literature as questions rather than answers; and looking abroad for hope. As always, it’s a an absolute circle pit (good) of a chat. Before t...

This week Chopper and The Dodge are up Wolf Creek without a Matt Canavan rowing paddle;  Chatting One Nation race science; baby pig punting; beef week; woke Milat for miscegenation; Dockerdom; failures of policing DV, croc olympics and the unbearable “who?”ness of Sheeran. Thanks as always to Herr Diktator Dan Dare for production and for dealing with us. Subscribe:  thebattler.net Straying for the...

Would a transphobic Gandalf be TOO powerful?  The Battlers go over the deep lore of Adelaide and its many evil twinks, discuss the intangible nature of the average One Nation voter, ponder Walt Whitman and more in this week’s episode. Thanks as always to Dictator Dan Dare for producing this ep, and don’t forget to become a subscriber via our newish website, thebattler.net. This week’s paid ep is a...

This week the m*nters chat to Patrick Hunn, whose new book, Either Way You Lose, is out on the 18th of September. Joining Pat is Ursula Robinson-Shaw, who helps to run Sick Leave– the press that is putting out the book. They talk about the short story as a form, the benefits of living in an ugly city, and the realities of working as a small press in 2026. Tim tries and fails to wring Melbourne lit...

This week the C*rdeliers chat with pop chanteux and impresario Montaigne , ahead of their appearance at the Bella Ciao anti fascist festival this weekend at the Thornbury Theatre. They talk about pop music in Australia, the difficulty of juggling political and aesthetic commitments and remaining to true to one’s vision, the stakes of speaking out for Palestine, and the experience of major label an...

This week, the Sp*rious tw* chat the various iterations of woke and the flashpoint of the Arday case in the UKKK. They talk the nature and history of the great Satan “identity politics.” They chat the end of MAGA and the possibilities of rebuilding amerikkka in its wake. They quibble over justice Fagan’s ruling about the IHRA definition of antisemitism. They also talk Juche Trump; undiddlable drew...

This week, the Georges Batt**l*ers talk to Becki Whitton, or Aphir, the musician and producer behind the Wettest 100 . We talk about the gaps in broadcast and the Aussie market for experimental or “left-field” music; the forms of support that artists provide for each other when old structures collapse; e-girl aesthetics and twitch streaming; and the way that an initiative like the W100 tries to br...

Www.thebattler.net www.thebattler.net www.thebattler.net www.thebattler.net * William Carlos Williams We have a bloody website and we want YOU to give us money! You can get all kinds of great merch (paid), paid subscriptions (paid), access to a discord server (paid) and all kinds of other great stuff (paid). Get over there and become part of the movement that critics are calling “GetUp! for the Pu...

This week it’s Labor Fever as the Gr*upers talk the smell of the National Conference, Caroll’s Allan Stabbing, Shoppification and the sidelining of Ed “Hughesy” Husic, all broadcast from the media room at Felix Lee’s Point Piper mansion. They also talk about the One Nation sturmarbeitung, Malcolm Roberts’ Bath Time, Hughesy’s (the real one) Icarian flight, KRudd Compson and the Sound and the Blood...

This week, the L*estrygoonians talk to James “Robert” Woods, whose The Birthday Trip comes out in cinemas on the 30th of July. They discuss Stan originals/music video aesthetics in oz cinema; the state of the industry; the stakes of social satire in Australia, and the particulars of getting a movie made here. It’s a great chat, and you should go see the movie. Before that, the fell*s talk the Nola...

This week the imp*rial ret*nue mourn the passing of Sam Neill, Liberal Party Corruption (Catholic Schools edition), the great book production debate, Melvillean Marxism and the terrors of Left irony, making prisons safe spaces, Lindsey Graham queer lore, Mamdani Italian erasure, the racial profile of New York couples, Shakespeare, and Iran 2: Lindsey’s Revenge. Song as always is No Strain by the S...

Battlers, we have a question for you…Shag - Date - Marry: Pat - Tim - Drew. This week, The Battler Lads discuss The Beijing of the North (Brisbane), Pat’s (receding) hairbrained scheme to sell OzLit to the Chinese market, contemporary Chinese cinema, the mercurial definition of ‘The Battler’ in 2026, and, as usual, the state and fate of the current Australian left. + the Prime Minister said he’d k...

With Tim up in the great Pearl River City of Brisbane, this week the Battler brings you a conversation between friends of the pod Michael Winkler and Giacomo Bianchino. They launched the book Griefdogg together at Better Read than Dead, in Sydney, back on the 15th of June. They chat about metaphor, the resistance of landscape to art, grief and the sentence. There are also some great questions from...

This week, the extended M*rlborough-Sh*a-C*llectual clan chat for ages with James.haha.nice : the “alternative comedian from Melbourne” responsible for the Harold Holt Swim Centre series on Instagram Tiktok. They talk about “Puss” Holt, the general mean-ness of the Australian political class; the misogyny at the heart of conspiracy theories; The Butter Wars and international trade policy; modern d...

This week, the gr*nks are talking to Shane Jesse Christmass, author of Xerox Over Manhattan; Latex, Texas; Meth DTF and a bunch of other indie gems. They talk prose style, the global indie publishing orbit, Amerikkka as theory and practice; collaboration across continents and defining Ozlit. It’s a ripping chat, particularly for fans of the truncated sentence (I know there are a few of youse getti...

This week, the Wh*te D*gs are chatting ABC stores and the blackface era of the 2000s; the Bellingen writers’ festival and Lesbian scene; nearly coming to blows over Wes Anderson; method acting; Charlie Pickering: Zionist BB King; Sooshi Mango; Betootafication; the Parkinson era; TISM wars; AUKUS inquiries; Pauline “Little Chiko” Hanson at the Ballroom. Note: Tim calls Pi O a Comedian. Thanks as al...

This week the str*nzi are off-leash and rolling in any shit they can stick their noses into. They talk the rise of the PHONies and the inadequacy of certain Left responses; the BRS/Hastie beef; the trenchant bastardy of cops; the cruelty of Australia and cultural Howardism; the Teal Panel Party; the language of parliament; the nonce media and their love of babykillers; Alan Jones biopics; Abbott 2...

This week, the c*bbers talk to Will Cox, critic and author of Hyacinth, a gothic retelling of various episodes of Keeping Up Appearances. They chat about the nature of old media and nostalgia, serialisation, experimentation in modern fiction, translation and appropriation, formal fragmentation and other absolutely renegade stuff. Before that, the boys talk online anti-reading trends, more circumci...

On this very special late night/laggy recording of The Battler, Pat talks about the splendour and the beauty of living in the ADHD capital of Australia, while Tim discusses his first time with Ridley Scott’s criminally underseen ‘Alien.’ We also get into The Federal Budget, Dave Hughes’ descent into cookerdom, the limits of Australian literary criticism, and Joe Biden’s life as a Mudoken saviour +...

Battlers! Tim is sick with Hentai Virus and Pat has been busy animating Hentai! So we’ve had to take the week off—Latham forgive us! But on Tuesday, May 12, Pat had the honour of sitting down with renowned OzLit scholar/academic/critic Emmett Stinson to talk all things NOCK LOOSE at Lawson Flats in Perth. Regular scheduling returns next week. Enjoy! This is a public episode. If you would like to d...