Regular readers
of everythingsgonegreen will be aware of the blog’s fascination with all things
Hyperdub, and it was sad this week to read about the death of The Spaceape (aka
Stephen Samuel Gordon), who died on Thursday after a five-year battle with a
rare form of cancer.
As a Hyperdub
original (since 2004), The Spaceape has long been one of my favourite vocalists,
and his work with label founder Kode9 is right up there with the very best
Hyperdub output. In fact, it ranks alongside the best any-label “bass music” produced
in the past decade.
The 2011
collaboration between Kode9 and The Spaceape, Black Sun, was one of this blog’s
most loved albums of its year, and I’m still very much looking forward to the arrival of
the pair’s latest effort, The Killing Season EP, which is due for release later
this month.
R.I.P. The Spaceape …
here’s ‘The Devil Is A Liar’ from that forthcoming EP:
And from a few
years back, a spooky version of The Specials’ Ghost Town ….
Dubstep continues to attract a lot of attention and spark debate. Its 2011 form is, in all reality, light years removed from its 2006/Burial-led incarnation, and in some forms, is almost completely unrecognisable. In 2011 we saw the genre enjoy its most high profile year yet as it continued its evolution from being a closet suburban UK “thing” to its present level of popularity at clubs – and festivals – across the globe. It has been a remarkable rise, and the multitude of sub-genres spawned in its wake is testimony to the fact that it isn’t going to go away in a hurry.
Steve Goodman (aka Kode9) has been right at the heart of these developments, not only in his role as the head honcho of the renowned Hyperdub label, but as a producer and DJ wearing his Kode9 hat. Goodman’s 2006 collaboration with a growler voiced MC going by the name of The Spaceape produced one of that year’s more pivotal album releases – Memories of the Future – and the pair successfully reconvened in 2011 right about where they left off. While Black Sun doesn’t exactly move the genre forward at any great rate, it pretty much works as a dark state-of-the-art declaration of where mankind finds itself teetering a full decade into the third millennium.
The Spaceape’s deep vocal really is a thing of wonder in parts, while Goodman takes care of the rest, and as you’d expect, production is top notch. Moody, glitchy, and more than a touch post-apocalyptic in nature, Black Sun is certainly not for the faint of heart, but it is a lurker, a grower, and best absorbed on repeat … if you dare.
Download: ‘Am I’ and ‘Love Is The Drug’ (video link below).
