Skrillex Beams Fans to Space With Trippy Phone Case, Interstellar App
This spring, Skrillex sent a small, camera-equipped satellite into the Earth’s stratosphere from the Nevada desert. He called it Nanou, after one of his favorite Aphex Twin songs (and also one of his dogs). A few weeks later, when the satellite came back to Earth, he and his team retrieved images that will come with a high-tech, limited-edition Android phone case he’s releasing in partnership with Google. “I’ve seen some of the photos, and they’re just beautiful – you can see the Earth’s curvature, and it’s so clear and hi-def and pretty,” says the EDM star. “We’re hoping it’s like Interstellar and we’ve found the wormhole that’s going to take us all to a different planet that we can live on if Earth gets too crazy.”
The case is available for purchase now for $40, and features an external design that Skrillex compares to “the title screen of a weird video game.” People who buy it will get access to an exclusive app that will display satellite photos of Earth and the night sky as well as graphics designed by Sus Boy, plus Skrillex news updates and, possibly, exclusive music. “The idea is that you put this case on, and it transforms your phone,” he says. “I’ll be sending little treats and videos and photos. It’s totally rad, and it’s not that much more expensive than a normal phone case.”
Skrillex is extremely psyched about the app’s outer-space theme. “It’s one of those things I liked as a child,” he says. “All these ideas of space travel and life on other planets have become more real and mainstream. I think that’s cool.” He mentions listening to talks by the theoretical physicist Michio Kaku. “The building blocks of matter are the same all over the universe,” he says. “So maybe the 12 notes are felt through the universe in the same way. What I’m trying to say is, it could be possible that aliens like my music!”
So how often does Skrillex himself use a smartphone? “I’m on my phone a lot,” he says. “But when I’m producing, I stay off it.” At the moment, he’s working on several projects after the recent debut from Jack Ü, his duo with Diplo. “I’m taking time off to work with different friends on their albums,” he says, mentioning upcoming releases from A$AP Ferg and Justin Bieber. “A lot of new artists, too. I’m trying to take a step back from Skrillex and, at the same time, always going with the flow.”