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Bonafide Magazine @ MSN: Review: Hyperdub – Hyperdub 10.1 | Musique Non Stop

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Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Bonafide Magazine @ MSN: Review: Hyperdub – Hyperdub 10.1


Bonafide Magazine @ MSN: Review: Hyperdub – Hyperdub 10.1

Link to Bonafide Magazine

Posted: 14 Jul 2014 02:25 AM PDT
Review: Hyperdub – Hyperdub 10.1
It is difficult to imagine how the world of electronic music would look in 2014 without the presence of London-based label Hyperdub. This compilation, marking ten years since its foundation by owner and DJ Kode9, highlights the significant influence the label has had on its contemporaries.

Hyperdub's minimalist aesthetic style and consistently excellent curatorship of music has set a pace that has redefined the landscape around it. It might appear like hyperbole, but few labels have managed to remain so true to their original intentions whilst also retaining a progressive edge. This is particularly notable given how many column inches prestige artists such as Burial were given in a bid to pin the label down as a dubstep trend-setter. Thankfully, this flush of critical praise did not prevent the label from expanding and takings risks, as Hyperdub 10.1 attests.

Compiled over two disks, one of new music and another of key releases from the last five years, Hyperdub 10.1 is first of a proposed four sets of music scheduled from the label this year to mark their anniversary. The tracks come from key label names such as Burial, Kode9 and Cooly G, as well as more recent work from footwork pioneers such as DJ Rashad and DJ Spinn. In fact, it is the footwork tracks that dominate the latter half of the first disc, including the magnificent fanfare of All My Teklife by DJ Spinn. Its looped horn sample recalls Diamond D's hip-hop production at its most triumphant, while the drums jitter at a frenetic pace. Those doubting the flexibility of the genre would be advised to compare the filter swoop of DJ Taye's Get Em Up with DJ Earl's I'm Going to Get You; its startled snatch of vocal demonstrative of footworks' ability to simultaneously hold things in stasis whilst also communicating driving momentum.
If there is any kind of consistent template across the music on Hyperdub 10.1, it is often disrupted or mutated.
However, some similitudes do exist, not least the capability of the bass to cause membranes previously unknown to vibrate.
This is music designed for sound systems, even at its most delicate or avant-garde. Kode9's Xingfu Lu (Helix Remix) locates itself across a wide sonic spectrum, its insistent low-end kicks offset by the high frequency synth lines. It's an exercise in precision, coolly of the otherworld, and an undoubted highlight of the new material.
The work collected on the second disc serves to show how the label has adjusted and embraced new areas in the past five years. The coda to the Kode9 & Spaceape track Am I offers a discordant reminder of how uncanny and strange Hyperdub's output can be at times. Elsewhere, Terror Danjah's Dark Crawler is an undisputed classic of grime production, its heightened melody line sounding as terse as it did on its original release in 2012. Whatever steps Hyperdub takes next, there seems to be an unspoken guarantee that it will continue to offer the same progressive and artistically committed approach to developing beyond the normal confines of genre and convention.

Words: Andrew Spragg
Limited Edition ‘The King of Beats’ SP-1200 released in honour of J Dilla
Posted: 14 Jul 2014 02:16 AM PDT
Limited Edition ‘The King of Beats’ SP-1200 released in honour of J Dilla
This must feel like a godsend for J Dilla fans and aspiring beatmakers the world over.
The E-Mu Systems SP-1200 drum machine and sampler, Jay Dee’s primary tool of choice whilst crafting his early productions, has now, courtesy of his mother’s relentless work to maintain his legacy, been re-manufactured as part of a package titled ‘The King of Beats’ Ma Dukes Yancey Collector's Edition.

The curation also compiles a collection of Dee’s early musical works, with Ma Dukes assembling a team of industry family who spent nine months working daily to bring this project to J Dilla fans everywhere.

The box set includes:
4x 10 inch vinyl records featuring music from Jay Dee's Batches.
4x Special Edition cassettes containing x4 unreleased tracks from J Dilla's #LostScrolls.
1x 'The King of Beats' commemorative booklet contains interviews with peers and scholars, along with rare and never before seen photos with provocative insight and perspective of the early years of Jay Dee's career.
1x A Limited Edition 3 inch floppy disk containing an unreleased J Dilla production, multi-tracked and formatted specifically to upload within the actual E-Mu SP-1200 machine.
“The King of Beats” Limited Edition box set is now available for pre-orders here.

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