808 Day: free Roland e-Bjook, NTS Radio jams, animation

We could all use an 808 kick in our soul about now, so let’s get straight to the 808 Day goodness. Today’s a day to browse through Roland history with Bjooks, turn up NTS Radio, and immerse ourselves in a new animation featuring Mannie Fresh.

Download a book on Dutch electronic music history, Philips and beyond, free

Kees Tazelaar’s On the Threshold of Beauty is a wonderful plunge into the history of electronic music in the Netherlands, 1925-1965, including the Philips Pavilion and the World’s Fair, but a whole lot more. It’s free to download now — the perfect beach book if you’re a total nerd. (Welcome home.)

Peter Kirn - July 3, 2026

Trans-curated music, reading, watching from Manila’s thatelephantparty, more

Manila’s ELEPHANT (aka thatelephantparty) has a collection of curated culture that deserves echoing here. All that, and let’s also spotlight some meaningful music that you almost certainly haven’t heard.

Peter Kirn - March 31, 2025

Close-p of vintage TB-303 hardware showing "Computer-Controlled" logo and knobs. "Old Roland TB-303" by Alexandre Dulaunoy is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.

303 Day: the freaky CDM Megaroundup

Peter Kirn - March 3, 2025

Mood Machine: The rise of spotify and the cost of the perfect playlist - book cover by Liz Pelly showing Spotify-style thumbnails on a black background.

Mood Machine, Liz Pelly’s book on Spotify, will be a must-read

Peter Kirn - December 2, 2024

Connecting MLK’s death to Hip Hop, and reading on Black identity and sound

Peter Kirn - January 16, 2023

Ready to dive into Max’s Gen? New book focuses on sound generation and time

Peter Kirn - November 7, 2022

Traveler takes you on an hour-long Korg retrospective full of synth sounds

Peter Kirn - October 12, 2022

Trace the Black roots of disco, house, and techno in videos and reading – summer school is in

Peter Kirn - June 23, 2022