Hello AQI, my old friend, I’ve come to talk about you again. American musician Brian Foo, the Data Driven DJ, has collected three years worth of Beijing smog data and set it to samples from Nine Inch Nails, and it’s kind of awesome.
Talking to Fast Company, Foo explained, “I wanted to create an experience that gives listeners an emotional response and intuitive understanding of the levels of pollution Beijing residents are exposed to on a short- and long-term basis. As for the sounds of the song, I wanted to emulate the feeling of slowly being surrounded by a cloud of smog.”
The song uses 38 samples from the Nine Inch Nails track 32 Ghosts IV, using data collected from the US Embassy Beijing Air Quality Monitor. More details on the process and programming that went into creating the track can be found here.
NIN is always sure makes everything more awesome!