Synaptic: What about dubstep in US? It’s getting bigger now with DJs like JoeNice representing the scene…

Kode9: The dub president! Yeah I think JoeNice is helping the sound a lot because he understands the dubplate culture side of the scene, he understands the best way to play the music, the way to mix it and he has a good relationship with people in London. He’s come over to the parties, he’s played at DMZ, and he just understands the music and so he promotes it well.

Synaptic: You played recently in New York…

Kode9: Yeah, there’s a party­ in New York called Dub War which is run by a guy called Dave Q. I played there a couple of months ago and, you know, it was one of the most exciting parties I’ve played at anywhere. And people seem to know the music. They seem to know some of the tunes that aren’t released yet—mainly through downloading sets from Rinse FM. I also played in Vancouver which was amazing as well. And I think that the really crucial thing about these parties that are starting to emerge in North America is that they understand that without a good subbass system it’s completely pointless. And if the subbass is there then it will spread without people having to push it too hard. Because people like subbass, people like the feeling of their bodies vibrating. You know, what can you say… people like that…

Synaptic: What projects do you have planned for your Hyperdub label this year?

Kode9: Well, there’s a few things happening… We’ve just released an mp3-only release called “Fukkaz” which is myself and Space Ape, the vocalist that I work with. It’s an old track we did a couple of years ago and we’ve decided to just release it on mp3, to kind of test what happens if you only release a track on mp3. And we’re not really doing it for laptop DJs and CD DJs. I suppose the main reason we’re doing it is to see if people will cut dubplates from mp3s, if you don’t release the tracks on vinyl. And I know there’s some people in the States who are cutting dubplates of the mp3s for releasing.
In a month or so, in the beginning of March, we’re releasing another 10 inch—again myself and Spaceape, two tracks called “Backward” and “9 Samurai”. And again, in the beginning of March there’s the “Dubstep Allstars Vol3” CD compilation that I mixed at the end of last year, that comes out on the label Tempa which is one of the original dubstep labels. Then probably about April we’re going to release an album of another producer that we’ve been working with on Hyperdub called Burial. Probably after the summer, I think we’re going to release a Kode9/Spaceape album, and probably re-press all the original 10 inches because there’s a growing demand for the all early stuff that we released. We only did 500 pressings of demand and most people who are weren’t into the scene missed those early releases. So thats the plan basically… Around about the time of the Burial album we’re going to do another 10 inch, which is two mixes of the same Spaceape vocal, one by Burial and the other by me. The release is called the “Spaceape EP”, strangely enough.

Synaptic: Hyperdub is the name of your label and online magazine, but it is originally a concept. What does it mean?

Kode9: What thats basically about is this kind of evolution of dub influenced music. So for me hyperdub is a word that describes the side of jungle drum and bass, UK garage, dubstep and grime that I’ve been interested in for the last 10-15 years. In a way I prefer the word hyperdub to dubstep because it includes aspects of jungle, drum and bass, UK garage and dubstep and will evolve into something else—dubstep is not the end of the line… More than being interested in the specific scenes, I’m interested in how that sound evolves and mutates in different genres.
It’s basically hyperactive dub…

Synaptic: And what about your book “Sonic Warfare”?

Kode9: It’s coming… (laugh) It’s coming slowly, it’s been moving so slowly, I’ve been going backwards. But this year I’ve got a lot of time to write, and I haven’t had that amount of time for about 5 or 6 years. So if it doesn’t come this year, if it doesn’t get finished this year… I will go crazy.

Subrider: I’m really interested in the concept of ‘sonic warfare’. Where does this idea come from?

Kode9: It’s interesting that you say that actually because I’m in Paris right now and a lot of the ideas behind the book come from two french philosophers that I studied for a long time—Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari. If I was to try and explain the concept of the book very simply, it’s I’m interested in their concept of the war machine in relation to the music. That it, so it’s about the use of sound as a weapon. It’s about collective grass roots, tactical media, pirate radio, network culture, DIY media… It’s about all that, but at the same time it’s mostly a conceptual book, it’s basically sonic philosophy.

Subrider: Are you trying to explain how sound affects the body?

Kode9: Yeah, what I’m interested in is not the meaning of sound, I’m interested in affect. Rhythm and affect. Vibration and polyrhythm is basically what I’m interested in. So as well as all the other things that I’ve talked about, I’m interested in the influence of the bass culture that’s come from Jamaica into a kind of dub diaspora, this kind of bass diaspora that exists in post dub culture…

Subrider: In London…

Kode9: Well, not just in London… You could say that anywhere where there’s a jungle and drum and bass scene now is part of this process, anywhere where dubstep or grime is spreading, anywhere where there is reggae dub music or the influence of that kind of music… London, Berlin, New York, Paris, Sao Paulo, Tokyo… Wherever there’s that kind of influence of bass culture. So thats another thing that I talk about in the book…

Subrider: We know you as a DJ and producer but it’s interesting to see that you’re also a philosopher and a writer…

Kode9: Yeah, it’s both… I teach—it’s what I do for a job. I teach sonic philosophy and sound design in London. And for me it’s just two sides of the same thing: one is abstract, conceptual and the other is physical design. And I’m not really interested in making a split between these two sides because it’s just what I do. If anything I think people that split these things into a kind of mind-body binarism… I just don’t understand that. Obviously that the fault of french, René Descartes (laugh…), but not just the french…

Subrider: We’re all waiting for the result because it’s a really interesting way of looking at sound. We know that there is something special about getting into a room and hearing 10k of sound but nobody’s really tried to explain it…

Kode9: Yeah, I suppose what I’m trying to do is think about the whole sound continuum. I’m thinking about the whole continuum of sound systems and the way that they’re used in conflicts from, on the one hand, the US military in Iraq using ultrasonic weaponry right through to grime MCs insulting each other’s families. I’m interested in those kind of relations of force, relations of conflict and the way that they play out in this sonic dimension.

text: Synaptic
© rpm 2006, all rights reserved.
Thanks to Kode 9, Eva Peel, Subrider and Poppy.

Links: Kode 9 website | Kode 9 blog | Hyperdub label