Sir Spyro Vs. Kode 9. In A Battle For The Future. Round 1.

" WHAT IS YOUR NAME & WHAT DID YOU SAY? "

I'm becoming more and more convinced that Spyro is Kode 9s doppleganger.

grimes version of 9.

Where Kode 9 is plumbing the depths of bass psychology, now seemingly moving into deeper, more minimal and a-musical territories - yet always remaining tied to road or dancehall by his inherent understanding of vocals & spitters - Spyro exists thru the looking glass of Kode 9s reflection.

All riddim & swagger, his selection is pure jeep beats. However, he jumps off from that point, into the same 'night-drive' parallel universe of Detroit techno. Spyros jeep beats are pure future bidness. Paying his dues & contrasting the formal RnB glitz of his riddims with the choppa-choppa. The karate choppas break down time & linearity - the night drive parallel universe shifts into warp drive & just like those bits in Star Wars where the Millennium Falcon shifts, your able to see the present & the future at the same time.

As DJs both men are fearless behind the decks. They take risks, go out ona limb - trying out mixes in real time, the total opposite of to-days mainstream DJ etiquette. Whereas Spyro will jump on the mic & apologise (' Dont watch wot just happened ') Kode 9 is uncompromising - he demands a commitment from his audience - if you cant hack the pace get out the way! Apologies excepted Spyro doesn't for a second stop himself from getting lost in the mix, pushing himself and tripping himself up, all to start over again.

Unsure of what may or may not happen they are both masters of hype. As a listener you are involved - engrossed. Your ears trained on every beat, anything can happen - and when it does. ITS ALOT.

" Yo! MY NAME'S TERROR DANJAH Yeah,

and Im sayin;

NO MORE LAWS - NO MORE HOOLIGANS "

Overloaded with potential. With so many divergent strains pulling in so many directions at once. At times grime reminds me of dada - with no single aesthetic to link seprate aspects of the sound to one another, deeply factionalized and with a massive surplus of potential.

Whereas some people would see this under utilised potential as waste - I see it as weight.

In the same way as all 20C art movements that followed in the wake of dada where unable to surpass - or even contend with the combined legacies of Zurich, Berlin & NYC - underground garage has set fire to the new millenniums dance-halls. House & Techno are being rebuilt out of the wreckage but neither are able to compete with the pure adrenaline rush futurism of Grime.

dada bombs.

I've always been intrigued by Terror Danjahs name as well as the underlying militancy of his beats. The kind of militancy of intent I used to associate with metal. A Yes, a No, a Straightline. A goal. He is almost like Slayer, intent on pushing through an idea. Repeating certain motifs - recontextualizing them, redefining his sounds over & over.

From the obvious badness of 'Cock Back' to the avant-garde single mindedness of tunes like 'Piano Madness' - Terror Danjahs ear is a finely honed, scientific instrument. His newer 12"s are even more intense. On the 'Industry Standard' EP he wires his gremlin cackle to exploding - cascading avalanches of snares, R2D2 noises & (most amazingly) cowbell breaks. When he and D.O.K get onit, they make sounds like boxed in fire-fights. That EP is pure war riddim, but, a post Vietnam war. Very much an occupying force in an alien land. Dark, abstract & jittery. Detached, high as a kite and shooting at shadows.

The Phrase " No More Laws " busts this militancy wide open. Couple it with " No More Hooligans " and somthing really interesting is happening.

Militancy is one thing - anyone (and everyone?) can advocate violence or resistance in a murky, indefinite way. Tieing that militancy down to a moral framework actually makes it not only a viable call to arms, but, a vital one. All to often militancy exists in a kind of moral no-mans land. Marxs' 'dictatorship of the proleteriat' providing the theoretical framework for this abnormality - where ones humanity is abandoned for the sake of humainty. Lenin, Stalin and countless others merely put it into practice - with abhorant results.

" No More Laws - No More Hooligans " brings us right back to the schizm of the First International. Before dada, before Bolshevism, before Modernism.

Its as if Bakunin has reached out, tapped Terror Danjah on the shoulder and whispered 'ppsssst, blud - I got suttin for you'

.

Chk these two mixes for audio:


Spyro, Badnes & Miss Brat - 26th May

Kode 9 SONAR MIX.