Three Worlds
Dublab with IAO
September, 2013

When our friends at dublab asked us to do something with them for their fourteenth anniversary, you can bet that we jumped at the opportunity.

As LA’s – dare we say it – coolest radio station, dublab has always had a special place in our hearts. They are, after all, a collective of the planet’s most progressive music selectors. Don’t believe us? Well, listen for yourselves.

To celebrate their 14th anniversary, we teamed up with them on a sound-scent project called ‘Three Worlds of Sonic Scent’.

The collaboration resulted in olfactory interpretations of three seminal records, chosen with much care by Dublab’s founder (and DJ) Mark ‘Frosty’ McNeill.

The IAO perfumer in residence Ashley Eden Kessler took on the task of composing the scents themselves, working on the perfumes in the IAO lab while listening to the albums on repeat.

The result? A collection of scents as diverse and progressive as the albums themselves – from an Eno-inspired fresh dirty green scent, to a Kraftwerk-like technological static,  to a Coltrane-style outer space rose and Frankincense.

Three Worlds of Sonic Scent.

Ashley_250x300Brian Eno’s “Another Green World”
Verdant, rivers, hope, innocence, primordial, grass, fresh rain
Notes: Citrus, grass, earth

Kraftwerk’s “Computer World”
Neon, circuitry, deep night, sequences, motion, computer, synthesized soul
Notes: Aldehydes, fennel, electrostatic woods

Alice Coltrane’s “World Galaxy”
Epic, cosmic, love, universal, transcendent, aglow
Notes: Frankincense , cosmic rose, maple syrup , and aluminum

The collaboration culminated in a live sound/scent experience at Dublab’s 14th Anniversary party on September 21, 2013. Dublab and IAO set up a listening and smelling station for folks to experience the scents as they were meant to be smelled: while listening to the music on headphones.

More information about the event is here: http://dublab.com/events/14494/dublab-14th-anniversary-celebration/

Special thanks to Dana El Masri for her feedback and assistance.