Occo Music Underworld: A Unique Sound Experience

Atomic Octopus is in no way, shape or form going to be a sound camp at Burning Man. There are no massive sound rigs. There aren’t even any tiny sound rigs. We do have a couple speakers to provide for a little music in our front-of-house space for guests to enjoy throughout the week. We’re also excited to feature some Occo Music Underworld (that is, music from the band Underworld) during the event.

There won’t be any DJ’s or live performers that we are aware of, but in an effort to curate a fun and wonderful atmosphere we have been working on a number of playlists and specially made mixes. And those playlists have, in turn, created another fun opportunity for art as we played around with generative tools to work on some cover art. Since that art won’t really be public-facing on the playa (it will live in the music player app on campmate devices), we figured that we would subsequently share some of those pieces here on the site.

What Is Underworld?

Underworld are an electronic group formed in Wales in the late 1980s who have managed to stay underneath the mainstream radar and power dance floors for decades. Their music ranges from downtempo and lush, atmospheric works to great big songs that get the whole space moving.

Playing with generative tools, we soon discovered that most AI models are only dimly aware of what Karl Hyde and Rick Smith looked like. We weren’t comfortable using someone else’s commercial photographs without permission, so for this cover we pivoted to using an old photo the band had published in a press release. It passes our test for fun and whimsical, and certainly does the job of being playlist cover art. Check out covers we did for retro and ska playlists, as well as the music of Garbage and Muse.