NASA today revealed that interstellar communications from an alien lifeform have been mistakenly interpreted as music, spawning a new sub-genre known as ‘Dubstep’.

Signals, first detected in 2008 when the aliens’ broadcast frequency matched that of Radio 1, were first unintentionally transmitted during DJ Annie Mac’s Friday night show, to rave reviews from listeners.

The digital transmissions share a number of properties with computer viruses, endlessly replicating themselves with only minor differences imperceptible to the untrained ear.

But popular music experts point out that it’s not the first time something has been wrongly interpreted as music to critical acclaim. A recording of an owl trapped in a wind chime shop recently topped the charts after being mistakenly released as the second album by Florence and The Machine.

–grumblechops