Review Electronic music

Kode9

Nothing

Hyperdub • 2015

Tape of the Year 2023

Welcome to »Nøtel«, the deserted luxury hotel! Even though Steve Goodman a.k.a. Kode9 didn’t check in personally, there are plenty of machines doing their daily business – or whatever else they consider is the right thing to do. »Nothing« is about emptiness, about nonentity, and the picture of the »Nøtel« fits perfectly. However, it’s a completely different question how consequently Kode9’s music is targeting the absence of humans. Most tracks are instrumental, aside from the one-and-a-half-minutes long »Third Ear Transmission«, on which we can hear Steve Goodmans’s late friend The Spaceape uttering words like »Child is father to the man«. »Void«, on the other hand, is clearly demonstrating humans’ absence by simply leaving the vocal-parts meant for the The Spaceape, who died last hear, open. And still, the footwork-rhythms Kode9 has used in almost all the tracks are directly leading to human activity, even though some of them seem to crumble in his hands, no matter if people are still up for dancing or not. One could either interpret this approach as a sign of emptiness or as an expression of Kode9’s – still human – phantasy. And paradoxically, despite all the nothingness transported by »Nothing«, leading all the way to the nonentity-highlight »Nothing Lasts Forever« (nine minutes of digital quietness), this record is actually quite a lively matter.

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