Hyperdub isn't like many other labels. It's stayed at the forefront of UK electronic music for its entire lifetime, tracing an erratic but intuitive thread through dubstep, UK funky, footwork and grime, always staying one step ahead of everyone else. Reflecting how wide its purview has become, Hyperdub's tenth anniversary release is mammoth but compartmentalized: four separate compilations, each highlighting a dimension of the label. With one disc of new tracks and another of old favourites, 10.1 showcases its clubbier side.
If it was hard to classify Hyperdub on their fifth anniversary back in 2009, by now it's basically impossible. The new tracks have some things in common: Kyle Hall and Quarta 330 share trilling chiptune sounds, while Kuedo's "Mtzpn" and Flowdan's "Ambush" show off the vaporous textures Hyperdub's been fond of lately. This is cold computer music, which makes the footwork tracks that come later all the more alluring. The Teklife crew's stuttering rhythms fit the label's style, but the warmer textures of DJ Earl, Taso, Heavee and Spinn feel like the analogue soul inside Hyperdub's digital body. Inevitably, the shadow of the late DJ Rashad hangs over these tracks, especially the two new bits with him: the frenetic "Acid Life" and the topsy-turvy "Bombaklot."
As with Kode 9's Rinse CD, the first disc shows how footwork has come to dominate Hyperdub's club impulses. The older material, meanwhile, unpacks all the other influences that went into the label's sound. The immense dread of Burial's "Spaceape" still hits like a woodblock to the face, just as the wonky, lopsided bleep of Ikonika's "Idiot" still perks up the ears when its unforgettable refrain hits. The sheer variety is impressive in itself. The second half, which runs through Mark Pritchard's lopsided boogie "Wind It Up," Terror Danjah and DOK's grime workouts and ends up at LV's kwaito masterpiece "Sebenza," would make your head spin if it all weren't so funky and fun.
That's another thing about Hyperdub. No matter how dark, tense or conceptual its releases become, it's a dance label at heart. Much of the music on the first disc could be considered experimental, but it's never stuffy. Take Helix's remix of Kode 9's already psychedelic footwork tune "Xingfu Lu." This one brings the original to a new level of rhythmic incomprehension, but it's still thrilling. Japanese producer Quarta330 gets even weirder with "Hanabi," laying down a blizzard of 8-bit synths over cascading rhythms that touch on both drum & bass and footwork. Taking touchstones from familiar genres and refiguring them into something completely new, it's like a microcosm of the label as a whole.
If it was hard to classify Hyperdub on their fifth anniversary back in 2009, by now it's basically impossible. The new tracks have some things in common: Kyle Hall and Quarta 330 share trilling chiptune sounds, while Kuedo's "Mtzpn" and Flowdan's "Ambush" show off the vaporous textures Hyperdub's been fond of lately. This is cold computer music, which makes the footwork tracks that come later all the more alluring. The Teklife crew's stuttering rhythms fit the label's style, but the warmer textures of DJ Earl, Taso, Heavee and Spinn feel like the analogue soul inside Hyperdub's digital body. Inevitably, the shadow of the late DJ Rashad hangs over these tracks, especially the two new bits with him: the frenetic "Acid Life" and the topsy-turvy "Bombaklot."
As with Kode 9's Rinse CD, the first disc shows how footwork has come to dominate Hyperdub's club impulses. The older material, meanwhile, unpacks all the other influences that went into the label's sound. The immense dread of Burial's "Spaceape" still hits like a woodblock to the face, just as the wonky, lopsided bleep of Ikonika's "Idiot" still perks up the ears when its unforgettable refrain hits. The sheer variety is impressive in itself. The second half, which runs through Mark Pritchard's lopsided boogie "Wind It Up," Terror Danjah and DOK's grime workouts and ends up at LV's kwaito masterpiece "Sebenza," would make your head spin if it all weren't so funky and fun.
That's another thing about Hyperdub. No matter how dark, tense or conceptual its releases become, it's a dance label at heart. Much of the music on the first disc could be considered experimental, but it's never stuffy. Take Helix's remix of Kode 9's already psychedelic footwork tune "Xingfu Lu." This one brings the original to a new level of rhythmic incomprehension, but it's still thrilling. Japanese producer Quarta330 gets even weirder with "Hanabi," laying down a blizzard of 8-bit synths over cascading rhythms that touch on both drum & bass and footwork. Taking touchstones from familiar genres and refiguring them into something completely new, it's like a microcosm of the label as a whole.
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Published /
Fri / 6 Jun 2014 -
Words /
Andrew Ryce -
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Tracklist /
CD1
01. DVA - Mad Hatter
02. Kyle Hall - Girl You So Strong
03. Mala - Expected
04. Kuedo - Mtzpn
05. Kode9 - Xingfu Lu (Helix Rmx)
06. Morgan Zarate - Kaytsu
07. Flowdan - Ambush (Produced by Footsie)
08. Taso & Djunya - Only The Strong Survive
09. DJ Spinn - All My Teklife
10. DJ Taye - Get Em Up
11. DJ Earl - I'm Gonna Get You
12. Heavee - Icemaster
13. DJ Rashad & Gant Man - Acid Life
14. DJ Earl - Bombaklot feat. DJ Rashad & DJ Taye
15. Kode9 & The Spaceape - Chasing The Beast
16. Quarta 330 - Hanabi
CD2
01. Burial - Spaceace feat. The Spaceape
02. Cooly G - It's Serious feat. Karizma
03. Champion - Bowsers Castle
04. DVA - Natty
05. Funkystepz - Hurricane Riddim
06. Ill Blu - Clapper
07. Walton - Aggy
08. Ikonika - Idiot
09. Kode9 & The Spaceape - Am I
10. Morgan Zarate - Hookid
11. Mark Pritchard - Wind It Up feat. Om'mas Keith
12. Terror Danjah - Dark Crawler feat. Riko Dan
13. DOK - East Coast
14. Terror Danjah - Bruzin VIP
15. LV - Sebenza feat. Okmalumkoolkat
16. Kode9 - Xingfu Lu
17. DJ Rashad - Let It Go
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