Love Spirals Downwards’ song “Nova” was featured on NTS Radio on February 17, 2023, as part of a specialized broadcast called The NTS Guide To: Drum & Bliss — and that set was just reposted to the NTS YouTube channel today.
Curated to explore the “vague coalescing” of producers and scenes in the late 1990s, the episode highlights the moment in music history where the worlds of shoegaze and drum & bass collided. The “Drum & Bliss” session placed “Nova” alongside seminal tracks by artists like Bowery Electric, My Bloody Valentine, and Flying Saucer Attack.
Based in Hackney, London, NTS Radio is a global family of over 600 resident hosts dedicated to providing a platform for music that often goes unheard on mainstream airwaves. Since its launch in 2011, NTS has established itself as a premier international tastemaker, known for its deep-dive “Guide To” series, which contextualizes specific sub-genres and musical movements for a modern audience.
This inclusion reflects a long-standing appreciation for the track at the London-based station. In fact, just a month after the “Drum & Bliss” special aired, “Nova” was selected as a featured listener dedication on The NTS Breakfast Show with Flo Dill.
Originally appearing on the 1998 album Flux, “Nova” continues to stand as a bridge between the ethereal and electronic worlds — a quality that inspired Lum’s 1998 quote in Fix magazine describing the sound as “the perfect fusion of beauty and bliss and electronica.” The term “Drum & Bliss” itself echoes that vision, proving that the ethereal drum and bass aesthetic is as resonant today as it was at the turn of the millennium.
