Midnight Radio

Notes on surviving the 21st century and a mixtape delivered ’round midnight on the 1st and 15th of the month.

  1. Star Demon

    Why do some encounters alter our perception while others leave no trace?

  2. The Studio of Gratifying Discourse

    Chanting and humming until language becomes a holy tone.

  3. Noon Radio

    I’ve had more conversations about the human soul in the past six months than the rest of my life combined.

  4. Neglected Utopian Energy

    I'm interested in my dreams because this is where I can hear myself think.

  5. Return of the Gods

    "I guess the real question is: Does God believe in Himself?"

  6. Conversations With the Drum

    Create routines so they can be abandoned.

  7. Bodies Without Organs

    Art, life, and death in a very special (and fun) episode with Candy Chang.

  8. Night Flight to Vienna

    Practicing the lectio divina with a deep winter chug.

  9. Darkly Euphoric

    On spite, lost futures, and the playlist as communion—with a Very Special Guest

  10. First Things

    Three songs that possess the righteously serene energy I fantasize about cultivating in the first minutes of a new year.

  11. Holiday Lullaby

    Robot love and the glory of reverb

  12. Slow Gold

    Egg foo young, tornados, suffering, and short-circuiting the algorithm.

  13. Absorb the Poison

    An ode to Michael Clayton and the giddy illusion of renewal before death.

  14. The Heart Keeps Time

    Notes on time and strangeness, plus an hour-long soundtrack for Grace Wang’s photography exhibition.

  15. Hallucination Soundtrack

    Revelations and mental rearrangements only seem to occur when I’m not paying attention.

  16. Autumn Chrome

    A chromatic megamix so glossy it’s nearly lacquered—plus notes on the Mariana Trench and unbearable weather.

  17. The Stellar Sphere

    Let’s focus on the new.

  18. Six Broken Dreams

    Twenty-three minutes of chatter that drifts in and out of focus, echoing and looping like dreams tend to do.

  19. Untitled Heat

    Hunting for freedom through repetition.

  20. Remembering Lake Superior

    You can feel the geography shift when you see all that big pine and cold water.

  21. Mirror Games

    Here I am, astral projecting in 1983 to bring you five sun-bleached slabs of summertime music.

  22. Ghosts and Gods

    At some point the screen became the world and now we’re haunting it.

  23. Escape from Death Prom

    The ghosts of old standards, summoned for whatever comes next.

  24. Desire Is a Demon

    There’s something within me that will never be satisfied or understood—and this is how it should be.

  25. Dreamland

    The first gods were probably born in dreams.

  26. Destroyer of Obstacles

    An offering of static and fire.

  27. Dead Trees Bloom Flowers

    Bad fortunes are tied to a rack while a Buddhist chant bleeds through my favorite song of the year.

  28. Exit the Tiger

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

  29. The Obsidian Turtle Governs the North

    Broadcasting from somewhere between the bells of a temple and the heat of a night market.

  30. The Red Curtain

    A tribute to David Lynch that roams through ruined ballads and slow-motion noir.

  31. Return to Death Prom

    Where the reverb is heavy and the souls are haunted.

  32. Slow Vessels

    I’m returning to my spiritual practice of slowing my favorite songs down to a crawl.

  33. Strange Shapes in the Night

    Dedicated to the great American tradition of speaking to the heavens through car-wreck calendars and junkyard rockets.

  34. Holy Ruins

    Some wobbly loops from T. Rex and Roxy Music, a static-ridden visitation from Nancy Sinatra, and other moments of holy imperfection.

  35. Professional Holiday Party

    Five joyous classics from Chicago, Detroit, and Berlin. Sing along: “If snow was black, I’d wear black shades and drive a black car.”

  36. The Heart Accumulates Microcracks

    A Very Kind Listener requested a soundtrack to accommodate a slowly breaking heart.

  37. Brutal Times

    Because true freedom is not thinking about the president every day.

  38. There Will Be No Armageddon

    As we teeter on the edge of several unpleasant possible futures, here are five of the most reassuring songs I know.

  39. Monochrome Candy

    A soundtrack for Candy Chang to paint to.

  40. Two Million Miles to Earth

    Embrace speed. Groove on distraction. Let my thoughts get garbled and strange. Find god in the liquid crystal glow.

  41. Five Early Autumn Classics

    Analog media is better for hauntings.

  42. The Tannhäuser Gate

    Anything worthwhile rests on a knife’s edge like the delicate art of falling asleep.

  43. Slow Machines

    Slowing down my favorite songs has become a spiritual practice.

  44. Night Drive

    I feel a bit better each day, even though the world feels a little more insane.

  45. Death Prom

    It’s tempting to classify Death Prom as mere nostalgia, but it is a complicated haunting.

  46. Heatwave

    Five songs that work best during a heatwave.