Night Clerk Radio: Haunted Music Reviews

It’s time to close out Boards of Canada month. Wow! Two whole episodes! In this episode, we’re digging into Inferno, the duo's first release in thirteen years. It’s an album that brings the cult and numerology mystique of Geogaddi into the clean, soundtrack-inspired aesthetic of Tomorrow’s Harvest. We get into how plunderphonics, nostalgia, and hauntology have shifted over the evolution of the ban...

Support Night Clerk Radio on Patreon Boards of Canada perfectly embody the themes we love to explore: plunderphonics, nostalgia, and hauntology. Despite this, we’ve never examined their work in detail. With their first album release in 13 years, we’re dedicating the month of June to a full retrospective. In this episode, we discuss their first four major releases, analyzing them as both listening...

Support Night Clerk Radio on Patreon It’s the end of the month, which means we’re squeezing in one last episode dedicated to May new music! As usual, we’ve got two great albums on deck. First, we dive into Empire of Light, the latest space ambient album from vaporwave legend 猫 シ Corp. Then, we check out Philosophie du Soi, an energetic jazz fusion EP from the new duo, PAON. Join us for all that...

Support Night Clerk Radio on Patreon Started as an IndieGoGo campaign in 2020, Nobody Here: The Story of Vaporwave, is an ambitious attempt to document and capture ephemeral history of vaporwave from its rise around 2010 to the early 2020s. After numerous production delays due to COVID, growing scope, and other production factors it’s finally out and available for everyone to see. We get into the...

Support Night Clerk Radio on Patreon Hey, do you know how many days are in April? Because Birk sure doesn’t! So, we’re putting the “night” in Night Clerk Radio with a special evening release. In this episode, it's time for some April new music! But first, we start with some of our most out-of-touch shout-outs ever! Specialty coffee subscriptions? Criterion Commentary Tracks? Get real! Don’t worry,...

Support Night Clerk Radio on Patreon Okay, the accelerated release schedule continues for another month! Time to cram 'em in! In this episode, we’re checking out a 2025 article covering “Cinematic Doom Jazz.” This curation effort from Philippe Blache for Igloo Magazine highlights and categorizes dozens of doom and dark jazz bands and ensembles from the past 20+ years. It features everything from e...

Support Night Clerk Radio on Patreon We’re getting back on schedule with a one-time only accelerated release cadence! Also, you gotta release March new music in March. Those are just the rules. I don’t make em. In this episode, we follow our traditional approach of having literally zero coordination leading to the selection of two very different albums. First up, we have a delightful ambient album...

Support Night Clerk Radio on Patreon While some may wax poetic about the ancient and noble art of fishing, they often overlook that it’s an activity that inspires some excellent games with incredible soundtracks. Well, in this episode, we haven’t forgotten! We’re talking about fishing games, their music, and their influence on vaporwave. We primarily focus on two plunderphonics albums from River M...

Support Night Clerk Radio on Patreon We've emerged from our winter slumber to share some new music. First, we’re listening to the latest collaboration from City Girl & Guided Tour, Mana Lake, which takes the listener on an evocative journey through house, lofi, and vaporwave. Then we’re checking out personalFX, the debut album from 𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛𝑜𝓃𝓁𝒾𝓃𝑒, a fantastic album that similarly tackles a range of...

Support Night Clerk Radio on Patreon In our last new music episode of 2025, we’re checking out some recent albums with a focus on experimental electronic music. First up, we have an evocative journey through supernatural and eerie memories inspired by horror video game OSTs. Then we’re diving into the latest from plunderphonics pioneer and veteran Oneohtrix Point Never, an album that offers a lush...

Support Night Clerk Radio on Patreon Okay class, settle down and bust out your textbooks because in this episode we’re digging into Utopian Scholastic. It's the aesthetic of optimistic encyclopedias, multimedia learning, and the sleek, educational graphics that promised a brighter, hyper-informed future. We'll explore how Utopian Scholastic, with its love of Dorling Kindersley and Encarta, shapes...

Support Night Clerk Radio on Patreon Wow, would you look at that? It’s an episode covering some new music, and within Birk’s local light cone, it still qualifies as a November release. After spending an absurd amount of time on a couple of shout outs we get into two great albums. First up is some vaporwave/drum and base from Pizza Hotline inspired by nostalgia for early 00s video game soundtracks....

Support Night Clerk Radio on Patreon Announcement! We were fortunate enough to be invited onto the “Hot Takes” vaporwave talk show. We sat down with YUNG SHIRO 白 and luxury noise for two hours of chatting about everything from Boards of Canada to horror tropes. Please check it out here: Episode 87: Night Clerk Radio . Anyway! Wow, another genre episode! It’s been a while. What will they talk abou...

Support Night Clerk Radio on Patreon Another episode already?! That's right! We're working to return to our regular release schedule. In this episode, we're diving into some new October music. As usual, we've got two albums: Ross stayed on theme for spooky month with a unique take on plunderphonics and dungeon synth from Magnum Innominandum, drawing inspiration from classic cosmic horror. Birk imm...

Support Night Clerk Radio on Patreon It’s a late start to the spooky season! We’re jumping right in with a handful of soundtracks from recent horror video games. We’re checking out the big meaty six hour journey that is the Silent Hill 2 (2024) soundtrack. Then we’re turning our attention to the soundtracks for Look Outside and CULTIC. We discuss the games, their soundtracks, and what we love abou...

Support Night Clerk Radio on Patreon In this episode, we're diving into some new September music. With summer coming to a close, it seems we were both inspired to explore some of our favorite comfort genres. For Birk, that's the hazy and nostalgic VIDEOFUNK, a unique blend of vaporwave, signalwave, and future funk from FIJI島の水. For Ross, it's the evocative and cinematic dark ambient of Leviatha...

Support Night Clerk Radio on Patreon In this episode, we dare to enter Ross’s cherished domain: the tabletop role-playing game! We’re checking out “First Quest,” a 1985 promotional cassette released by TSR UK. The cassette features a wide variety of tracks from an eclectic collection of artists. The end result is a fascinating assortment of electronic music that ranges from upbeat and poppy synths...

Support Night Clerk Radio on Patreon It’s time for our August new music episode. This time there’s no obvious overarching theme between our picks so no clever episode title, sorry! We’re starting off with Master Builder by Xeeland, an album that takes you on an evocative journey through the horrors of brutalist architecture. Then we’re heading off to Hawaii for The Molokai Compendium by Nmesh, a r...

Support Night Clerk Radio on Patreon In this episode, we’re finally breaking out the summer dungeon synth. But first we ask: what even is summer in music when freed from the burden of marketing and publicity? After that mild diversion, we chat about five dungeon synth albums that could, by some definition, evoke feelings appropriate for summer times. Whatever summer is to you we hope you join us a...

Support Night Clerk Radio on Patreon First of all, sorry for the hecked up timing of recent episode releases. Ross and I have both had family in town which makes sticking to our usual schedule a bit difficult. Things should be back to normal here shortly. Anyways! In this episode, Ross and I set out to find some new summer dungeon synth. That didn’t work out, so by complete chance Ross went with d...

Support Night Clerk Radio on Patreon In this episode, we’re exploring one of our favorite metagenres: haunted media about media that never existed. This time, we’re delving into Vermis, a strategy guide for a game that doesn’t exist. It’s a beautiful and evocative collection of art and worldbuilding from the artist Plastiboo. We also check out the accompanying dungeon synth album by Radagast, rele...

Support Night Clerk Radio on Patreon It’s time for June new music explorations and in this episode Ross and Birk have once again shown up with two very different albums. We’re discussing Suburbia After Dark, a compelling sample-laden darkwave journey, and Vistas, an upbeat love letter to Frutiger Aero and all the tech you love from the 00’s. Grab yourself a copy of these albums and join us! Birk S...

## Support TransOhio! In this episode, we’re back to checking out a bunch of great live and URL sets from Sanctuary 2025, a charity show for the TransOhio Emergency Fund organized by Nostalgia Lounge in March of 2025. We go through sets that cover everything from classic vaporwave, to house and techno, breakcore, and beyond. Join us on our musical journey through Sanctuary 2025! Artists! If we hav...

Support Night Clerk Radio on Patreon It’s time for us to gather around the Bandcamppole and celebrate the working artists of the world with our May new music episode. We’ve once again (completely unplanned!) have selected albums that represent both the comfort and the anxiety in vaporwave. First, we’re checking out the smooth and lush classic vaporwave of celadonDREAM Suite’s sophomore album. Then...

Support Night Clerk Radio on Patreon ## Support the TransOhio Emergency Fund In this episode, we’re starting our series covering as many IRL and URL sets as we can get our hands on from Sanctuary 2025. Sanctuary is a charity show put on by Nostalgia Lounge (run by Crystal Eternal) to raise money for the TransOhio Emergency Fund. It was a huge success and featured music from dozens of artists highl...