Kode9 & the Spaceape: "Otherman"

Lecturer/dubstep envelope-pusher Steve Goodman is back after a five year lay-off, though you could hardly say he’s been eating Cheetos since his debut in 2006. Owner and showrunner of the Hyperdub label, he’s fed the UK with grime/hardcore/2-step for seven years uninterrupted (crossovers Ikonika and Darkstar were just two of his recent breakouts). Having now freed up a window between producing, teaching seminars, and writing books about US noise manipulation, he’s teamed back up with MC the Spaceape for the follow-up to 2006’s Memories of the Future. And going by this taster in the form of the first advance twelve, the duo’s rasta riddims/urban decay are as wise and alluring as ever, proving once again it’s possible to publish a PhD thesis and still walk tall around Broadwater.

Mirroring its own long-delayed arrival with a 90 second intro, “Otherman” uses Ghost Box synths to whip itself into a holy mindset, sounding like a stylus caught in the grooves of an old cathedral sounds vinyl. You just know Goodman is lining up some cavalier beat in the background, and when it drops the subs toy neatly with jungle as Spaceape curls off a rhythm. “Always wanting tings,” he croaks in his copyrighted Jamaican monotone, turning “Otherman” into an extract from Leftism (1995) as the drum track brushes the vocals. Goodman’s addition of a high C and elevator pings take the action even higher, and show Hyperdub aren’t just all about the breaks or who can come up with the next floor-shaker. This is boom box music for the reclusive; the kind of thing Forest Whitaker would listen to while carjacking in Way of the Samurai, and it points toward good things to come on the upcoming Kode9 sophomore effort.