The Tannhäuser Gate

I’ve come to believe that anything worthwhile rests on a knife’s edge, balanced by a paradox that I can only compare to the delicate act of falling asleep—because it’s only when I do not think about sleep that I can fall asleep.When I got sober eleven years ago, they told me to take it a day at a time, although this cliché comes with a silent, contradictory wish: a day at a time so I will never drink again and wreck my only life. I’ve also learned the hard way that the only way to avoid a panic attack is to not worry about having a panic attack. And if I do not want to squander this life as a cheap cynic or an insufferable zealot, doubt and faith must exist in equal measure. These paradoxes can probably be unwound all the way back to the Buddha’s claim that “non-practice is my practice, the attainment of non-attainment.” But I like to think of the rare zone between two opposing conditions as the Tannhäuser Gate.Enough philosophy. Onwards to tonight’s maximum-strength Blade Running mix. It opens with a sequence of neon-soaked synthesizers, then we’ll take a breather before ramping up to an end-of-days song that sounds like klieg lights sweeping across a fiery sky. As usual, this mix comes packaged with a heavy dose of reverb and some fractured ballads.Blanck Mass - ChernobylBlanck Mass • Rock Action Records, 2011 • MoreAlessandro Cortini - GiraForse • Important Music, 2013 • MoreM83 - On a White Lake, Near a Green MountainDead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts • Gooom, 2002 • MoreBlade Runner interludeKristoffer Lo - Front Row Gallows ViewThe Black Meat • Propellor Recordings, 2016 • MoreBremen - Entering Phase TwoBremen • Blackest Ever Black, 2014 • MoreThank you for listening. The request lines are open.The request lines are open.Enjoy life and get the full Midnight Radio experience delivered directly to your inbox ’round midnight on the 1st and 15th of each month.