I spent my high school nights making cassette loops, hunched over the guts of a disemboweled Maxell, splicing bits of brown magnetic tape and piecing everything back together with a jeweler’s screwdriver. I remember the purple-black energies that burbled at the back of my mind, the shimmery thoughts that take hold while intently making something.

Thirty years later, I suppose I’m doing this again with Midnight Radio, only now I’m stitching together songs in an overheated and disembodied world I wouldn't have recognized back then.

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We kick off with some slow-motion Slowdive. When I asked my friend S. if it sounded cool or cursed, he said "Both." Then comes a slow variant of a track from Belong's stone classic, Common Era, which towers above Loveless and Souvlaki when it comes to gazeability.

Autechre's "Bronchusevenmx24" sounds like the heat shimmer on the horizon when the pavement warps and boils, a mirage that Italian sailors called vecchie signore che balla: old ladies dancing. The ladies are even more visible when it’s slowed down. 

And moving through the shimmer to fourth century Ethiopia, liturgies in the Christian church were accompanied by the benega, a stringed instrument "given to king David by God, and brought to Ethiopia by Menelik I, together with the Ark of the Covenant." But the singer's voice is the true instrument here, offering a fragile melody that brings to mind the thoughts of a kid taking apart cassette tapes. And finally, a chilled cup of stone tea with an excerpt from one of Stephen Hitchell's hour-long excursions before we wind down with some drowsy My Bloody Valentine.

1. Slowdive - Machine Gun (50% slower)
   Souvlaki, 1993 • More
2. Belong - A Walk (22% slower)
   Common Era • Bandcamp
3. Slowdive - Mousakka Chaos (20% slower)
   Souvlaki, 1993
4. Autechre - Bronchusevenmx24 (25% slower)
   Garbage, 1995 • Bandcamp
5. Sosena Gebre Eyesus - Save Us From Our Death
   The World Is But a Place of Survival: Begena Songs from Ethiopia | Bandcamp
6. cv313 - Depths of Perception (Excerpt)
   Depths of Perception, 2022 | More
7. My Bloody Valentine - Only Shallow (45% slower)
   Loveless, 1991 | More
8. My Bloody Valentine - Instrumental B
   1988, featuring a Public Enemy sample | More

Dusted with static and murmurations from Spiritualized, Dean Martin, and always and forever, Nancy Sinatra. 

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It’s the first of October but the weather is all wrong. Here in the Middle West, it’s been endless sunshine with temperatures twenty degrees above normal. Meanwhile, our government shut down last night because we’re ruled by bullies and cowards who’ve been brainwormed by the internet. Each day brings inventive forms of idiocy and degradation. Feels like something’s got to give but nothing does.

So I’m looking elsewhere for reason. Read the full post.

* * *

Even though it’s far too warm for the first of October, the night continues to inch closer, which means it’s chromatic season.

The Chromatics have always been an unlikely proposition for me. I prefer my songs scuzzy and reverberated, whereas their music is so sleek and glossy it’s almost lacquered. It’s pop music from a neon world where Ruth Radelet’s frigid voice sings fabulous things like my leather glove grips the wheel. In 2017, they appeared on Twin Peaks before abruptly disbanding for reasons I don’t care to discover. Aside from rattling around the algorithms of streaming services, they've become a ghost—it's impossible to buy their music, and their Bandcamp and record label websites lead to 404s.

During their ten-year run, the Chromatics released only three proper albums but my library has over 250 songs. Drumless versions. Extended mixes. 8-track versions. Alternate takes for fictional movies. The same instrumentals reappear with different vocals and new titles. All these variations leave me wondering about the line between chasing perfection and forever relitigating the past. As if adjusting the variables enough times will finally yield the Platonic synthpop song. All of which makes finding their best tracks a daunting task, so I’ve made a megamix of ten favorites, including three of their covers.

If you like the Chromatics, this is the place to be tonight. And if not, even better: hopefully you’ll start.

1. Lady Night Drive (Cherry, 2012)
2. The Page (Kill for Love, 2012)
3. Stiff as a Board (Faded Now, 2020)
4. Running up that Hill (Night Drive, 2007)
5. The Sound of Silence (Closer to Grey, 2020)
6. Back from the Grave (Kill for Love, 2012)
7. Yes (Symmetry Remix) (Love Theme from Lost River, 2007)
8. Headlight’s Glare (Night Drive, 2007)
9. Disintegration (Running from the Sun, 2012)
10. Into the Black (Kill for Love, 2012)

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Five favorite songs released in 2025. Also includes bits of Rebekah Del Rio and David Bowie, along with the optimal dosage of static and reverb.

Biosphere - The Way of Time
The Way of Time | 2025 | Bandcamp

Romance - Leave Her to Heaven
Love Is Colder Than Death | 2025 | Bandcamp

Minor Hexachords - Minor Concession
Brinkmanship | 2025 | Bandcamp

Sa Pa - Nonspiration
Ambeesh | 2025 | Bandcamp

Rue des Garderies - Jiddu
2025 | Bandcamp

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Tonight's episode compresses two and a half hours of dream chatter into twenty-three minutes that drift in and out of focus like dreams tend to do.

1. Abul Mogard - Staring at the Sweeps of the Desert
   Works | Ecstatic, 2016 | Bandcamp
2. Black Polygons - Incarnat
   Silence | 2014 | Bandcamp
3. Seefeel - Rupt (Cut Mix)
   Rupt and Flex | Warp, 1995 | Bandcamp
4. Transient Waves - Soulspace
   Transient Waves | i, 1997 | Bandcamp
5. Intrusion - Love in Lofi (Remastered by Pole)
   Unreleased Tape Sessions, 2025 | Bandcamp

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A quick and knotty mixtape I made for tomorrow morning’s run, built from my favorite songs for lumbering along the river this summer—and lumber is the operative word. Laced with static and fried chatter, these tracks move like I do: sighing and lurching like a tired beast. But wait until the bass hits at the 41-second mark. It makes living in 2025 feel worthwhile. 

Sixsixsevenfortyseven’s Wounded Dogs is one of my favorite albums this year, a low-frequency exercise in patience, just like running or any repetitive act that hunts for freedom through repetition. An Egyptian low-rider comes next, followed by some metropolitan Detroit sleaze. This sequence lopes along until we get to Drissi El-Abbassi belting from the 1980s in Algeria. Look at this album cover. He was born to make us sweat. But his voice gets shredded by Autechre’s “Clipper” as we drop into more frigid and fractured terrain before winding down with a touch of Digital Underground. Here’s the hyperlink to tonight’s broadcast, or listen below.

I often think about this line from Richard Powers’s Orfeo: “Make the music that you need, for need will be over, soon enough.” 

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Sixsixsevenfortyseven - I Stood There
Wounded Dogs | Youth, 2025 | Bandcamp

Jana & El Nashmy - 3al Bayez
Place: Egypt | Air Texture, 2025 | Bandcamp

Erika - Tomorrow’s Fires (Whodat Remix)
Anevite Void Remixed | Interdimensional Transmissions, 2025 | Bandcamp

DVA Damas - Wet Vision II
Wet Vision | Downwards, 2015 | Boomkat

Drissi El-Abbassi - Zedti Laadab Aliya
Nashazphone | Bandcamp

Autechre - Clipper
Tri Repetae | Warp, 1995 | Bandcamp

Broken English Club - Prayer Space
Suburban Hunting | Cititrax, 2015 | Bandcamp

Plastikman - Contain
Consumed | Minus, 1998 | Bandcamp

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When I moved to Ohio last year, I didn’t expect to become fascinated by death drives, desire, and demonology. There are several reasons for this trajectory—such as living in the Year of Our Lord 2025—but a primary force is my friend M.

M. rolls heavy. There’s not much small talk with him. Doesn’t matter who you are—interact with him for five minutes and you’ll be reckoning with Lacanian lack or, if there’s a shift in the light, perhaps Deleuzian notions of new inflows of creativity and intensity. He’s pushed my thinking into new terrain, and he’s with us tonight to pull hammers, snakes, money, and Samara from The Ring into the zone where desire and demons meet.

Here’s how tonight’s audio came to be: M. asked if I wanted to do a podcast, and I said no because podcasts are annoying and I don’t need more media in my life. He showed up with microphones anyway, and we recorded a conversation, after which I deleted myself and left his side of the discussion intact.

M’s thoughts on the horror of insatiable desire offer some strategies for dealing with the unruly self. It also sounds like an accurate diagnosis of the current American moment.

No matter how many lists I make, there’s something within me that will never be comfortable or understood—and this is how it should be. But here’s a list anyway:

1. Ghost Dubs - Chemical (18% slower)
   Damaged | Pressure, 2024 | Bandcamp
2. Pole - Berlin
   1 | Matador, 1998 | Bandcamp
3. MMMD - Egoismo
   Egoismo | Antifrost, 2019 | Bandcamp
4. Biosphere - Houses on the Hill
   Shenzhou | Touch, 2002 | Bandcamp
5. Basic Channel - Radiance I (31% slower)
   Basic Channel, 1994 | Boomkat
6. Heathered Pearls - Beach Shelter (Loscil Grind Remix)
   Loyal Reworks | Ghostly International, 2013 | Bandcamp
7. Keith - Flob Gob (Jukebox Mix)
   Pernod Parks Productions, 2025 | Bandcamp
8. Rod Modell - Forester Park
   Vibrasound: The Deepchord Years 1999-2004
9. Civilistjävel! - A2
   Järnnätter | Felt, 2022 | Bandcamp
10. Thomas Brinkmann - Maschine
    Totes Rennen | Supposé, 1998 | Bandcamp

Tonight’s episode opens with some heavyweight dub to introduce M., and when he finishes speaking, we’ll test the limits of repetition by listening to Thomas Brinkmann’s intensive loop of a vocal from Blixa Bargeld. And here’s a partial list of the audio files of M. if you’d like a roadmap:

• M Saturated Spew.m4a
• M Broken Hammer.m4a
• M Making a Clearing.m4a
• M Demon Mother Desire.m4a
• M You Want Your Mother to Feed You.m4a
• M Insatia

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Some of tonight’s songs are about heaven, some are about hell, and perhaps this is what all dreams are ultimately about. Listen to Charlie Megira’s guitar, more alive and determined than his voice, grasping for something we know but cannot define. An Israeli guitarist whose life was brief and tragic, Megira was “a mold-breaking artist who disintegrated while we were all staring at our phones.” In the final minute of ‘Tomorrow’s Gone’, I like to think he’s saying “my heart to heaven” even though he’s singing in Hebrew. It makes a nice transition to Midwife, who reminds us that the hounds of heaven run like hell.

Charlie Megira - Tomorrow’s Gone
Da Abtomatic Meisterzinger Mambo Chic | 2001 | Bandcamp

Midwife & Vyva Melinkolya - Hounds of Heaven
Orbweaving | Heaven Metal, 2023 | Bandcamp

Ensemble Economique - Your Lips Against Mine
Melt Into Nothing | Denovali, 2014 | Bandcamp

Windy & Carl - Lighthouse
Drawing of Sound | Blue Flea, 1996 | Bandcamp

Füxa - Dreamlanding
3 Field Rotation | Mind Expansion, 1995 | Bandcamp

Read the full post with a complete inventory of dreams.

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I began to feel pleasantly haunted, finding information in the static, a hymnal in the hiss as I carved two hours down to the eighteen minutes we have before us now. Here are the ingredients:

• A drum loop from Woob’s “Odonna” (Woob 1194, 1994 | More)
• Goma ritual chants, tape hiss, static, and fifty-two pounds of reverb.
• Hiroshi Yoshimura – Adelaide (Flora, 1987 | Bandcamp)
• Some in-house synthesizers and a kick drum that, late at night, sounds like something knocking from the other side of the veil.

