King Midas Sound – Kuedo & Mala versions review

After the seductive, haunting tones of the Waiting For You LP, a full album’s worth of recreations of King Midas Sound from a barrage of powerhouse knob-twiddlers was always going to be an exciting prospect. Ahead of the Without You release, Hyperdub slip out this taster 12” to whet the appetite, and there’s few fans of the space Kode9’s label inhabits that won’t be salivating over these two versions alone.

With his own album twitching at the gates ready to be unleashed on Planet Mu, Kuedo brings his synth-laden delirium to “Goodbye Girl”. The former Vex’d man starts proceedings on a tart melodic line that is quickly underpinned by some monolithic bass tones. The somewhat mournful quality of the original manages to pervade the day-glo nature of the tools Kuedo employs, acting as just the right counterbalance to make for a bombastic slice of emotive beat music.

Mala, unsurprisingly, opts for a bleak, dread-fuelled take on “Earth A Kill Ya”, and does so to great effect for one of his most striking efforts in recent times. A menacing, drawn out intro peppered with ghostly tones kicks into gear with a minimum of fuss over a persistent sub stab. With typical flair, Mala lets an occasional lick lifted from a reggae track shed the briefest ray of light into the track before the creepy synth hook takes things back into the dark again. If you appreciate music written to conjure up demons then this has everything you need.

Oli Warwick