Kode9 & The Spaceape – Black Sun

Album Review by Bram Gieben | 30 Mar 2011
Album title: Black Sun
Artist: Kode 9 & The Spaceape
Label: Hyperdub
Release date: 18 Apr

Hyperdub has always been the most experimental and forward-thinking of dubstep labels, and the panache with which Kode9 and Spaceape reinvented and deconstructed the templates of 2-step, techno and dub on Memories Of The Future set a high standard for those who were to follow. Five years on from Memories the duo have returned with an album of similarly breathtaking scope and ambition, and effortlessly surpassed their debut.

The pitch-shifted vocal effects are gone: Spaceape sounds liberated, confident, and full of righteous philosophical fire. Furthermore, he has created an entire alternative reality in which the narrative of his lyrics take place – the world of the Black Sun. His imagery, delivery and the stories he tells are vivid and strange, familiar but distorted visions of our own world.

The political clarity of Am I and Bullet Against Bone are matched for intensity by the spiritual explorations of Neon Red Sign and Black Smoke. Musically, Kode9 has successfully captured the energy and impact of his live performances and solo tracks, and harnessed it to the ceaselessly inventive production techniques employed on Memories.

He plays with 2-step and house on Green Sun and The Cure, employing a lighter, less oppressive darkness to the dread dubscapes of Memories. The menace here lies in stretched synths; the echoing, whispered vocals of Spaceape and Cha Cha; the contrast between dark and light. Thrilling stuff, with real weight and depth, effortlessly stepping beyond bleeding-edge dubstep into new sonic realms. [Bram Gieben]

Kode9 plays the Electric Frog Easter Weekender at SWG3, Glasgow on 24 Apr

http://www.hyperdub.com