David Toop

English musician, author, and curator born on 5 May 1949 in Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire, he entered London's improvisation scene in the early 1970s alongside Paul Burwell, Max Eastley, Steve Beresford, and others. His book Ocean of Sound (1995) reshaped understanding of ambient music and listening, while Haunted Weather (2004) mapped twenty-first-century developments in digital sound culture. A long-standing contributor to The Wire, he was also a member of The Flying Lizards. He is Emeritus Professor at the London College of Communication, and his critical writing and musical practice have consistently overlapped and informed each other.