Stillness and radical presence: Mercurial Cycles mix from Hüma Utku

Hüma Utku’s mixes and productions both delve into marginalia and mysteries of the unknown, the fragile gestures in the shadows. And it seems that’s what we need right now.

That time NIN made a perfect ambient industrial soundtrack for Quake

The year was 1996. And Trent Reznor and NIN loved id Software so much that they made a deep, dark, legendary soundtrack for the breakthrough game Quake, for no fee — just for “friendship.” At a time when creativity can feel under attack, and the real world is starting to seem a little, uh, Quake-like, […]

Peter Kirn - March 18, 2026

Get dark and strange with this free GodHatesGodRecords compilation

Out of Belgium, there’s a murky, forbidding free underground netlabel that has survived from another era. It’s aggressively anti-algorithmic, soul-chillingly dark in its aesthetics, and committed to free culture and commons like if social media and AI never happened. And it’s perfect for a frozen European night, wherever you might be.

Peter Kirn - January 10, 2026