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 m

The request lines are open.

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