[Podcast]: 100% Human/Organic ISC Podcast & Patreon Update, Wed 13th May 2026.
Welcome, ISC (Non-)Clankers and Data-Scraping Bot Bastards!
‘What, c*nt? Oh yeah, clanker’.
Credit: Fart-arsing around on Imgflip Meme Generator, ig
You might’ve noticed things have been a bit quieter than usual on the bonus‑content front for Inner‑Strength Check. Behind the scenes, I did the classic Brady-move (it’s a tried-and-true ‘high-functioning’ neurodivergent melee attack) of picking a massive undertaking for the next paid bonus episode: ‘Clinical Examination: Specimen XX‑121 (The Xenomorph), Part 3’. See here for the massive Part I podcast episode and script/show notes, and here for Part II.
It turns out that one is a lot more work than I first thought – between sound design, foley, Alien lore, clinical structure, and trying to keep it all coherent, it’s a serious brain‑load. For an auDHD-brain already juggling ISC, life, and a sea of emails, that’s been a bit of a recipe for overload. I don’t want to crank out half‑baked turd, nor fry myself getting there, so that episode is staying on the stove a little longer. It’ll be tasty once it’s out of the oven - I am going pretty damn hard on the audio and scripting components especially!
In the meantime, I’m shifting focus to bonus episodes that are more cognitively accessible for me to research and record right now - while still being properly goofy, nerdy and worth your time.
Average Content-Creator Interaction (Colourised, 2026) - It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia Season 8, Ep 5: ‘The Gang Gets Analyzed’ (FX), via Youtube.
Before we begin proceedings - shoutout to the very relevant ADHD Helper-Album for this article:
Artificial Brain (US) - Labyrinth Constellation
Genre: Progressive/Technical/Dissonant Death Metal
Released: via Profound Lore Records (2014)
LINKS:
Labyrinth Constellation - Bandcamp/Order Link
(via Profound Lore Records)
(see for: Socials/Official Links, US/EU/Global Merch, Full-Album & Single Streams, etc)
I: A Quick State‑of‑the‑Union - From My Brain:
If it isn’t obvious already: there are days where it feels like I’ve bitten off way more than I can chew trying to pull the whole Inner‑Strength Check “room” together. Particularly having expanded this whole project from what was initially just myself quietly ventilating and posting about metal on the old, now-dead website in early 2021.
I’m forever grateful and hashtag #blessed to have a growing team of fantastic contributors on our team (once again, BIG welcome to Sammy O’Flynn to the team as of yesterday - go peep his first review for Ulcerate’s Melbourne tour on Friday, it’s a banger!).
On any given week I’m juggling:
A Gmail inbox that never, ever sleeps (PR, promos, advance albums, gig offers, you name it), and an annoying amount of redirected (or not) bleed over into other email accounts.
A growing list of gigs and albums to cover, as well as spinning plates to keep at least vaguely/broadly across our other topical areas (Tabletop, Hobbies, Art, Mental Health, etc)
Coordinating between podcast platforms, the website, socials, Patreon, and all the different tools that don’t talk to each other as nicely as you’d hope. For instance, I figured out that even just getting an article properly tagged up on Squarespace for SEO + the socials cross-posting? Yeah that’s often an hour’s job minimum, depending on the article. I’ll keep my gripes about how that should be like a tenth of the time max for elsewhere (my own head/screaming at the void).
Time-sensitive stuff - interviews, gig requests, updating team-facing/back-end systems so everyone’s across it (needs a big ol’ rework, which is happening as we speak!).
Doing all of that with an already-embattled and frazzled neurodivergent brain means I’m very familiar with the Greatest Hits of executive dysfunction: information overload, decision‑fatigue, hyperfocus on the wrong shiny thing, avoidance because there are too many tabs open (both in brain and neural networks), and that ever-present, oh-so-fun recalcitrance and avoidance that comes with staring down your own all-or-nothing thinking, trying to stab a forkful off the elephant whilst the bastards’ charging at you (No, Babar! Please! I swear I’ll be good, UwU).
I’ve hit a point where I’m done trying to brute‑force it, so this week I’m working in reverse: zooming out, doing some meta planning, and starting to systemise the chaos at a broad level. In other words, feeding My One of Two Remaining Braincells (The ADHD One) a whole buncha caffeine, nicotine and extreme-metal stimming, so The Other Braincell (Autism) and I can keep that kid entertained while we geek out on productivity systems understood perhaps only by God himself. Or not even Him.
From there, I’m trying to take things one piece at a time instead of trying to fix everything at once. There are a lot of pieces, but they don’t all have to be solved today.
If you relate to that at all, you’re very much in the right place. I didn’t start this whole thing to become blogger-as-expert. You’re inundated with a relentless enough surge of obsequient and authoritative promises about this page, that website, that app claiming to be the new Doctors Hate Him! in 2026 (typically, this just results in slop, hence today’s topic).
Ahead of putting the episode out proper, since you were cool and good and actually forsook time away from your own slop-filled feeds to read this update? I’ll key you in a few things that inspired this episode. Sensical or not, just how it rolls:
A spate of recent incidents in the media whereby vulnerable/at-risk individuals AND folks with little to no known mental health history were led into disturbing, dangerous or otherwise erratic behaviour - primarily through the vehicle of AI sycophancy, a growing issue which regulators are left scrambling to curtail in the wake of the OpenAI/Silicon Valley leviathan.
The prophesised downturn (or, depending who you talk to, sheer downfall) of the AI industry/sector. (This is a point that on its’ own deserves its’ own episode. And that one will be free to all! Not going to hoard all my ideas behind paywalls. I’m not Rupert Murdoch, after all).
