When I traveled to Turkey, I had hoped to see Burj Al Babas, an abandoned residential development near Mudurnu. Distance kept me away, but the place has lingered in my imagination.

Built in 2014 by the Sarot Group, the project envisioned 732 identical castle-like chalets for wealthy tourists, all neatly arranged on a mountainside above a hot spring. But the financial crisis and political instability unraveled the dream. Sarot filed for bankruptcy in 2019, leaving behind a ghost town of ornate, empty shells… majestic yet lifeless.

A failed luxury suburb, undone by cultural and economic forces, felt like an apt grounding for this episode.

Playlist

All Tiny Animals
Isengrind
Golestân
NSB Archive

What!!!
Vibracathedral Orchestra
Wisdom Thunderbolt
VHF

Sonic Morning
Phew
Voice Hardcore
Mesh-Key Records

Refugees
Tarcar
Mince Glace - EP
Blackest Ever Black

Wg Care
Poppy H
Nothing Is Perfect, Everything Is Perfect
Poppy H

Sugar Krills
Cement Tea
Sugar Kills
3623771 Records DK

Unworthy Praise
Lila Tirando a Violeta
Unworthy Praise
LTAV

Snowflake
Cosmic Neighbourhood
Collages II
Kit Records

Silentium Aeternum
Sincerus
II
Independent

This Is Music, As It Was Expected
Tózé Ferreira
Música de Baixa Fidelidade
Holuzam

Little Deaths
blue heron holy ghost
Teressa
Candlepin Records

The Wind That Had Not Touched Land
Annie A
The Wind That Had Not Touched Land
A Colourful Storm

Incite
Zach Cooper
The Sentence
Styles Upon Styles