In the sound of Wukir Suryadi’s kentongan, a world warning

From Indonesia to the planet, Wukir Suryadi sends a distress call in insistent strikes against his hand-built kentongan instrument. If you want an answer to what music we should be making in this moment, perhaps what you need is Titir — a warning.

Shelâl by Odiv from south Iran opens a portal to local ghosts

Odiv, a young composer from Ahvaz, communes in Shelâl with deeply felt darkness. It’s haunted not as a fetish, not as the pastiche musical surplus equivalent of a costume shop, as piles up in so much “dark” music. But it’s a horror that’s movingly personal. Maybe it’s time for tea and conversation with all our demons and ghosts. Out now on Zabte Sote.

Peter Kirn - October 27, 2025

Boards of Canada played in lightbulbs: restored 1959 PDP-1 performance

This is truly haunting — the sound of a vintage machine’s lightbulbs hooked up to audio inputs, proving it can be more Boards of Canada than the actual Boards of Canada. Even the sound of loading up the punch cards and flipping the switches is oddly soothing. And more rabbit holes await.

Peter Kirn - October 13, 2025