Kode9
Kode 9
Interview by Jabba
J: What have you been involved with of late?
K: Some remixes, some film music, more releases on the label from myself
and Spaceape and other artists such as Burial, djing around Europe and
finishing our album Memories of the Future. How has the sound of
dubstep changed since you were last here? The half-step sound is now the
centre of gravity of the scene.
J: Could you tell us a bit about hyperdub?
K: Set up in 2001 as a web magazine, and launched as a record label in
2003. See
www.hyperdub.net more info.
J: The video clip for '9 Samurai' has been circulated quite a bit as one
of dubstep’s first music videos.
K: Could you tell us more about how that project came about? The video
is called 'Audio Addiction'- that track is an unreleased vocal version
of my tune, 9 Samurai. It was a couple of very talented postgraduate (Jasmin
Jodry and Mo Stoebe) students who produced the video. We tried to
explain to them what some of the concepts behind our music were and they
improvised from there.
J: When we last spoke, you described the work you are doing for your
upcoming book. Any more details on that project?
K: It’s coming along OK. Basically it elaborates on various themes
related to
Afrofuturism.
K: The 'scene' now has a life of its own beyond anyone geographical location, although still rooted in South London. There are different forces pulling it in different directions. It remains to be seen whether it will do anymore than follow a standard evolutionary progression.
J: You have had a chance to play this music all over the world now, what has been the response to it in comparison to London? Has it found a second home off shore yet?
K: New York has been good with the Dubwar parties and I think there is stuff happening on the West coast of the US. There are good little scenes in Germany and Holland. To be honest, I'm more excited about spreading the music further east, China, Japan, Russia etc. I think that will be much more unpredictable.
J: At the moment there seems to be a lot of excitement in the press about dubstep being the new underground sound. What do you think is causing this and do you see it as a good thing?
K: There is a lot of hype around just now. I just think the music has reached that critical threshold, with a number of albums coming, DMZ attracting regularly 7-800 people, Forward going weekly etc. It helps promote the music, but it can be a distraction from making music sometimes.
Top 5 (Sept06)
The Bug feat. Flow Dan - 'War'
Kode9 - 'Far Away'
Digital Mystikz - 'Left Leg Out'
Frankie Solar - 'Konfuzed'
Skream feat. JME - 'Tapped'