This will be the follow up to her acclaimed debut in 2018, ‘Oil of Every Pearl’s Un-Insides’ and according to her family was close to completion when SOPHIE passed away in 2021 and has been completed by the Scottish artist’s family and close friends and close collaborators such as her studio manager and co-producer Benny Long. The first preview of the project was released on the 24th of June and is titled ‘Reason Why’, and it features Kim Petras and BC Kingdom and was produced by Benny Long.

In a statement SOPHIE’s family has said that “When we, Sophie’s family, took our first steps towards bringing this project to fruition we contacted the dear friends with whom she envisioned the album. We wrote, “We have been finding comfort in the music Sophie left us, it is a gift that we truly cherish as we try to find a way forward, with Sophie forever at the centre of our worlds.”

They continued telling us that “Sophie didn’t often speak publicly of her private life, preferring to put everything she wanted to articulate in her music. It feels only right to share with the world the music she hoped to release, in the belief that we can all connect with her in this, the form she loved most.”

They also said that “This album has always told the story of Sophie’s musical journey, a cacophony of skill and creative vision eclipsing time and genre.” and that this work emphasises “contradictions of sound and material, Sophie’s work supersedes the pure aural to create the dimension she dreamed of.”

They concluded that “Sophie gave all of herself to her music. It’s here that she can always be found.”

A message from SOPHIE’s family. pic.twitter.com/j1N0PHH9F4

— MSMSMSM_FOREVER (@msmsmsm_forever) June 24, 2024

SOPHIE was 34 when she died in a tragic accident when she fell from a hotel rooftop in Athens, Greece in January 2021.

Born in Glasgow, SOPHIE initially rose to prominence as a producer as part of the pop production team PC Music. She worked with superstars including Madonna, Diplo, Petras and Charli XCX. She found her own audience with her debut single ‘Nothing More to Say’, which she released in 2013 and followed up with ‘Bipp’ and ‘Lemonade’. She released her debut album, ‘Oil of Every Pearl’s Un-insides’ to critical acclaim in 2018 and this saw her nominated for the Grammy for best dance/electronic album. As well as this she has credits as a writer and producer in various hits, including Madonna’s ‘Bitch’ and Charli XCX’s ‘Vroom Vroom’. ‘So I’ from Charli XCX’s latest album ‘Brat’ was dedicated to the Scottish producer and how XCX saw SOPHIE as a guiding light

The incomparable Aphex Twin closing Field Day 2023 with mind-bending visuals from @weirdcoretv.

Thank you to everyone who made this year’s festival one for the history books.

Until next year pic.twitter.com/lyvWA6ygRh

— Field Day (@fielddaylondon) August 20, 2023

Charli XCX took to social media to post a one sentence response to Aphex Twin’s use of her face, tweeting, “i’ve officially made it.” And Charli XCX was not the only one included in Aphex Twin’s mesmerising visual display, with late producer SOPHIE, Dua Lipa and Stormzy all used in a similar fashion.

i’ve officially made it. https://t.co/9uuQQeWSa8 — Charli (@charli_xcx) August 20, 2023

Aphex Twin, whose real name is Richard D James, closed out London’s Field Day-as part of the All Points East Festival-in Victoria Park, East London on Saturday night. With a set that lasted an hour and a half, the British DJ hypnotised the crowd with his catalogue of electronic hits that included a staggering 39 song setlist.

Often regarded as one of the most influential artists on the electronic scene, Aphex Twin is well known for his mind-bending visual displays that add a surreal yet fascinating glamour to his live performances. For Field Day the artist continued his flair for visual extravagance, morphing his face onto notable figures in British culture.

THIS WEEKEND.
FIELD DAY, LONDON, UK.

KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE MERCH DESK. pic.twitter.com/dHdCmkC3pO

— Aphex Twin (@AphexTwin) August 18, 2023

It is little wonder why Charli XCX felt flattered at the use of her face, as the pop artist joined the likes of the England football team, the King and Aphex Twin’s fellow festival headliner, Stormzy among others-all having their faces manipulated to match the DJ’s. With the crowd delighted by the display, the performance is sure to live long in the memory for those who were in attendance.

