Stephen Samuel Gordon (17 June 1970Melissa Bradshaw
"The Spaceape obituary"
''The Guardian'', 24 October 2014. – 2 October 2014), known as The Spaceape, was a British poet and MC. He is known for his work on the electronic music label

Hyperdub __NOTOC__ Hyperdub is a British, London-based electronic music record label and former webzine, founded by Steve Goodman, a.k.a. Kode9. The label was formed in 2004, and grew out of the UK's early dubstep scene. Artists signed to the label hav ...

, and in particular for his frequent collaborations with labelmate

Kode9 Steve Goodman, known as Kode9 (born 1973) is a Scottish electronic music artist, DJ, and founder of the Hyperdub record label. He was one of the founding members of the early dubstep scene with his late collaborator The Spaceape. He has releas ...

. He was described by ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide ...

'' as "a pioneering

artist," while

Pitchfork Media ''Pitchfork'' (formerly ''Pitchfork Media'') is an American online music publication (currently owned by Condé Nast) that was launched in 1995 by writer Ryan Schreiber as an independent music blog. Schreiber started Pitchfork while working ...

stated that "if first-wave UK

dubstep Dubstep is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in South London in the early 2000s. The style emerged as a UK garage offshoot that blended 2-step rhythms and sparse dub production, as well as incorporating elements of broken be ...

had a voice, it belonged to Stephen Gordon."Pitchfork – Kode9 & the Spaceape: Killing Season
/ref> Gordon died on 2 October 2014 at the age of 44, following a battle with a rare form of cancer.

Career

Gordon was involved with much of the earliest music released by pioneering

label

, run by friend and frequent collaborator Steve Goodman a.k.a.

. Throughout his career, he also collaborated with

Burial Burial, also known as interment or inhumation, is a method of final disposition whereby a dead body is placed into the ground, sometimes with objects. This is usually accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing the deceased and objec ...

, The Bug, Martyn, Redshape, Dub Gabriel, the Echologist,

Jerry Dammers Jeremy David Hounsell Dammers GCOT (born 22 May 1955) is a British musician who was a founder, keyboard player and primary songwriter of the Coventry-based ska band The Specials (also known as The Special A.K.A.) and later The Spatial AKA Orche ...

, Spatial AKA Orchestra, and

Junior Boys Junior Boys are a Canadian electronic pop group, founded in 1999 in Hamilton, Ontario by Jeremy Greenspan and Johnny Dark. Dark left the project shortly after, and was replaced by engineer Matt Didemus. The duo initially gained critical prais ...

. According to

Pitchfork A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to ...

, " heSpaceape lent his ten-ton doomsayer croak to dozens of definitive works of music and was positioned as the

Linton Kwesi Johnson Linton Kwesi Johnson (born 24 August 1952), also known as LKJ, is a Jamaica-born, British-based dub poet and activist. In 2002 he became the second living poet, and the only black one, to be published in the Penguin Modern Classics series. His ...

of the post- 7/7, surveillance-state UK."

Personal life

Gordon was married with one daughter. He died on 2 October 2014 from a rare form of cancer.

Discography

Studio albums

*''

Memories of the Future ''Memories of the Future'' is the first collaborative studio album by electronic musicians kode9 and Spaceape. A review in ''Tiny Mix Tapes'' described it as "an important release in dubstep's development." A circumspect review in ''Resident Ad ...

'' (with Kode9) (

, 2006) *''Black Sun'' (with Kode9) (Hyperdub, 2011)

EPs

*''Xorcism'' (Hyperdub, 2012) *''Killing Season'' (with Kode9) (Hyperdub, 2014)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Spaceape, The 1970 births Hyperdub artists 2014 deaths Deaths from cancer in the United Kingdom Black British male rappers British electronic musicians Dubstep musicians