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Nothing is the new album from one of electronic music’s big players, Kode9 (real name Steve Goodman). It’s his third album on his own label Hyperdub records and is his first solo album; the previous two were with friend and longtime collaborator The Spaceape (real name Steven Gordon). Gordon passed away in 2014 with a rare form of cancer. Another devastating loss came in 2014 with the death of DJ Rashad, another friend of Goodman’s that featured regularly on the Hyperdub label. These losses were no doubt painful blows that influenced the artistic direction of Nothing.

The title of the album Nothing is the concept that glues each track into a unifying whole. Goodman, while writing the album in a burst of creative energy in January 2015, realised he had no concept to help to finish off and give direction to the rest of the album; this led to him wondering what was it about and he realised it was about “nothing”. Goodman has a PhD in philosophy and so probably quickly saw the potential for such a concept. He delved into books related to the concept of “nothing” in a variety of areas such as mathematics, quantum physics, and philosophy.

The album manifests a hybrid of musical genres: Chicago footwork, Japanese pop and horrorcore, dubstep, grime, jazz, and minimalism. In a totalist approach, Goodman mashes up his material adding sub bass with polyrhythmic drum programming that lends a sonic layer of urban tension to the mix. For instance, the melancholy of second track Notel is certainly influenced by the minimalist composer Philip Glass’ repetitive arpeggios but Goodman makes this his own by way of his signature sub bass. In fourth track Holo, Japanese pop merges with clever vocal sampling and polyrhythmic drum programming. One of the highlights of the album is Vacuum Packed, with a sampled jazz piano riff merged with the pummeling sub bass and and a hail of complex polyrhythms. Minimalism is heard again in Wu Wei with a xylophone sample similar to a pattern you could have heard in a Steve Reich piece from the seventies. This is to mention just some of the genres that influence the entirety of the album. Although there are many genres represented, Goodman’s compositional voice is loud and clear and the craft and artistry of the creation of such hybrid creatures is truly masterful. With musical hybrids and philosophical depths, Nothing is one of electronic music’s best releases so far this year.