Raised in Cornwall, Aphex Twin came to international prominence with hit singles “Windowlicker” and “Come To Daddy”-both of which reached the top 40. In 2014, the DJ won a Grammy Award for best dance/electronic album with his sixth studio effort, Syro . Last week, Aphex Twin released a new augmented reality app called YXBoZXh0d2lu. When decrypted, the encoded title translates to ‘aphextwin’ and features a collection of landscapes with a soundtrack sampled from the artist’s latest EP Blackbox Life Recorder 21f/In A Room 7 F760.


For Charli XCX, the artist is enjoying a prolific and busy period, having just appeared on Addison Rae’s new single, 2 Die 4 and released a new video for “Speed Drive” which featured in the new Barbie film. Along with these releases, Charli XCX also co-composed the soundtrack for the upcoming comedy film, Bottoms.

This tour supports Glass’ debut album, PREY//IV. Her music involves essences of noise-pop, jagged electro shapes, and rubbery rhythms bouncing under gleaming synths. Glass’ personal mission under PREY//IV will be sharing her vital music with anyone with whom it will provide a necessary refuge.

Her debut album consists of singular and electrifying elements of raw emotion that are undeniably hers, which indicates a result of a life lived wielding the necessary sharp objects to survive the awakening of trauma and abuse. Producer and musician, Jupiter io and Glass collaborated together on all the song processes in the album. I get messages from people all the time about what’s happened to me, and there’s always this cliché of the victim overcoming and becoming the survivor. It’s one-dimensional. Idealistic endings don’t represent reality. There are lots of different ways that people live their lives, and mine is one of them.” Glass concludes.

During the time between Glass’ self-titled 2017 EP and PREY//IV, the singer dedicated her time to the continuation of the healing process following the abusive treatment that was forced upon her and survived as one-half of Crystal Castles, a now-defunct electro-punk group. Glass was best known as lead singer in the band. The release of her self-titled album showcased her sharp, often political lyrics and her intense industrial-inspired sound.

Upon those four years of developing the concept of PREY//IV, Glass and her partner Jupiter io worked on writing and recording the album from their basement. The album title itself, not only describes Glass’ own personal experiences but the constant issues women statistically face in society on a regular basis. Her song in the album, “Baby Teeth” addresses turning the abuse and violence based on one’s inward experience. Her main purpose for this album provides and encourages healing to those who relate to her experience.

Pitchfork describes the movement of her sound with the interaction of the dancefloor in “Baby Teeth,” evoking the “dark thump” of Lady Gaga’s “Poker Face” and “Pinned Beneath Limbs” giving a SOPHIE-esque deep cut via the industrial punk’s tremor of a Posh Isolation record.

Traumabond UK Leg Tour Dates:

04/26/2023 – Belgrave Music Hall – Leeds, UK

04/28 – Stag & Dagger – Edinburgh, UK

04/30 – Stag & Dagger – Glasgow, UK

05/02 – Concorde2 – Brighton, UK

05/03 – Moth Club – London, UK

05/04 – The White Hotel – Manchester, UK

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A post shared by A. G. Cook (@agcook404)

He added a link to a full message he wrote in which he shares: “She was laser-focused and exceptionally intelligent, but also sensitive and perceptive. It didn’t matter whether we were talking about people or relationships or materials or music – she approached every topic with the love, care and intensity of someone who has truly lived.”

https://t.co/hMpLy5zurb

— A. G. Cook (@agcook404) April 25, 2021

Two of them have worked together since 2012. In the note A.G. Cook posted memories of their first meeting: “I first met Sophie on October 13th, 2012 – an unlikely meeting before BIPP and before PC Music, both of which would materialise the following June. I’d in fact stumbled on a demo of BIPP on Sophie’s soundcloud earlier that summer, and immediately emailed her elusive MSMSMSM.COM address”. He continued: “I couldn’t believe that there was someone out there, let alone someone in London, with such a strong vision and almost no regard for the walls between pop and experimental art.”

The producer shared interesting stories about their collaboration, travels and linking up with other musicians like Charli XCX. “For me, Charli was the first artist whose voice and presence could actually sit over a full-blown SOPHIE instrumental intact, and to this day there are still many amazing SOPHIE produced songs where the artist is partially subsumed by the dazzling sounds that their voice has to compete with” – he explains.  

