Kode9

Background
Although born in the city of Glasgow, Scotland, kode9 is genetically a junglist.. He started DJing in 1990 at the age of 16, playing a fusion of reggae, breaks, hip hop, jazz, funk and house. He was subsequently swept up by the emergence of the breakbeat hardcore, jungle and drum’n’bass scenes, and has been rinsin’ breaks, ragga chat and bubblin basslines ever since. DJing across the UK during the 90s, from Edinburgh, to Coventry, kode9 migrated to London in 1997, suffering infection to darker strains of the emergent 2step garage scene.

DJ
Kode9 has followed the freshest wave of the hyperdub virus into the 21st century, a mutating sound, as much influenced by Jamaican dub and dancehall, German dub techno/microhouse as London’s jungle and drum’n’bass scenes. He is currently pushing a distinctly South London sound, playing a mixture of dancehall influenced bass heavy garage, variously known as dubstep, sublow, grime and garage rap. In 2000-2001, kode9 promoted the Hyperdub sessions at the Bug Bar in Brixton, South London, the first night in the capital to push the dubstep vibe, featuring guests like Horsepower’s Benny ill.

With appearances at the Notting hill Carnival and early dark garage nights such as Corrosion, kode9 is now a resident at the pace setting underground night Forward>>, alongside the likes of Zed Bias, Oris Jay, J ‘Da’ Flex, Hatcha and the Slaughter Mob etc. He is known for his deep, moody selection and prolonged twisted mixes. Kode9 hosts the Forward>> show weekly (Thursdays 7-9pm) on the London underground’s most respected pirate radio station, Rinse FM 100.3.(Also home to shows by the likes of Dizzee Rascal & Wiley’s Roll Deep Crew, Oris Jay & Mark One’s Virus Syndicate, Plasticman, DJ Hatcha and Crazy D)

With the Forward>> crew, kode9 has played several times at the True Playaz nights at London’s Fabric and at Andy Weatherall’s Haywire sessions. Kode9 also hosted the Hyperdub Transmission sessions on award winning internet radio station www.groovetech.com from 2001 to 2003, welcoming guests such as El-B, Horsepower, Zed Bias and the SLT Mob. In the last couple of years, Kode9 has done much to take the South London sound to an international audience, DJing in Toronto (Canada), Nantes & Lille (France), Berlin (Germany), Oslo (Norway), Tel Aviv (Israel), Glasgow (Scotland).

Producer
Kode9 has been producing, and working on video soundtracks since the mid-1990s although most of his productions remain unreleased. Those that have surfaced include the distorted drum’n’bass monster ‘Katak’ released on the label Katasonix in the late 1990s, ‘Fat Larry’s Skank’/’Tales of the Basside’ co-produced with Benny ill from Horsepower and released on Tempa records in 2002, and ‘Babylon’, opening track on the highly acclaimed Dubstep Allstars Compilation in 2003, to be released on 12 on Tempa again later in 2003.

Writer
Kode9 set up the innovative South London based www.hyperdub.com project in 2000 to track emergent strains of Jamaican influenced electronic music in London. He continues to developing this project while maintaining Ammunition Promotion’s www.dubplate.net, a website with a global cult following earned from showcasing garage, breakbeat and broken beats dubplates months before their release. Ammunition Promotions manage the Forward>> club night plus labels such as Tempa, Road, Texture, Vehicle, Lifestyle, Soulja and Bingo. Kode9 is also known for high density record reviews and features in music magazines which include Deuce and Knowledge (UK), FACT (UK) and xlr8r (US). Kode9 also lectures internationally on sonic culture and is currently writing a book on sonic warfare, which explores the philosophy of sound in relation to military research into acoustic weaponry.

Kode9's websites are:

www.kode9.com        www.hyperdub.com       www.dubplate.net

Kode9 is playing with the GP Crew the following dates in Australia

Friday 18th July - Empire Hotel Brisbane -
+ Guest DJ on  "Original Drum" 8-10pm 4ZZZ 102.1FM (Friday 18th July)
Friday 25th July - Home Nightclub Sydney (Sublime) - Breaks Room
+ Guest DJ on "Room 208" Channel V (Saturday 26th July)