via LA Times…

The producers of the DJ-Kicks compilation had to know what to expect when they asked Kode9, the inscrutable impresario of London’s Hyperdub imprint, to contribute a mix to the venerable 15-year series. That is to say, anything. Thus, the man born Steve Goodman dropped an hour-long mix that veers from U.K. funky to tar-pit grime, space-disco R&B to staccato garage, juke music, and even a little of the dubstep that his label became famous for in 2006, a period that feels almost antiquated in this rapid-fire Rapidshare era.

The name “post-dubstep” would be inaccurate to describe this fusion — it’s a by-product of the ingratiating chaos of a post-genre world. The scrambled but seamlessly mixed iPod of one of the world’s most visionary musicians. The reasons for the mix and Hyperdub’s success, are evident throughout — a repudiation of rigidity. Unlike past movements that forsook evolution and settled into stasis, Goodman has consistently eschewed ideology or BPM constraints; his ideology is none at all — merely a dedication to asphyxiating bass and hard-core beats.

In advance of the “DJ-Kicks” release Tuesday, Kode9 spoke with Pop & Hiss about everything from Burial to the state of bass music, to his love of local music. He also allowed Pop & Hiss to premiere the Martyn remix of his “You Don’t Wash (Dub),” which is as filthy as it sounds.

The mix skews heavily toward British artists, but a track from Los Angeles’ J*Davey stands out. What drew you to the track and the band’s music?

I’ve been aware of their album ‘The Beauty in Distortion’ for a while and was a big fan of some of the tracks, and particularly her voice. But the track I used — ‘Mr. Mister’ — I noticed was a bit more uptempo, and the guitar kind of reminded me of the Terror Danjah track ‘Stiff’ that’s is a few tracks afterward in the mix, so I just thought I’d throw it in and see what friction it generated.

With the DJ Kicks mix, was there any sort of consistent theme or thread that you wanted to hit home with, or was it merely a matter of making the best mix possible?

I don’t know if it’s the best mix possible, whatever that would be, anyway. It’s just what was floating around in my head at the time. I see it more as a snapshot of a moment in my studio in February and an attempt to take a slice of some of the music I’ve been into over the last year.

Was it a challenge to avoid treading ground that had already been covered in the venerable series?

I don’t think there was an issue there, as I don’t think there has been a K7 mix that has covered the same ground. Ignorance is bliss, so I deliberately avoided immersing myself in the series until after I had finished the mix.

In your top 10 list of 2010, you listed Sa-Ra (and I believe Dam-Funk). You’ve released records from Flying Lotus and Samiyam and you’ve had the opportunity to play Los Angeles on several occasions. What are your thoughts on its current sonic climate and how would you say its bass music world differs from London’s. Obviously, London and Los Angeles have dozens of different sounds — I’m specifically referring to the variations on dubstep as done by labels like Hyperdub, Hotflush, Hemlock, and in Los Angeles at the Low End Theory.

I’m a big fan of Sa-Ra, Dam-Funk and obviously, my friends in the Brainfeeder crew. I think Sa-Ra, when they are in top gear, like on tracks like ‘Dirty Beauty‘ from their recent album, are untouchable. I really love their production, and it’s got a certain timeless quality to it. And [Flying Lotus'] ‘Cosmogramma’ is in a different dimension all together. But generally, I love the warped yet laid back-feel of the music I hear from L.A. that I like. It transports me out of the grimness of London’s gray sky. It’s a bit of cliche, but you can’t underestimate the impact of climate on the different moods of sounds that come from different cities.

The word ‘post-dubstep’ has repeatedly been bandied about to describe the mutations of sound from the original template. Do you find this an accurate term — if not, what would you prefer and where you do you think of the current climate of bass music? From my perspective, it seems that casual fans are being won daily with everything from Bonobo to Gaslamp Killer being inaccurately lumped under the ‘dubstep’ umbrella. Journalists rush to coin new silly terms daily from ‘funky’ to ‘wonky’ — where do you see it all currently?

Post-dubstep is a non-term to me. It’s not right or wrong, it just indicates that there is a bunch of producers just now who have been influenced by dubstep and have spiraled off in their own direction. It does irritate me that pretty much every form of instrumental electronic music gets sloppily labeled as dubstep these days. That’s just lazy.

But I suppose I understand the confusion, because things are kind of messy. ‘Funky,’ as strange or silly as it may seem to an outsider, is a more concrete term for an actual U.K. house scene. It’s a noun that people here understand as referring to something concrete, a scene and a style. ‘Wonky,’ on the other hand, is more of a media fabrication. I have faith that when the time is right, a word will come to me that accurately tags what I do. In the meantime, I’m Kode9 and run a label called Hyperdub that’s loose enough to let me do what I do.

‘Black Sun’ augured a new direction for your sound. Since then, what sorts of sounds have you been drawn to — is there another album on the horizon, and if so, what can people expect?

I’m working with an album with Spaceape that should be out later this year. When I work with him, we have a very particular vibe that is quite different from my DJ sets or tracks I’ve done on my own like ‘Black Sun.’ The album is pretty moody, sometimes a bit angrier that our first album, and generally I’d say it’s more deranged and that reflects what the production process has been like. There is plenty of vocal dubstep on it, but maybe not as most people are used to it. When I’m making tracks on my own just now, it’s more house influenced.

Obviously, the $100 million question regarding Hyperdub is Burial. I saw your set at the Brainfeeder sessions and was dumbfounded. Are those tracks going to be released anytime soon? Were they from the forthcoming album?

Glad you enjoyed it. They were all sketches and unfinished parts. There is no news of any release date for new material, though.

The year is half over. What tracks/albums have been the standout for you this year?

Flying Lotus’ ‘Cosmogramma’ and Actress’ ‘Splazsh’ are my favorites so far in terms of albums. Ikonika’s ‘Yoshimitsu’ is one of my favorite tracks.

– Jeff Weiss

Download Martyn’s remix of You Don’t Wash here (right click save target as)

Kode 9 let off one of the dubs he played at his RBMA lecture earlier this week… ‘You Don’t Wash (Dub)’ is available for download now, for free, over at the K7 DJ Kicks mini site – http://www.kode9-djkicks.com/exclusive/

Keep your eyes peeled for the full release on K7 in July which will also feature a vocal mix featuring Spaceape – check Mary Anne Hobbs Radio 1 show this week for a preview of said version.

You might also like to check out this jungle mix that he compiled for FACT earlier this week;

Tracklist:
1. Soundman & Don Lloyde with Elizabeth Troy – Greater Love
2. Lemon D – Manhatten Melody
3. Dope Style – You Must Think First
4. Nut Nut – Special Dedication
5. Undercover Agent – Oh Gosh
6. DJ SS – MA2 remix
7. 12-10 Series Mk 1 – All that Jazz
8. L Double featuring Bassman – Da Base too Dark
9. Urban Jungle – Back in the Daze
10. Sacred – Kall the Kops
11. Fusion Forum – Vintage Keys
12. Maldini – Def Roll
13. Bad Influence feat. DJ Rush Puppie – Time & Time

Download here (available for 3 weeks)

B: In the last 5 years, we’ve seen a seismic shift in the accessibility of online music and podcasts/MP3 recordings are now one of, if not the primary medium to carry new musical ideas. To me it seems to form a continuum where podcasts sit at one end, where their financial value has tended to zero, their audio quality is low, they ignore copyright and their accessibility is potentially unlimited. At the other end of that scale you have a physical mix CDs, which have a financial cost, are high audio quality, and can’t be easily distributed unless digitized. Given they respect copyright (and therefore incur all the financial barriers that creates) and given so many regular(non-producer) music fans are fairly oblivious to audio quality, what
makes you want to invest time and ideas a mix CD in 2010?

To read the full article click here

Click here for some example chapters from Steve Goodman’s (aka Kode 9) forthcoming piece.

Sinogrime is a sub-genre that barely ever existed, a momentary glitch in the supposedly predictable sonic geography of London dance music. Around 2002-3, with garage crumbling and the cement still drying on grime as a genre, a few producers in E3 suddenly lurched further east than they ever had before.

This is the sound of Shanghai towerblocks and the millennial promise of a new superpower, refracted through the scuffed windows of Crossways Estate in Bow. From the outset grime’s sonic palette defined it as the most futurist of genres – a steel sword cutting cleanly through UK hip-hop’s wooden edifice – but it rarely sounded as futurist as this.

I went to interview Kode9 for The Guardian recently (link here), and among other things we got talking about sinogrime… Here’s what he said:

“I’ve always been fascinated by these little squiggly synths, whether it’s been in jazz funk, or gangsta rap, or 80s synth pop… and also grime. That’s what I love most about grime actually, that kind of hyper-coloured sound. I was never so into the aggression of grime – I liked it in the MCs and the music, but it was actually how fucking beautiful melodically Target, Wiley, Terror Danjah, Ruff Sqwad and Jammer were – the Chinese style instrumentals.