Charli XCX also posted a touching note on her Twitter a few days after Sophie’s death. Charli and Sophie worked together back in 2015 on ‘Vroom Vroom’.

A.G. Cook finished the note with: “It’s indescribable, to have lost a friend who was so caring and so real, and whose presence was a constant affirmation of life itself. And it makes me feel just like we never said…”

Scottish musician and producer Sophie Xeon died earlier this year at age 34 in an accident in Athens.  She was “a pioneer of a new sound, one of the most influential artists in the last decade. Not only for ingenious production and creativity but also for the message and visibility that was achieved. An icon of liberation” – we can read in The Guardian. Full story about it you can read in MXDWN earlier articles here.

Meanwhile A.G. Cook’s debut album ‘Apple’ has been released in September last year and its available here.

pic.twitter.com/8hZMkTzJ2t

— Transgressive (@transgressiveHQ) January 30, 2021

The Glasgow-born performer burst onto the scene in 2013 with compilation album Product which would spawn nine singles over the following two years; notably Bipp (2013) and Lemonade (2014). At the same time, Sophie was forging a reputation for their formidable songwriting and production work. In 2015 they had a brush with bona fide pop royalty when the Scot collaborated with Madonna, Nicki Minaj and Diplo on Bitch I’m Madonna, which topped the Billboard US Dance chart. Later in the same year they linked up with Charli XCX for the first time on the Essex-singer’s avant-pop EP Vroom Vroom. XCX would go on to enlist Sophie’s services as a producer and co-writer on a raft of subsequent singles, including After The Afterparty (2016); Out Of My Head (2017); No Angel (2018); and Girls Night Out (2018).

Sophie would re-enter the spotlight in their own right in 2018 with a statement debut studio album, Oil of Every Pearl’s Un-Insides. The LP, which traversed the disciplines of pop, electronica and house – was nominated for a Grammy Award in the Best Dance/Electronic Album category and garnered widespread critical acclaim. NME hailed the record for “Crossing boundaries of pop music and chasing transcendence, Sophie achieves the rare feat of making abstract, difficult electronic music that hits you straight in the heart.” The defiant lead single from the album, It’s Okay to Cry, saw Sophie appear on camera for the first time.

A host of artists paid glowing tributes to the performer as news of their death filtered through this morning. Disco-pop guitar hero Nile Rodgers described Sophie, who featured on the line-up for the Chic and Sister Sledge icon’s Meltdown Festival in London in 2019, as “innovative, dynamic and warm.” Elsewhere French synth-pop merchant Christine and The Queens tweeted that “Sophie was a stellar producer, a visionary, a reference. She rebelled against the narrow, normative society by being an absolute triumph, both as an artist and as a woman. I can’t believe she is gone. We need to honor and respect her memory and legacy. Cherish the pioneers.”

#RestInPower SOPHIE! You were one of the most innovative, dynamic, and warm persons I had the pleasure of working with at 2019 ⁦@southbankcentre⁩ pic.twitter.com/uzsv0EAWxx

— Nile Rodgers (@nilerodgers) January 30, 2021

Cheltenham-born singer FKA Twigs also took to Twitter to pay tribute Sophie, who she called “a star of our generation“, while Lucid singer Roma Sawayama described the late performer as “an icon and a visionary“, adding that “the world and our community has lost a beautiful soul.” Canadian musician and producer Peaches also added her condolences on Twitter, saying “I’m heartbroken. Thank you Sophie Rest In Power! You will always be remembered as a true  game changer, powerful presence and an incredibly original producer ! Your music and production brought me so much joy!“

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Hi angels!! @sophie_msmsmsm will be live-streaming her exclusive HEAV3N mix today at 1PM (pst) on her @youtube !! Ty 4 everyone who has been patient!! can’t wait 4 u 2 hear!! (Link in bio)

A post shared by ʚ HEAV3N ɞ (@shopheav3n) on Jul 9, 2020 at 11:07am PDT

The event aimed to raise money for people from the black trans and queer femme communities, but before the broadcast could even start it was banned by Twitch, for reasons that are still currently unknown. It took a few days for Heav3n to regroup, but fortunately for us SOPHIE was able to take to the airwaves last night, with the set streaming jointly on her Twitch and YouTube channels. Both the YouTube and Twitch uploads encouraged viewers to donate to the Black Trans Lives Matter Youth Fund, Marsha P. Johnson Institute, NAACP and Black Cultural Archives.  

