RIOT Journal Archives

Volume One of Ads That Changed Everything rewinds to the absurdist edge of advertising — a surreal mixtape of iconic TV commercials that broke rules and built culture. This is the weird that worked.

Wrapped in foil, bound in metal, banned worldwide — Madonna’s Sex wasn’t porn, it was provocation engineered as design. Thirty years on, it still burns.

Before glitch had a name, before electronic music carved its own mythology, the Spectrum 48K gave us frequencies that burned themselves into memory. 806 Hz and 1612 Hz weren’t designed as music — they were binary tones — yet they became the accidental soundtrack of anticipation, teaching us patience, wonder, and fear in equal measure.

Bitcoin was punk because it stood still. This piece asks: would you paint over a Basquiat — or perfect code? Sometimes the bravest act is to leave art alone.

Taste is the last rebellion. This is RIOT’s manifesto against the algorithm — a glitch-laced journey through curation, vinyl, AltSounds.TV and everything the feed forgot.

Some tracks shaped the world as we know it, becoming anthems that defined generations and movements. Others, buried in the dust of forgotten vinyl, remain hidden treasures waiting to be rediscovered. Together, they form a mosaic of sound—each note and lyric a piece of the puzzle that unlocks the story of music’s past. And within these echoes lie the keys to shaping its future, inspiring the next wave of creators and listeners alike. Sampling came from necessity. In New York City’s South Bronx of the 1970s, where money was tight and instruments were few, DJs and artists turned to the records they had. They found gold in the grooves—drum breaks, basslines, melodies that spoke louder than their surroundings. A culture was born not from stealing but from survival. And with it, a new artThe soul of creativity—art is the foundation of visual storytelling, shaping the way brands, campaigns, and experiences connect with audiences. form: hip-hop. One of the earliest pioneers, DJ Grandmaster Flash, would mark his records with crayons to identify the perfect “breaks”—those magical seconds of rhythm that could keep a crowd moving. This technique gave birth to breakbeat DJing, a cornerstone of hip-hop’s rise. Around the same time, […]

Discover the raw artistry of Ren's 'Sick Boi' in our latest RIOT journal entry. Dive into the world of audio tape revival and experience how this Welsh rapper's personal narrative is driving a resurgence of musical tangibility.