Back in high school, I became a night owl thanks to the Electrifying Mojo, a Detroit DJ whose eclectic sets featuring Parliament, Kraftwerk, and Cybotron helped kickstart techno music. Mojo was one of the first DJs to put Prince on the air, he interrupted songs with social commentary from “the mental machine,” and he always rocked the fifteen-minute version of “Flashlight.” I discovered Mojo near the tail of his career late one August night in ’92 and my musical landscape exploded as he turned me on to Al Green, A Tribe Called Quest, Devo, Joy Division, Stetsasonic, and Funkadelic. I’d stay up through the night, hunched over my tape player, rocking the pause/record switch and making mixtapes culled from Mojo’s show. The 120-minute Maxell cassettes were the best for this.

Twenty years later, I’m staying up late down here in New Orleans, sitting on the porch ’round midnight while I catch up on my reading and try to write another book. Lately I’ve been thinking about those deep summer nights with my little Panasonic radio back in Michigan, and so I’ve put together this sprawling tracklist of favorites.

• Little Red, 22, Tangle Eye & Hard Hair – “Early in the Morning” (Angola prison ca. 1947)
• Stars of the Lid – “Austin, TX Mental Hospital”
• The Cranes – “Beautiful Friend”
• Black Sabbath – “Planet Caravan”
• Serge Gainsbourg – “Melody”
• Bob Vaught & The Renegaids – “Surfin’ Tragedy”
• The Blue Hawaiians – “Martini Five Oh”
• Al Green – “Simply Beautiful”
• Irma Thomas – “Ruler of My Heart”
• Füxa – “Dreamlanding”
• Jeanette – “Oi Tu Voz”
• Parva – “Mosem-e Gol”
• Prince – “Purple Rain”
• Bohren & Der Club of Gore – “Street Tattoo”
• Vangelis – “Blade Runner Blues”
• Godspeed You! Black Emperor – “The Dead Flag Blues” Part I
• Mojave 3 – “My Life in Art”
• Godspeed You! Black Emperor – “The Dead Flag Blues” Part II
• Datacide – “Flashback Signal”
• Mississippi Fred McDowell – “Roll and Tumble”

Midnight on Dauphine

Late Night Megamix | 102 minutes | Download