Midnight Radio

My first memory is sitting in a high chair in front of a small Zenith television. The opening credits for a sitcom played, maybe Happy Days or Laverne & Shirley, and there was a shenanigan that involved kissing a mannequin. It scared the hell out of me, and I screamed until my father patted my head, called me “big guy,” and changed the channel. For years, my mom couldn’t take me into a department store because I was so horrified by mannequins. Much of our shopping at Sears took place with her hand over my eyes.

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Maybe it’s the simultaneous knowing and not-knowing that makes anything resonate. Tonight we have some half-understood Midnight Radio variants of six songs from Andrea Mazzariello’s War Footing playbook—rewired, filtered, and slowed down between 21% and 94%:

1. Fair Is Foul Is Fair (Astronomical Dub)
2. 43:1 (Tranquil + Justified)
3. Aspirational Gardening (Cosmic Harvest)
4. 80s Death (Redshifted + Microwaved)
5. Post Nova (Initial Singularity)
6. Pre-Post (Final Singularity)

Andrea Mazzariello (words, keyboards, synths, programming, drums), Brady Lenzen (bass), Jason Treuting (drums and percussion), JC Sanford (brass), Dan Trueman (strings), Mike Williams (acoustic guitars), Andy Flory (electric guitars)

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C. says it’s better to make tacos at home because we know what’s in them. But I think it’s the not-knowing that makes Taco Bell the spiritual choice. Read the full episode.

Tonight's selections gratify me because they aim straight for the pleasure centers and risk looking foolish (especially the Orbital track, even though I slowed it down 220%). Yet they also retain some mystery, perhaps even to themselves, chanting and humming until language becomes a garbled holy tone—from the climactic minute of the xx's "Intro" to a loopy Enya edit to a Byzantine hymn from Father Dionysios Tabakis, a 52-year-old priest who dropped one of my favorite albums of the year via the crucial Heat Crimes imprint.

Thank you for listening. (And thank you to Martin Essig for encouraging me to read Simon Critchley and Byung-Chul Han.)

1. The xx - Intro
   xx • XL Recordings, 2005 • Bandcamp
2. Walls - Sunporch (Holy Other Mix)
   Coracle Remixes • Kompakt, 2012 • Bandcamp
3. Seraphim - A3
   London Is Tired of Me • Lost Domain, 2026 • Boomkat
4. Death in Vegas - Girls
   Scorpio Rising • Sanctuary Records, 2002
5. Frederic D Oberland & Radwan Ghazi - Squeal of Swine
   Eternal Life No End ليلة ظلماء ملعونة، كحياة طالبيها • Constellation, 2026 • Bandcamp
6. Enya - Afer Ventus (DNTEL Remix)
   Enya Mixes • 2010 • Boomkat
7. Tears for Fears - Mad World (Midnight Radio Mix)
   The Hurting • 1982
8. Walls - Burnt Sienna
   Walls • Kompakt, 2010 • Bandcamp
9. Father Dionysios Tabakis - ΑΝΑΡΧΟΣ ΘΕΟΣ Βυζαντινά Κάλαντα των Χριστουγέννων σε α΄ήχο
   Paradise Metal • Heat Crimes, 2026 • Boomkat
10. Placid Angles - Saint Anne
    Canada • Oathcreations, 2026 • Bandcamp
11. Orbital - Halcyon and On and On (Midnight Radio Mix)
    Radiccio • 1993 • Bandcamp

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For tonight's episode, Steve sent me a file with selections from some of his favorite songs. He wanted to put together something that would be ideal for a warm afternoon because he's a contrarian who must test the limits of Midnight Radio. Fair enough. Here are the changes I made:

• Swapped the Topdown Dialectic track he selected for one I like better.
• Because he's the least self-aggrandizing person I know, it probably didn’t occur to him to include his own music. I’ve fixed this. A song from his Minor Hexachords project appears midway, and I love how the high-gloss majesty of a Burger & Ink classic gives way to "Radians," which shatters the dub techno template into glittery shards.
• Slowed down the last two songs by 39% and 210% because they sound fantastic this way.

And of course, the usual reverb and static. This 44th episode is exactly 44 minutes long, which pleases me. Thank you for listening.

1. Topdown Dialectic - 20170804-2
   20170804 • Aught, 2017 • Bandcamp
2. Foote/Dickow - Volcano Snail
   High Cube • Geographic North, 2026 • Bandcamp
3. Sa Pa - Ride High
   Ambeesh • Short Span, 2025 • Bandcamp
4. Burger & Ink - Elvism
   Las Vegas • Harvest, 1996 • Boomkat
5. Minor Hexachords - Radians
   Brinkmanship • 2025 • Bandcamp
6. Paperclip Minimiser - B2
   II • Peak Oil, 2026 • Bandcamp
7. Gramm - Legends/Nugroove™
   Personal Rock • Source, 1999 • Bandcamp
8. Vehicular - Vehicular 02 (39% slower)
   False 5 • False Aralia, 2025 • Bandcamp
9. Koen Holtkamp - Atmos 01 (210% slower)
   Atmosfera • Love All Day, 2021 • Bandcamp

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In its common form, nostalgia is a taunt because it fetishes a time that can never be reclaimed. But when dealing with mid-1990s electronica, perhaps it can also be an invitation. To reclaim the energy from a time when dozens of naive albums were inspired by Koyaanisqatsi or the incense-soaked rhythms of Kingsuk Biswas's Bedouin Ascent project. It was a time of creating for its own sake without an eye on any marketplace or notion of virality. Of making things simply because new tools were there. 

So maybe I’ll just sink into this plush couch with cigarette burns in the cushions while Strange Days plays on mute and someone tells me all about the benefits of globalization and the Information Superhighway.

1. Introduction: Stonecirclesampler, Air Liquide, Mojave 3, assorted radio static, etc.
2. Dr. Atmos & Oliver Lieb - Music to Films Movement V
   Music to Films • Fax, 1994
3. Pete Namlook & Richie Hawtin - Silent Intelligence V
   From Within III • Fax, 1997
4. Bedouin Ascent - Mammon [Midnight Radio Edit]
   Science, Art, and Ritual • Rising High, 1994 • Bandcamp
5. Massive Attack vs. Mad Professor - Protection (Radiation Ruling the Nation)
   No Protection • Wild Bunch Records, 1995
6. B12 - Radiophonic Workshop
   Time Tourist • Warp, 1996 • Bandcamp
7. Photek - T’raenon Version
   T’raenon • Op-Art, 1996
8. Bedouin Ascent - Transition R
   Science, Art, and Ritual • Rising High, 1994 • Bandcamp
9. Makyo - Devabandha
   Rasa Bhava • Silent Records, 1996 • Bandcamp
10. Epilogue: Stonecirclesampler, Patsy Cline, assorted radio static, etc.

Now I'm in Minneapolis after a viciously turbulent flight because a snowstorm is on the way. They're talking about 8 to 12 inches. I mention this because Midnight Radio seems to be the only deadline I honor and I'm pressing the button at 11:54pm Central Time. It counts.

More importantly, a new version of Spite is available in your local App Store or you can learn more and download it directly here.

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I often think about Leonard Cohen's observation that religion is the greatest form of art. When I'm moved by a painting, I am not thinking about its veracity. I do not question whether my emotional response is true.

With thoughts like this in my head, I'm grateful that Martin Essig will join us tonight to talk about the history of faith.

M. first appeared in episode 23 to tell us that desire is a demon. Because synchronicities abound, he came into my life at a time when I was grappling with the meaning of me, and he was hellbent on making sure I understood symbolic failure and the Lacanian Real. Along the way, he became a reliable friend, ensuring that I never wander too far into doubt or belief but instead learn to enjoy the dance.

Tonight M. will discuss animism and disenchantment on top of some songs he selected, several of which I've bludgeoned into unrecognizable shapes. But first, he must answer the Very Special Guest Question.

Do you believe in god or any spiritual dimension to the universe?

"I guess the real question is: Does God believe in Himself? I prefer a God who isn’t really sure if He exists or not. In all the best religious experiences, nobody’s certain about what’s going on, including and especially God."

1. XDCVR - Psalm 68
   I Hate That Shit, I Hate All That Shit • Ooh Sounds, 2026 • Bandcamp
2. Luke Slater - Love (Burial)
   Love Remixes • Mote Evolver, 2019 • Boomkat
3. Sun Electric - Episode VI
   Episodes • Detuned, 2026 • Bandcamp
4. Blawan - 993
   Nutrition • Ternesc, 2017 • Bandcamp
5. Jürgen Paape - So Weit Wie Noch Nie (Midnight Radio Edit)
   Total 3 • Kompakt, 2001 • Bandcamp
6. The Field - Reflecting Lights (Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith Remix)
   Reflecting Lights Remixe | Kompakt, 2016 | Bandcamp
7. Kakuhan - Kak-Juk
   KAK • Nakid, 2026 • Boomkat
8. Patche - Motorik (60% slower)
   Patche • Popop, 2023 • Bandcamp
9. Can - I Want More (500% slower + filtered)
   Flow Motion • Harvest/Mute, 1976 • Bandcamp
10. Babe Ruth - The Mexican (21% slower)
    First Base | Harvest, 1972 | More

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I’ll admit, I flew too close to the sun on this one. First off, the Concept series has become such a personal landmark that it’s hard to approach it objectively. Of the 32 songs across these records, I have 23 favorites, which would be a four-hour mix. Eventually I had to turn the process of selection into an exercise in subtraction until I was left with an hour of my favorite bits.