Skeletons. No, not the goofy ones - the depressive/unalive-thinking sentient automatons moping about the wastelands of the fallen Second Empire in the Kenshi video game/lore setting (more on this in a future post. I got something interesting cooking).
The abject chuckle-filled existential-horror nightmare that is watching the goddamned administration of the United States and other supposed world/thought-leaders posting unironic Boomer-AI-slop on their accounts. Seriously, the fuck kinda world is this, lol?
My exploration into some of the AI ‘chatbot’ communities - a large number of which I wasn’t able to access as they’re outright banned in Australia. From my research…?! Yep. Keep ‘em banned, maybe. Jesus Christ.
Better Offline (see below) - we love your work Ed Zitron. Stay dangerous!
There’s a whole myriad of artificial intelligence topics I’ve been accruing and accumulating, but the fact of the matter is, the space is evolving so rapidly that writing for more broad overview-style analyses feel like my own human brand of planned obsolescence.
Tell you what, though - if you want a really thorough, incisive, funny and Britishally-self-deprecating/dark-humoured podcast that speaks truth to power about AI and the tech industry? You can’t go past Better Offline.
Really has helped me a lot to conceptualise and cope (sort of, rants and crashouts about our slop-clogged fills are a theme of ire lately) with the mess going on, plus pretty much everything Old Mate has predicted from industry trends and like has happened, and is happening.
Onya Ed. Keep up the Flesh-Lords’ work COUGHfeelfreetojumponthepodcastanytimebroCOUGH.
New Patreon Bonus Episode in the Works:
‘AI, “Psychosis” and Companions’
Yes, you can consider this unsubtle no-context Kenshi Skeleton-related drop as a hint/precursor of even more bonus content. I’ve got something VERY interesting cooking.
The next Bonus Episode for the Inner-Strength Check Podcast I’m actively working on digs into:
AI chatbots and so‑called ‘AI Psychosis’;
AI “companions” and pseudo‑relationships, and
How all of this sits inside our current loneliness crisis, mental health systems, and general Big Tech weirdness/enshittification/etc.
Some ‘live’ examples of perusing and exploring some ve-he-he-hery erm… interesting (and absolutely, absolutely NSFW) instances of AI companions on open-source communities. (Ye gods man. I’ve seen some shit).
Half of that episode will be released publicly on the main ISC feeds and podcast as a Preview, so everyone (including free‑tier supporters) can get a proper taste. The full deep‑dive – including more clinical/psych discussion, systemic context, and ethically spicy bits – will be available to Riff-Nerds as a bonus episode.
If that sounds like your kind of rabbit hole, keep an eye on the ISC feed and socials for when the preview goes live.
Artists: If you’d like to promote recent/upcoming singles on the show, I also regularly promote ‘Featured Artists’ and tracks, including discussing elements of your promotional materials, press releases etc. If you’d like your music considered for submission for this episode (or indeed generally on our blog), get in touch!
Help shape future bonus episodes (by joining the ISC Patreon community!):
If you’d like to be more involved in steering where ISC goes next, the Patreon community is where I’m doing most of that back‑and‑forth ongoing.
Over there, I’m asking members what they want more of across a few big domains:
AI, Tech & Mental Health
Companions, “AI psychosis”, therapy bots, ethics, enshittification, and how all of this impacts actual humans, not just the hype cycle.Hustle Culture & Burnout
The hangover of “rise and grind”, Puritan‑flavoured productivity guilt, and trying to make or enjoy art in a profoundly weird economy.Extreme Music, Subculture & Emotion
How heavy music and other subcultures help people regulate emotions, find community, and push back against moral panics and stigma.
Patrons can:
Pitch specific ideas for bonus episodes,
Ask me to zoom in on particular bands/scenes/subcultures,
Dare this neurospicy podcaster to deep‑dive unusual genres or strange corners of the Big Tech/AI mess,
Offer up future bonus written articles, podcast episodes and the like - both for the Patreon Riff-Nerds’ access area, and the general public.
No idea is “too niche” – ISC is purpose-built to roam a bit. I can’t promise every suggestion becomes an episode, but I do read and seriously consider everything that comes through, and have been filing away suggestions on top of my own hoarded Smaug-stash.
If you enjoy the show and want to:
Support ISC as a long‑term labour of love,
Get access to full bonus episodes (like the incoming AI/companions deep‑dive),
Hang out in a smaller, more conversational space around the podcast,
Have a chance to receive some of our future incoming giveaways and prizes,
Access discounted merchandising when it becomes available (shoutout to Michael of Doom Reaper’s Vault and others, who’ll be providing the assist!)
…then you might like joining the Patreon. You’ll find the link alongside this post wherever I’ve shared it, or via the usual spots on the ISC website and socials.
I’m still catching up after a rough patch of brain‑fog and information overload, but I’m not going anywhere. I’m in this for the long haul, and your support genuinely helps me keep experimenting, adjusting, and finding sustainable ways to keep Inner‑Strength Check going.
PATREON RIFF-NERDS: If you’ve read this far, thank you - just dropping a sneaky little note that I’ll also be dropping a sneak-preview of some creative writing/narrative work I’ve been doing in the background (no prizes for guessing it’s related to some of the content alluded to today). Stay tuned!
As Always,
Peace, Love and Grindcore - Brady.
Inner-Strength Check - Patreon Link
(Note: If you’re unable to afford it or would just prefer to sign on as a Free-tier member, I will be updating this community/chat with similar posts this afternoon/evening. Jump on in!)
