aya & Ikonika & Kode9

Hyperdub started as a fanzine in 2000, became a label in 2004—and has since redefined electronic music time and again. Steve Goodman, aka Kode9, originally wanted “sub-bass and slightly off-kilter beats that are a little bit sad in tone.” Then, according to Goodman himself, “the label went a bit haywire”: Burial permanently anchored emotion in club music with “Untrue” (2007). DJ Rashad brought footwork from Chicago to Europe with “Double Cup.” Kode9 himself demonstrated with The Spaceape on “Memories of the Future” (2006) where bass can lead when it leaves dancefloor logic behind: a dystopian audio drama instead of a club. Add to that a remarkable proportion of women on the roster, which isn’t a program but the consequence of a stance. At Enjoy Jazz , Hyperdub is represented by two current artists: aya, whose “hexed!” (2025) makes addiction and trauma audible, and Ikonika, who translates queerness, trans identity, and neurodiversity into musical structure on “SAD” (2025).