Our twitch ban is lifted!! ^.^ — HEAV3N (@heav3nparty) July 8, 2020

Since the unanimous acclaim for her 2018 debut album Oil of Every Pearls Un-Insides, the anticipation surrounding what the Scottish producer does next has been steadily mounting. It’s safe to say “HEAV3N SUSPENDED” (the tongue-in-cheek title of her delayed Heav3n set) did not disappoint. Spaced out arpeggiated synths cranked the mix into motion, before breaking into robotically unflinchingly techno overlain with sexually explicit spoken phrases delivered by fellow Brit Shygirl, with whom SOPHIE made a guest appearance on Arca’s recent album KiCK i. Watch the full set with the visuals below.

The woman is of course a proxy for Arca herself, though it’s important to note that being a trans woman means the insult – which deliberately uses a masculine word – has cruelly transphobic implications. It’s a testament to the Venezuelan producer that she not only withstands the attack, but belittles her abusers by wearing their slur as a badge of honour. 

First made available to stream digitally on the 17th, NME reported that Arca considered “Mequetrefe” to be a manifesto in “the tenderness behind expressing who you are without shame, and the confidence and bravery it requires”. As with previous singles “Time” and “Nonbinary”, the song has now received visual treatment with a video co-directed by Arca and her partner Carlos Sáez. 

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the Mequetrefe video is out now! the journey of making of this video with @carlossaez1 and @wifiovermybody has been one of the most alchemical transformative processes I’ve ever experienced making a video. Thank you to both of you for your vision, patience, boldness, and sensitivity! To all of you who watch it, please let us know if you enjoy the video :] <3 together we did our best to lovingly, and with care, conceive and produce the video over the course of lockdown, in times when creating sometimes felt like a leap of faith! so it has been a great pleasure and honor to be a part of this collaboration , I love the video so much! I hope you have fun watching it! In virtue of the evemorphing, shifting and ripping of selfstates in constant permutation in transition toward the unknown nurturing a faith love as a light in the face of change. <3 ya esta aqui el video de Mequetrefe ! el proceso de crear este video con @carlossaez1 y @wifiovermybody has sido de las experiencias mas alquímicas y transormativas q he vivido en crear un music video. Gracias a uds. dos por su visión, su paciencia, sus ganas de echarle pichón y por tener tanta sensibilidad. A todxs uds. q lo vean, avísanos si te gusta el video! <3 trabajamos juntxs con mucho esmero y cariño para concebir y producir el video durante la cuarantena para seguir nuestro instinto de crear algo, incluso en aquellos momentos de mayor incertidumbre, y es un placer y un honor se parte de esta colaboración, me encanta taaaaanto el video ! Gracias <3 En virtud de la transmutación y la mutación, el misterio de lo desconocido, en transición constante, nutriendo la fe en el amor como una luz en virtud del cambio. <3

A post shared by Doña Arca (@arca1000000) on Jun 25, 2020 at 3:34pm PDT

Dreamt up and filmed by the two of them whilst isolating together, Arca and Sáez approached the Shanghai-based animator Kynan Puru Watt who fed close to 10,000 frames of Arca into a computer program to create the shifting, mutating face-to-face shots that make up the video. In an Instagram that was posted today, she called the production of the video “one of the most alchemical transformative processes I’ve ever experienced”, thanking the “vision, patience, boldness, and sensitivity” of her two collaborators.

Born in Caracas 31 years ago as Alejandro Ghersi, transition has been a recurring motif in Arca’s life. Moving from Connecticut back to Caracas during her childhood, the Venezuelan began to make a name for herself by producing avant-garde electropop from her bedroom, before returning to the US to study at the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music at NYU. As her following grew, she gained high-profile production credits on Kanye West’s wildly experimental Yeezus album, as well as several early FKA twigs EPs. In 2014 she moved to Dalston in East London where she has since lived, and turned more heads by producing three of the songs on FKA twigs’ debut album, as well as much of the programming for Björk’s Vulnicura (who provides vocals on the KiCK i track “Afterwards”). In 2018, Arca came out as a trans woman, and has since been known privately by the feminine form of her name ‘Alejandra’.