Perhaps demons are ready for a reboot. The grifters, faith-dealers, dead-eyed influencers, and screamers are stripping our world for parts, and we crave justice—not the justice of our rickety institutions, but something cosmic that assures us the universe can balance itself. 

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When visiting a Taoist temple, you enter through the east door, the mouth of the dragon, which is good luck. After performing your rituals and prayers, you exit through the west, the deadly mouth of the tiger, because now you’re protected from danger. Never enter through the middle door. That’s for gods.

In 2016, the NYC-based guitarist Hewson Chen discovered the homesick ballads his father recorded after emigrating from Taiwan. He set them to music and called it Taiwanese Folk Style, and it’s a remarkable collaboration across generations—and one of the most delightful albums I’ve heard in years.

Two weeks ago, my friend P. turned me on to Yu Ching, a Taiwanese musician who serves chilled shots of shoegaze. I’ve also been steeping myself in Alex Zhang Hungtai’s extensive catalog, especially his work as Dirty Beaches, a patron saint of Death Prom.

So tonight’s episode is dedicated to the Taiwan-related music that has been soundtracking my slow rainy runs along the Tansui River, where clouds are draped over the mountains on the horizon, and all of those ancient landscape scrolls suddenly make perfect sense. I also realized that the pylons of the interstate looked like Shinto shrines before I accidentally ran up the exit ramp. But they don’t make landscape scrolls about that.

High walls surround the Confucian temple because you must work for the knowledge within.

1. Yu Ching - Love
   The Crystal Hum | Night School, 2024 | Bandcamp
2. 姚苏蓉 (Yao Su-jung) - 磁性的迷惑 (Magnetic Seduction)
   MMI, 1969 | More
3. James Chen - Summer in Taiwan
   Taiwanese Folk Style | Moon Glyph, 2016 | Bandcamp
4. Dirty Beaches - Low Rider / I Dream in Neon
   Cassette/Drifters | Zoo Music, 2008/2012 | Bandcamp
5. James Chen - Don’t Be Discouraged
   Taiwanese Folk Style | Moon Glyph, 2016 | Bandcamp
6. Yu Ching - 桑桑 (Sun Sun)
   Planetes Records, 2024 | Bandcamp
7. Alex Zhang Hungtai & Tseng Kuo Hung - Ten Swords
   Longone | 2020 | Bandcamp

Also contains the sounds of elderly people doing circulatory exercises in Da’an Park, the recording from an aggressive ice cream vendor, and the usual bits of static and tuning. And as always, plenty of reverb.

Read the full post here.

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A tribute to David Lynch that roams through ruined ballads and slow-motion noir. Busted machinery bleeds through the walls and if you listen closely, the Woodsman will remind you which is the water and which is the well. Read the full post.

• Angelo Badalamenti - Laura Palmer’s Theme
  Twin Peaks, 1990 | More
• Rebekah Del Rio - Llorando
  Mulholland Drive, 2001 | More
• Dean Hurley - Night Electricity Theme
  Anthology Resource Vol. 1 | Twin Peaks: The Return, 2017 | Bandcamp
• Bohren & Der Club of Gore - Constant Fear
  Black Earth | Wonder, 2002 | More
• Roy Orbison - Crying
  RCA Victor, 1961 | More
• Bobby Vinton - Blue Velvet
  Epic, 1963 | More
• Chris Isaak - Wicked Game (23% slower)
  Reprise, 1989 | More
• The Paris Sisters - I Love How You Love Me
  Gregmark, 1961 | More
• Julee Cruise - Falling
  Floating Into the Night, 1989 | Three Demos
• Angelo Badalamenti - Twin Peaks Theme
  Twin Peaks, 1990 | More
• Roy Orbison - In Dreams (20% slower)
  Monument Records, 1963 | More
• Rod Modell + Taka Noda - Untitled 2
  Glow World | Silentes, 2024 | Bandcamp

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Enjoy life and get the full Midnight Radio experience delivered directly to your inbox ’round midnight on the 1st and 15th of each month.