News / / 23.05.13

KODE9

RINSE: 22 (Rinse)

12/20

 

You can’t but admire Kode9. Somehow, after starting his Hyperdub label in 2004, Steve Goodman surfed dubstep’s most exciting breakers without marooning himself with its cliches. Like Loefah, another of 140bpm’s early proponents, Goodman kept an eye consistently trained on the next wave. Both avoided becoming, as many of their contemporaries did, altogether washed up.

Yet while Loefah nowadays releases lean, dancefloor-disposed house and techno through Swamp 81, Goodman’s fetish is quite different: he puts quality and originality above purpose. Laudable indeed, and this eclecticism may has brought us releases from producers as exciting and diverse as Burial, Laurel Halo, and LV, but it doesn’t make for a great mixtape.

Even though there’s plenty to like about Kode9’s Rinse 22, it sounds strained. The mix lurches from one sub-genre to the next with schizophrenic intensity, offering little let up and scant narrative excitement.

The way it builds to a footwork climax, for example, via two-steppy house and grime, doesn’t exactly come as much of a surprise. That’s not a sin in itself, but after kicking off with the enjoyable submersion of Burial’s Truant, Goodman fails to throw a single curveball for the remainder.

Most tracks are only given two minutes’ airtime, and it’s so hyperactive, so jittery, that occasionally it sounds like one of those Annie Mac mini-mixes. Such impatience, the churning out of theme after theme, makes for a relentless listen, particularly on the headphones or stereo for which this mix was always intended.

All that criticism aside, the selections are admirably eclectic, for sure, and packed with unreleased productions from big names like Scratcha DVA, Kuedo, and DJ Rashad.

The dank, dark, dirtiness of tracks from The Bug and Dexplicit is not for everyone, and the technicolor brilliance of Rustie and S-type is too dazzling in such brash sonic surroundings. But it’s ostensibly well-mixed, albeit rough around the edges.

One of Goodman’s own tracks, Xingfu Lu, is a real highlight, bridging the gap seamlessly between grime and juke tempos. In fact, the 160bpm conclusion, full of detuned loveliness, is the most pleasing stretch, particularly when an unreleased Addison Groove collaboration with Sam Binga, 11th, segues into a pair of stormers from DJ Rashad.  Goodman also manages to find a grime angle in an enjoyably pitched-up outing for Joy Orbison’s Big Room Tech House DJ Tool – a clever re-imagining of a ubiquitous track.

Overall, though, it’s hard not to sense all these tracks are individual artifacts being exhibited by one of dance music’s pre-eminent label bosses. In this format, maybe there’s more satisfaction derived from its pre-eminent DJs.

 

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Words: Nick Johnstone

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