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Music

Inside the Pharmaceutical Fantasy of Acéphale's Newest Artist Null

We spoke to the Melbourne producer and LA design firm behind the internet's best neuron-fizzling website.

This week, Melbourne producer Null (a.k.a. Hayden Quinn) dropped his debut EP Almost on Acéphale and Siberia Records. Instead of sharing his old-school rave and hardcore-inspired tracks on SoundCloud or Spotify (yawn), he collaborated with LA design firm Oval-X to create one of the freshest things on the internet: this neuron-fizzling interactive website straight out of an imaginary druggie future. Imagine a world where the War on Drugs is history, designer psychedelics are sold at your local drug store, and Apple just announced a partnership with Erowid. That's the kind of space that Null's conceptual project would fit right into. Drug store lingo and DMT aesthetics compliment a music player where you can listen to the seven-track EP.

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This week, Melbourne producer Null (a.k.a. Hayden Quinn) dropped his debut EP Almost on Acéphale and Siberia Records. Instead of sharing his old-school rave and hardcore-inspired tracks on SoundCloud or Spotify (yawn), he collaborated with LA design firm Oval-X to create one of the freshest things on the internet: this neuron-fizzling interactive website straight out of an imaginary druggie future. Imagine a world where the War on Drugs is history, designer psychedelics are sold at your local drug store, and Apple just announced a partnership with Erowid. That's the kind of space that Null's conceptual project would fit right into. Drug store lingo and DMT aesthetics compliment a music player where you can listen to the seven-track EP.

Turns out the inspiration for the website was fittingly trippy. Cubex Godhand, a (superbly-named) designer from Oval-X, tells us that he drew from "visions after watching an octopus transition from its camouflage on an iPhone in one hand, and holding a box of Midol in the other." (Makes sense, makes sense.) "It's really hard to get people to absorb new releases from unknown artists," admits Null. "Both in aesthetic and practice, [the website] allows people to take in the project how it was intended, more than any SoundCloud link ever could."

"I've been making 90s-inspired electronica for years in the hope that one day I'd find someone who would want to revisit the genre in an honest way with me," he adds. "I can only assume that Josh and Travis at Oval-X have synesthesia because everything about the [website] is completely symbiotic with the audio."

Check out Null's video for "Luv U, Luv Me" (also made with Oval-X) below, and look out for his debut album at the end of this year.

Null is on Facebook // Twitter // SoundCloud

Follow Michelle Lhooq on Twitter

Turns out the inspiration for the website was fittingly trippy. Cubex Godhand, a (superbly-named) designer from Oval-X, tells us that he drew from "visions after watching an octopus transition from its camouflage on an iPhone in one hand, and holding a box of Midol in the other." (Makes sense, makes sense.) "It's really hard to get people to absorb new releases from unknown artists," admits Null. "Both in aesthetic and practice, [the website] allows people to take in the project how it was intended, more than any SoundCloud link ever could."

"I've been making 90s-inspired electronica for years in the hope that one day I'd find someone who would want to revisit the genre in an honest way with me," he adds. "I can only assume that Josh and Travis at Oval-X have synesthesia because everything about the [website] is completely symbiotic with the audio."

Check out Null's video for "Luv U, Luv Me" (also made with Oval-X) below, and look out for his debut album at the end of this year.

Null is on Facebook // Twitter // SoundCloud

Follow Michelle Lhooq on Twitter