Second, I’ve never been good at matching beats. It’s hard and boring. And these songs are phenomenally difficult to mix, filled with analog drift and reversed stutters as if they were designed to ratfuck any crossfade.

Thomas Brinkmann’s variations make this even more challenging. He built a custom turntable with two tonearms that had separate outputs for the left and right channels. By splitting the stereo field across two needles in the same groove, unexpected rhythms and phase shifts emerged, creating what Brinkmann described this as "a little intervention and displacement of elements.”

There's a lot of displacement in tonight's tribute: hard cuts, truncated tracks, and rips of static that remind me of late nights in high school when I would futz with the tuner trying to catch a faint signal of the alien sounds from Deep Space Radio.

When I listen to Concept series today, I hear the wild sense of play that only emerges from routine and parameters; I think about the commitment to a regular cadence that teaches one to live with imperfect results. Most of all, these tracks succeed because they are a dialogue with the listener: they stake out a rigid framework so expectations can be fucked with. The offset of a snare becomes high drama. A glitched drum or an abrupt silence plays off what I expect to hear.

1. 96:01 01:00 
2. 96:01 02:00 VR
3. 96:05 09:00 
4. 96:05 10:00 
5. 96:07 13:00 
6. 96:08 16:00 
7. 96:11 21:00 VR
8. 96:12 23:00 
9. 96:12 24:00 VR

Richie Hawtin - Concept 1 96:12 | Bandcamp
Thomas Brinkmann - Concept 1 96 VR | Bandcamp

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A very special episode with Candy Chang—read the full post here.

Do you believe in god or any spiritual dimension to the universe?

“Yes. Watching Carl Sagan’s Cosmos was my first spiritual experience. It made me feel existentially connected to all of time, space, and life. That feeling pulled me out of despair and it was my first understanding of god: a widescreen kinship.”

1. Bertrand Belin - Choses Nouvelles
   Persona | Cinq 7, 2019
2. Füxa - Dirty D
   Dirty D | Rocket Girl, 2013 | Bandcamp
3. Damien Jurado & Richard Swift - Radioactivity
   Other People’s Songs Vol. 1 | Secretly Canadian, 2016 | Bandcamp
4. Cliff Martinez - Abscess
   The Knick Soundtrack | Milan, 2014
5. The Cure - Plainsong (Studio Rough Guide Vocal)
   Disintegration | Fiction Records, 1989 | Boomkat
6. Cliff Martinez - Son of Placenta
   The Knick Soundtrack | Milan, 2014
7. A Flock of Seagulls - I Ran (620% slower + filtered / 28% slower)
   A Flock of Seagulls | Jive, 1982
8. Peter Schilling - Major Tom (Völlig Losgelöst)
   Error in the System | Elektra, 1982
9. Belong - Perfect Life
   Common Era | Kranky, 2011 | Bandcamp
10. Brian Reitzell & RJ Manning Jr. - On the Subway
    Lost in Translation Soundtrack | Emperor Norton, 2003 
11. Aural Indifference - The Park
    The Sound of Indifference | Minimal Wave, 1981 | Bandcamp
12. Air - Au Fond du Rêve Doré (150% slower + filtered)
    Love 2 | Astralwerks, 2009

Also worth noting: this 40th episode of Midnight Radio is exactly 40:40. As always, synchronicities abound. Thank you for listening.

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Read the full post with notes on the lectio divina.

I'm writing this on a Vienna-bound airplane. A full moon shines over the Atlantic, which is roiling away down there in the dark, and I suppose I'm inside a piece of deadly hardware.

I've been keeping a simple journal where I try to write a sentence about my life each day even though I sometimes forget. But I'm hoping to remember in Vienna, where C. and I will visit the Venus of Willendorf, Bruegel's Tower of Babel, and Giuseppe Arcimboldo's 16th-century fever dreams.

I love flying at night, cocooned in a netherworld beyond space and time, and tonight we'll listen to the music that has been soundtracking this sensation. This hour-long installment kicks off with a synthesizer chorus from Richie Hawtin's 1993 debut as F.U.S.E. Then comes a soulful slab of dub techno that my friend Earl casually sent me the other day, which bleeds into a wonderfully fuzzy track from A New Line (Related)—the territory between cozy and spectral is tough to locate, but these two songs live in its downtown. Then we'll take a cold plunge into some deep winter chug with slow-motion glaciers from Monolake, cv313, and the Field (god, those drums at the 41:40 mark).

