Various Artists, 5: Five Years of Hyperdub

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 that Hyperdub will continue its preeminent position for some time to come.