James Reeves

A soundtrack for living in the grey with Special Guest @debcha.bsky.social. www.jamesreeves.co/456am/ Features hits from Low, Alex Smoke, Jesus and Mary Chain, Massive Attack vs Mad Professor, James Ellis Ford, Radiohead, Elisapie, Jóhann Jóhannsson, David Sylvian, and some mangled Skinny Puppy.

i loved collaborating with @jamesreeves.co on this mix — I asked him to estrange and defamiliarize these old familiar faves and boy, he delivered. Come for the spectral snippets of the National and Weakerthans, stay for the strung-out Skinny Puppy.

Goddamn the new Civilistjävel! is glorious. I've had this track on repeat for an hour and I still want to hear it again. Gives me the same shiver as when I first heard Pole.

Museums should have more oil paintings of dinosaurs.

“The royal ease” of Guanyin, bodhisattva of compassion and “perceiver of the world’s cries.”

Here I am, writing Very Important Things in the delightfully strange atrium of a Philadelphia hotel. 📷 by @candychang.com

For over four thousand years, this alabaster man has been “walking forward in perpetual approach to his god.”

Empty thrones began to replace statues of gods.

James invited me to contribute to Midnight Radio but as I'm less nocturnal and more crepuscular, this mix is the feel of being awake before dawn as the days get shorter and colder. Includes my response to the official MR question: "do you believe in god or any spiritual dimension to the universe?"

Today I learned “decimate” means to kill every tenth man. It was a Roman punishment in which one out of every ten soldiers was randomly selected to be killed. Happy Monday, hope you had a great weekend, just following up, etc.

Another successful Middle Western Dream Club, featuring: 1) a man pulling his bottom lip over his head; 2) being attacked by a waterfall; 3) a shrouded prophet in a field whose words left the listener's eyes fully dilated; 4) suburban demons; and 5) a house where people grew extra fingers and limbs.

I'd say it's midnight somewhere but it isn't. Tokyo soon but can't wait.... www.jamesreeves.co/456am/

I guess Ethan Hawke was mad he wasn't ever invited to be a Very Special Midnight Radio Guest so he decided be a copycat. But that's okay because tonight's special guest will be much better than Ethan Hawke.

In other mixtape news, it was a happy surprise to hear my Carthage track pop up in Grant Aaron's plush installment for the Deep Breakfast Series. I'm even more excited about the song that appears at the 28-minute mark, which is flat-out gorgeous: "It's Always Late" by Rookas.

07:45 Oerlikon

jesus christ Pan’s Labyrinth was bleak. I think I prefer normal Labyrinth.

The three bleakest words I’ve ever heard are “dead facebook user”.

Stoics are afraid of their emotions.

I can’t remember how I found this album, and it’s a little pricey, but I love it to bits because it does exactly what it says on the tin: "lush harmonics propelled by meticulously crafted dub-style basslines, all wrapped in processed guitars."

But is it true that if you don’t close your eyes when you sneeze, your eyes will pop out?

I feel intensely that generative AI not only mugs the imagination at knifepoint, but it leaves the victim permanently injured.

Is Artificial Intelligence generative or a zero-sum game? Can a person have a deep relationship with their spouse *and* a chatbot? Does using it for creative work feed or rob the imagination? (I’m on the zero-sum side. It feels very either/or to me, but I’m not exactly sure why.)

“When you read the book after seeing the movie, you’re trying to get your freedom back.” — @martinessig.bsky.social

Strange that I can never operate screens on my dreams. Maybe it’s a blessing.

these mixes are getting better with each episode 😍 best served late at night

There’s a new episode of Fall of Civilizations! And man, it’s such a specific delight when @paulmmcooper.com starts telling the story of a society by saying “Earth’s surface is a thin crust of solid rock…” Tectonic plates are destiny.

The latest iteration of the Inspiration Station, featuring recent additions from Francis Bacon, Raqib Shaw, and two delightful collages from @wordkunst.bsky.social.

“This sounds like Michael Douglas on a Sunday afternoon,” she said.

Curious about the I Ching? @jamesreeves.co and I made a video about my favorite book and ritual: www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-b-...

It’s finally time to fire up our Minimal Wave tapes and celebrate the return of darkwave season.

Memory is an animal.

Last night I dreamed everyone was replacing their cellphones with birds because they could see better than our cameras, deliver messages, and didn’t tell us the news.

Given the fuckery we're up against, I think we're all doing pretty great.

Dreams as collage and vice versa + a very nice mention of Dream Club!

Watched "It Ends" last night and it genuinely frightened me in an existential soul-slippage kind of way.

Working on some auspicious shit with @candychang.com.

Last night our Middle Western Book Club completed our mission into @jeffvandermeer.bsky.social’s Southern Reach series. Thankfully, we had lots of cookies and ice cream onhand to fortify our discussion about the futility of clinging to the status quo in a time of flux. Acceptance is the answer.

Women Observing Stars Ōta Chōu, 1936 National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo