5: Five Years of Hyperdub

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5: Five Years of Hyperdub album cover
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EDITOR'S PICK

Total Tracks: 32   Total Length: 149:09

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Peter Shapiro

eMusic Contributor

10.05.09
The world’s greatest underground dance label pushes forward and looks back
Label: Hyperdub / IODA

Ever since Steve Goodman’s (aka Kode9) Hyperdub operation made the transition from ‘zine to record label with the 2004 release of Burial’s South London Boroughs EP, Hyperdub has been arguably the most influential label in underground dance music. From the sublime desolation of Burial and Kode9′s collaborations with Spaceape to the cartoonish 8-bit rave of Zomby to the sound of R&B drowning in R. Kelly’s Jacuzzi as imagined by 2000f and Joker, Hyperdub has represented the full range of UK bass culture and anticipated its myriad directions. 5 is divided into two halves: the first featuring new tracks by the likes of King Midas Sound, Darkstar, Cooly G, and Joker; the second serving as a greatest-hits survey of dubstep and its various strands (Burial’s haunting and yearning “Distant Lights”, Kode9 and Ld’s blend of minimal techno and dubstep’s skitter beats on “Bad”, Zomby’s “Spliff Dub”, which reimagines Musical Youth as the soundtrack to a Commodore Vic-20 game). The new tracks — especially King Midas Sound’s “Meltdown”, which sounds like the record you’ve wanted Tricky to make ever since Maxinquaye, Cooly G’s unsettling “Weekend Fly”, Mala’s lithe “Level Nine”, and “Fostercare”, yet another beautifully sad tone poem from Burial — indicate… read more »

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Are you open minded?

Theo59

Music that probes and questions like good music should! Genius!!!

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Color Review

SWOOL

Black, neon green, white, smidge of red

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New Burial!!!

Earendil

The new Burial track is dark and beautiful, hope this is a sign of things to come...Also nice to finally have some new stuff from Tokyo masterminds Quarta 330.

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yes!!!

doctorhandshake

Not a great value if you've been tracking Hyperdub as closely as I have these past 5 years, but if you're new to the label or have only a few selections from the catalouge, LOOKOUT!! So tasty. Big ups to Kode9 the extended Hyperdub roster for pioneering dubstep and wonky and a number of other styles with equally inapt names. TASTY TASTY

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Not to slight other dubstep-rooted labels productive from 2005 through 2009 — Tectonic, Deep Medi, Hessle Audio — but this half-new/half-retrospective set supplies all the evidence necessary in determining the form’s supreme source. Released to acknowledge the fifth anniversary of Kode9′s Hyperdub, these two discs, assembled in the wake of 30-plus 12″ releases and three albums, should be the starting point for anyone late to the party. There is a slight catch, though: only a fraction of the contents is truly dubstep. In short, dubstep extends and mutates dub, drum’n'bass, U.K. garage, and grime in various permutations. It’s merely a foundation for the majority of these producers, whose releases have inspired a flurry of neologisms, like wonky and even post-dubstep; each one has been met with some stiff resistance. Regardless, there is no refuting the significant disparity between Burial’s grayscale “South London Boroughs” and 2000F & J Kamata’s vibrant “You Don’t Know What Love Is,” a pair of disc-two tracks released, respectively, in 2005 and 2009. The former’s sub-bass and sweeping-scythe percussion takes rhythmic tension to the brink of oppressiveness, while the latter’s booming bass and wriggling synths spawn synthetic funk at its most voluptuous. That the first disc contains the new material speaks to the label’s desire to continue pushing. It does not quite surpass the second disc of past highlights, yet it’s nothing short of generous. A handful of comrades who hadn’t previously appeared on the label, like Flying Lotus and Martyn, make appearances; perhaps unsurprisingly, it’s the Hyperdub artists who deliver the most moving tracks. King Midas Sound’s “Meltdown” is psych ward lovers rock. On “Time Patrol,” Kode9 places crisp, tightly coiled percussive friction and jabbing strings beneath the Space Ape and Cha Cha’s urgently whispered threats/come-ons. Ikonika’s “Sahara Michael,” enhanced with sub bass and swarming strings, is one of the most complex productions, stunningly layered with drums that switch between a swaying lurch and a stomp as acidic bleeps flutter and gurgle. The second disc features most of the label’s essentials, including Darkstar’s “Need You,” Joker’s “Digidesign,” Samiyam’s “Return,” and the Rustie mix of Zomby’s “Spliff Dub,” all of which are unique and equally representative of Hyperdub. – Andy Kellman

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