1. F.U.S.E. - Night Drive
   Dimension Intrusion | Plus 8, 1993 | Bandcamp
2. My Friend Earl - Snowblow
   2026 | Bandcamp
3. A New Line (Related) - Crewe Away
   Crewe Away | Sound in Silence, 2025 | Bandcamp
4. Monolake - Cyan (44% slower)
   Hong Kong | Chain Reaction, 1997 | Bandcamp
5. Tropic of Cancer - Dive (Wheel of the Law)
   The Sorrow Of Two Blooms | Blackest Ever Black, 2014 | Boomkat 
6. The Field - Leave It (31% slower)
   Yesterday and Today | Kompakt, 2009 | Bandcamp
7. cv313 - Beyond the Clouds Reprise II (19% slower)
   Beyond the Clouds (Reprised) | Echospace [Detroit], 2011 | Bandcamp

We return to land with a brief pitched-down snippet of Duran Duran's "Ordinary World" because I really enjoyed The Bone Temple.

A quick shout-out to M for introducing me to Critchley, the lectio divina, and many other new flows of intensity. And a tremendous thank you to everybody who has been testing Spite and taking time to send such helpful feedback. I'm genuinely shocked and delighted by the interest in this grouchy mp3 player—there are 38 beta testers now (!) and it will be available in Apple's app store by the end of the week.

Thank you for listening.

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Mike Doyle is here with us tonight to inaugurate the First Very Special Guest Episode of Midnight Radio.

“Hi, I’m Mike. I’ve been a culture enthusiast my whole life. Obsessed with learning and sharing, my dream job was to be a magazine editor. I DJ’d my junior high dances and was editor of my high school newspaper, which led to co-founding the DJ groups Dorkwave and Dethlab, and the blog Burnlab, and contributing to design sites Core77 and Archinect when the internet was exciting. I’m also an exhibit designer, designed albums for Solvent and Matthew Dear for Ghostly International, and produced music events in Detroit because nobody else would fly artists like MOTOR and Vitalic at the time.

At the Godspeed You! Black Emperor show in Detroit recently, James asked if I’d like to do a guest mix for Midnight Radio. I was thrilled, but wanted it to be collaborative: I’d submit a playlist and James would do his editing magic. And here we are.”

And here’s the question I will ask all Midnight Radio guests: Do you believe in god or any spiritual dimension to the universe? Please describe your metaphysics in 150 words or less.

To which Mike replied, “Do I believe in God? No. Not the Christian god that’s watching you masturbate. I am fascinated by the invisible forces of the universe. If I could choose a superpower, it would be to see, hear, and feel all the waves outside the visible and audible spectrums.”

With new waves in mind, here are some songs he loves.

1. Liars - No. 1 Against the Rush
   WIXIW | Mute, 2012 | Bandcamp
2. Cold Cave - Double Lives in Single Beds
   Love Comes Close | Heartworm Press, 2009 | Bandcamp
3. Telefon Tel Aviv - You are the Worst Thing in the World
   Immolate Yourself | BPitch Control, 2009 | Bandcamp
4. The Horrors - Sea Within a Sea
   Primary Colours | XL Recordings, 2009
5. ERAAS - Fang
   ERAAS | Felte, 2012 | Bandcamp 
6. Adult. - Tonight We Fall
   The Way Things Fall | Ghostly International, 2013 | Bandcamp
7. A Place to Bury Strangers - Love Reaches Out (GIFT/Reality Delay Mixes)
   See Through You Rerealized | 2023 | Bandcamp

This mix has become an ideal companion for cold January night drives and early morning runs. I’m so glad Mike reminded me of ERAAS, who produced some of the sleekest yet underrated synthpop I’ve heard. He selected “Briar Path” but I made an eleventh-hour switch to “Fang” because it’s a personal favorite and I wanted to loop its drums.

Also swapped in a couple of remixes that transform "Love Reaches Out" into an M83-style anthem that delivers some good advice for surviving what looks to be another dreadful year: Love reaches out to everyone, not as much as it'd like to, but you gotta keep the dream alive. 

There’s something very satisfying to me about the fact that this mix is exactly 33 minutes and 33 seconds.

Thank you for listening.

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Three songs that possess the righteously serene energy I fantasize about cultivating in the first minutes of a new year. Then the actual year starts happening. But playing this mix each morning should keep the dream alive. Read the full post.

1. Kali Malone - Spectacle of Ritual
   The Sacrificial Code | Ideal Recordings, 2019 | Bandcamp
2. Abul Mogard - Desires Are Reminiscences By Now
   The Sky Had Vanished | Ecstatic, 2015 | Bandcamp
3. Autechre - VLetrmx21 (65% slower)
   Garbage | Warp, 1995 | Bandcamp

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