KiCK i will be Arca’s first new album since her 2017 self-titled project, though earlier this month she released the hour long single “@@@@@” as well as the charity single “unconditional” with another guest on her new album, Shygirl. KiCK i is available to stream and download now, with a vinyl release coming next month via XL Recordings. Watch the video for “Mequetrefe” below:

The Chic legend, Nile Rodgers, will take over the prestigious venue with a hand-picked bill between for the festivals 26th edition. He will be following in the footsteps of The Cure’s Robert Smith, David Bowie, and M.I.A. As well as a headline performance from Nile Rodgers himself, the line-up also features an electric mix of artists including Eurythmics Songbook, Despacio, Anitta, Thundercat, and Songhoy Blues.

The 2019 Grammy nominations have seen a strong showing for female and hip-hop artists, which suggest a renewed focus on diversity – but it’s a mediocre year for British acts. The 2019 Grammy nominations sees Jorja Smith and Dua Lipa, among a handful of others, flying the flag for Britain, with both women being nominated for best new artist.

Speaking to Billboard about her nominations, Lipa said: “It’s the biggest nomination you could get. So many artists I’ve looked up to my whole life have been nominated, it’s such a thrill to me. And being from Kosovo and seeing how much it means to people back home is crazy. It means a lot to me as well. I feel like I’m representing myself but also the U.K. and Kosovo too. It’s a very proud moment for me.

“I feel like the industry has been dominated by men for such a long time. To wake up and be nominated in the best new artist category, where every artist except for two [Luke Combs and Greta Van Fleet] is a woman, that’s a good feeling. I’m so proud of all the girls, because I do feel like we need to work a bit harder, and that’s not taking the merits away from any male artist — I know how demanding this job can be. I just feel really grateful to be nominated alongside so many talented women I admire, and some I even call my friends. All I want to do is do my job to the best of my ability. I’m so grateful for this opportunity, and I want to make sure people feel like they made the right choice for nominating me for these categories.”

Along with Jorja Smith and Dua Lipa, there is R&B newcomer Ella Mai, who has found greater success in the US than the UK. Rising star, Mai – who is also a nominee for the BBC Sound of 2019, received two nominations, song of the year and best R&B song, for her breakthrough single ‘Boo’d Up’.

Speaking to ABC Radio about the nominations, Mai said: “I’m just super, super grateful. The Grammys is something that, as any musician or artist, we look up to it from when we’re little and we dream of being nominated. So I’m just so grateful and I’ve had an amazing year, so this is like the cherry on top. I don’t think it’s actually hit me yet. It will. I know it will sometime soon. Probably before the day. But yeah, it’s crazy.”

Among the other nominees are Seal, who is nominated for best traditional pop vocal album with Standards (Deluxe); Artic Monkeys, for best rock performance with ‘Four Out of Five’ and best alternative music album with ‘Tranquility Base Hotel + Casino'; Bring Me The Horizon for best rock song with ‘Mantra’.

Jon Hopkins and SOPHIE were both nominated for best dance and electronic album, with ‘Singularity’ and ‘Oil of Every Pearl’s Un-Insides’ respectively. Meanwhile Dua Lipa is also nominated for best dance record, for ‘Electricity’, along with Diplo and Mark Ronson’s Silk City side project.

Guardian music critic, Alexis Petridis said: “The most vibrant music that’s currently happening in the mainstream in Britain – the post-grime wave of UK rap – is obviously going to struggle to cross over to America. There’s a big linguistic and cultural barrier facing those artists, as well as a longstanding American aversion to hip-hop that isn’t homegrown.”

The 61st Grammy awards will take place at the Staples Centre, in Los Angeles, on the 10th of February 2019. Recordings released between 1 October 2018 and 30 September 2018 were eligible for consideration. You can watch the show on CBS, which starts at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT.