On 31st March, Endlesss released the iOS app version of its collaborative music-making studio application where you can jam remotely with friends using an intuitive loop and edit workflow. The long-planned timing of the release was spookily apt, as the COVID-19 crisis meant countries around the world were putting their populations into lockdown. Being a music production studio which lets you collaborate with multiple people online, Endlesss gave them a place to connect and play for hours without being in the same room.

Unbeknownst to the world, in February 2020, an electronic music group spanning three countries formed within the app’s community and created their debut album in Endlesss, without ever meeting face to face. In fact, their formation was so unusual and virtual that one member (username Bounce) contributed to the record then disappeared, never to be seen since. While artists have previously recorded albums with iOS apps before, this is surely a world first of a band forming and recording in an app and releasing a record, having never met in real life.

Called The Veltron Transmissions, the band’s members hail from London, San Francisco, upstate New York, Caen, France and Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada.

The group began amongst early-adopters in the Endlesss community when it was still in Beta. One founding member is Stevie J Jones, a musician, coder and guitarist in Imogen Heap’s band. It was through Imogen he discovered Endlesss at a band dinner in San Francisco in the summer of 2019. She mentioned she was involved with this “new music app called Endlesss” and it might be something he would like. He was drawn deep into the budding community and didn’t sleep for days, jamming online every day for hours with people all over the world.

Over the coming weeks Stevie befriended other musicians in the Endlesss community, being naturally drawn to those whose feel and sound he liked the most. Three of those people were Red Sky Lullaby (living in upstate New York), Badrico (Vancouver island) and Bounce (San Francisco). The four of them would regularly be seen in the late-night jams, trading beats, basslines and insane remix ideas.

When Tim Exile, founder and CEO of Endlesss, put on an event where jammers could take over the live stream on the Endlesss Twitch channel for an hour, Stevie J contacted these three to form the crew that became The Veltron Transmissions. In the lead up to the live performance, they began a week-long practice jam to try out ideas. So much intriguing music was generated in those sessions that it seemed a shame to waste it. The idea for the record was born. Red Sky Lullaby, Badrico and Stevie J all created their own takes on what had happened during the week, creating a fascinating suite of electronic “variations on a theme”.

Tim Exile heard about the idea, and loved it so much that he stepped in to help bring it to fruition by getting Cherif Hashizume (David Byrne, Jon Hopkins, King Creosote) to master the mixes. This brought the final layer of polish needed to get the “accidental album” completed. The musicians involved still convene regularly on Endlesss. Having recently recruited a new member – the phenomenal force that is Theau (living in Caen, France) – The Veltron Transmissions are gearing up to start work on the next record.