Brian Eno has had an Asteroid named after him.
On Monday night at the science festival Starmus V in Switzlerland, the ambient music pioneer was presented with the Stephen Hawking Medal for Science Communication.
As a "surprise accolade", however, Eno was also presented with a certificate to commemorate the renaming of 'Asteroid 81948 (2000 OM69)’ to ‘Brian Peter George St John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno’.
Legendary trance trio Above & Beyond have shared details for their forthcoming album, ‘Flow State’.
Veering away from the propulsive trance and anthemic pop that has defined their recent material such as the ‘Common Ground’ LP and their recent Anjunabeats mix LP, the trio’s new album will be exclusively comprised of ambient and neo-classical music, inspired by yoga and mindfulness.
German artist and composer Flug 8 will return to Ransom Note Records this Friday 26th April with the release of his ‘Hypnotische' LP.
Following a stunning LP, 'Leuchtkraft', on the label in 2017, the Frankfurt-based synthesist fuses elements of ambient, kosmische and minimal techno on this new eight-track offering. It finds him reflecting on the city’s electronic environment in the early 00’s, during which he spent much of his time on the hallowed dancefloor of Robert Johnson, observing as the city’s scene morphed around it.
Ever consistent London-based experimental label, ALTER, will release a new compilation ‘ALERT!’ on 19th April.
Following a superb recent release from recent DJ Mag interviewee Christoph de Babalon, and ahead of a new LP from UK metal outfit, Hey Colossus, the label has assembled 15 artists to contribute to the genre-defying LP.
Body-San will release his new EP, ‘Midnight’ via 100% Silk this Friday 15th February.
Known for his languid, dusty and emotive and take on house music, the Portland-based producer takes us on another woozy trip on this new 12”. Four original cuts of woozy, but awake beats make for a listening experience as quietly energising as a weekend coffee.
Breakthrough Irish producer and live act R.Kitt will be the next artist to feature in the Shock World Service podcast series.
The label, mix platform and occasional party was launched back in 2007 by London-based DJ Jon Averill with the intention of highlighting and sharing music that looked away from the dancefloor and more toward the abstract, experimental and ambient reaches of its DJs’ tastes.
Kelly Lee Owens doesn’t believe in compromise. As renowned for her interest in exploring spirituality and sound’s potential healing properties as she is for laying down dancefloor eviscerators either live or in a DJ set, she’s equally comfortable allying both these worlds – as highlighted by her transition from Björk to DJ Koze’s ‘XTC’ in the mix she has supplied for her DJ Mag Podcast.
Hey Kelly. How are you? 2018 was obviously a pretty massive year for you. What have been some highlights? What have you learned along the way?
“Hey! I'm well, thanks! About to embark on a holiday for the first time in a couple of years. The past few years have been intense. Yeah, so many highlights – Feeling chuffed that people keep connecting to the music, that it keeps rippling and that I keep getting wilder opportunities to explore presenting it...
Good club music, DJ sets that actually feel resonant and meaningful – all of that requires a real empathy and internal awareness from an artist. Would you agree? Do you ever feel as though your previous career as a nurse impacted the way you approached music?
Few artists submerge you in darkness in quite the same way as Christoph De Babalon. With engulfing ambience, depth-charge bass drones and hyperventilating breakcore and jungle beats, the Hamburg-raised, Berlin-based producer has, for over two decades now, etched an unmistakable sonic persona onto an increasingly greyscale planet.
Christoph de Babalon isn’t interested in being a spokesman for doom. He apologises more than once when conversation steers toward his dour mythology. He laughs off the idea that his music is anything more than a necessary personal pursuit, and he certainly doesn’t think the world had to hit this particularly low tide to properly appreciate the 15-minute drone dirge of ‘Opium’ or the convulsive percussion of ‘My Confession’.
Few contemporary ambient artists can capture melancholy quite like Ian William Craig. Using tape loops, electronics and organic instrumentation to accompany his distinctly gossamer-light and classically trained singing, the Vancouver composer stands among the likes of Grouper, Julianna Barwick and William Doyle as an artist for whom the human voice is an essential instrument in the ambient orchestra.
Hi Ian. How are you doing? How has 2018 been? What have been the most significant things to happen for you this year?
Your use of tape loops throughout your catalog has always invoked the poignancy and William Basinski’s ‘Disintegration Loops’ and the capturing of “real time” and distinctly momentary sounds. Was he a direct reference point when you started to compose the way you do now? Can you explain what drew you to tape initially?
Since the reissue of his 1997 cult LP ‘If You're Into It, I'm Out of It’ in January 2018, Hamburg’s Christoph de Babalon has been enjoying a long deserved critical resurgence.
Known for his engulfing fusions of dark ambient, drone, breakcore and jungle on labels like Digital Hardcore Recordings, de Babalon’s steady stream of releases over the past two decades has long been celebrated in underground spheres. In November this year, a collection of previously unreleased tracks from between 1993 and 1998 was released under the title ‘Exquisite Angst’ via A Colourful Storm.