I did this mix a few years ago that was just Jammer and Wiley and Target – of just half an hour of these Chinese-style plinky-plonk sounds… it was a bit sloppy, but it is fucking amazing music. Those guys were just on taking an aspect of hip-hop and blending it with really quite jarring, brash melodies.”

Download here

And heres some more bits I been listening to today..

Click here for more info

If you havn’t already done so you should buy tickets for the Hyperdub 5th Birthday Party at Corsica Studios…click here for the full line up

1) Kode 9 – Lucky You! Mix (Hyper Luck Mix) – http://www.thisisluckyme.com/

“It’s more than genre. It’s more than what’s new. It’s about whats true and real. Kode 9 is motivated by pure ideas in music. And it’s not just about the synthetic or the low end or the tempo or the artwork. It’s about the unique place that music can take you. Music is a journey for him. To us here at LuckyMe, Kode 9 defines ‘good sensibility’ and so we were honoured to step on board this month for 50 minutes with Kode 9 at the healm. This is the Hyper Luck Mix. Hope you like.

Peace to Danna. You saved the day buddy.”

Tracklist;

Sa-ra – Dirty Beauty
Prince – The Ballad of Dorothy Parker
Kleer – Intimate Connection
Cameo – Back & Forth
Herbie Hancock – Perfect Machine
Slava Tsukerman – Margrets Apartment
The Associates – Message Oblique Speech
Slava Tsukerman – Night Club
Gosub – Last Night at the Stardust
Slava Tsukerman – Seduction of Vincent
Simonetti/Morante/Pignatelli – Tenebre
Simonetti/Morante/Pignatelli – Slow Circus
Ryuichi Sakamoto & David Sylvian – Bamboo Houses
Dizzee Rascal – Brand New Day
Sun Ra – Rocket Number Nine

Download from here

2) FaltyDL – Resident Advisor Podcast – http://www.residentadvisor.net

“How and where was the mix recorded?

I recorded this mix from most of what I play out live lately in Ableton and an Akai MPD24. I did it on my desk in my bedroom near the entrance to the building that I live in. I can hear fire trucks go by me all the time.

Can you tell us a little about the mix?

It’s basically the bpm range I try and go through when playing live. Start around 95 BPM and end around 170 BPM if I can. I think it’s fun and challenging; that’s quite a lot of range and if I can keep people dancing, I’ve succeeded. I hate to see the room clear!”

Tracklist;

Ultragamma – Stars Collapse
Architeq – Sleeping Bear Lament (Take remix) [Planet Mu]
Floating Points – Esthian III [Planet Mu]
FaltyDL – Play Child [Planet Mu]
Floating Points – K&G Beat [Planet Mu]
sbtrkt – 2020
FaltyDL – Time
FaltyDL – Bravery [Planet Mu]
Untold – Don’t Know Don’t Care
Boxcutter – Other People
Joy Orbison – Wet Look [Hotflush Recordings]
Luke Vibert – Belief File [Planet Mu]
sbtrkt – Laika [Brain Math]
Joy Orbison – Hyph Mngo [Hotflush Recordings]
Toasty – The Knowledge [Hotflush Recordings]
Spac Hand Luke – Like A Machine [Rephlex]
Amen Andrews – Screwface [Rephlex]
Aphex Twin – Inkey$ [Warp Records]
FaltyDL – Made Me Feel So Right [Planet Mu]

Download from here

3) Scuba – Hot Flush Podcast- http://www.hotflushrecordings.com/

Tracklist = not available

Download from here

ENJOY !!!!

A true OG.

There is also quite an in-depth feature with Kode 9 in May’s issue of Wire with Derek Walmsley

new tracks from burial, darkstar, ikonika, and kode himself plus info on a forthcoming 5x 12″ box set, double compilation CD, multiple hyperdub albums and a vague clarification on when to expect his long awaited book on sonic warfare – this is essential listening.

** Kode9 Live In The Studio – Hyperdub Label Showcase **

Samiyam – Return (Hyperdub)
Kode9 – Black Sun (Hyperdub)
Cooly G – Love Dub (Refix) (Hyperdub)
Ikonika – Sahara Micheal (Hyperdub)
2000F & JKamata – You Don’t Know What Love Is (Hyperdub)
Dark Star – Digital (Hyperdub)
Burial – Untitled (Hyperdub)
LV – Take Away (Hyperdub)
Burial – Untitled (Hyperdub)
Kode9 – Too Far Gone (Hyperdub)
Terror Danjah – Sonar (Aftershock)
Lemon D – Manhattan Melody

download link: 7 days and counting… CLICK HERE