Kode9 at the Red Bull Music Academy

Last Wednesday I was invited down to the London Red Bull Music Academy to have a peep behind the scenes and attend a lecture given by Steve ‘Kode9’ Goodman before it all drew to a close at the end of the week. The whole experience had a fantastical edge to it – imagine Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory, but instead of chocolate there were rivers of underground dance music, and instead of oompa-loompas there were big name producers strolling about. While I was waiting in the academy’s reception-come-café-come-bar (yeah), Flying Lotus and Daedalus sauntered in and sat down on the next table, chatting. Minutes later, Hudson Mohawke popped by and joined in. Thank God I was wearing my least worst trainers.
An RBMA participant makes use of the facilities

Hearing the words ‘Red Bull Music Academy’, you’d probably be forgiven for imagining little more than a grating pop festival sponsored by an energy drink, broadcast non-stop on some digital TV channel, built around a many-into-one competition for a grand prize (a record deal, surely – What All Musicians Want). Well, if the RBMA was a five week long advert for Red Bull, then it was a very expensive and artistically conscientious one. True, every room I saw had its own miniature glass fridge stacked full of cans of the stuff, but everyone within the academy did seem to have an interest in fostering creativity and nurturing new talent that wasn’t just deeply sincere, but musically specific too, the activities of the RBMA being largely centred on underground dance and electronic music. A direct appeal to the hearts, minds and wallets of the pop mainstream’s public this was not.The RBMA is an international yearly event held in a different major city each year. Thirty participants (the word ‘student’ is discouraged as unequal) are selected from all over the world, and they attend lectures given by respected musical figures and courses on music-making, while producing music with the help of established artists, resident or visiting, and all the hardware and software they might need to do it. Flying Lotus had been a participant in the Melbourne RBMA a few years back – while there he wrote ‘Tea Leaf Dancers’ and met Kode9, and this year he was on site to lend a hand to the next generation. The whole thing was only semi-public – gigs and raves were held in various places around London featuring the artists involved, and a free paper, Daily Note, was handed out daily on the Underground, but the focus was on participants. The academy occupied and redecorated the London offices of Red Bull near City Hall, turning them into a place where participants, already housed in flats down the road, could eat three fantastic meals a day (I could smell a stunning curry as I left in the evening), make use of a free café and bar and produce tracks in several purpose-built studios, some of which will remain there permanently for the use of the public – and all this paid for, apparently, by Red Bull. I really hope the participants understood how lucky they were.
On the condition that I would leave the question-asking to the participants, I parked myself in a low, comfy and decidedly trendy chair at the back of the lecture room to see Kode9 play tunes and speak to DJ and radio presenter Benji B for an hour and a half about DJing, producing and Hyperdub. You can watch the lecture by clicking here, it includes some of Kode9’s latest work in progress and a preview of the astounding B side of Kyle Hall’s upcoming 12” on Hyperdub, ‘Kaychunk / You Know What I Feel’.
They weren’t yet sure where the next RBMA will be held, but I’d encourage anyone reading this who considers themselves serious about music-making to watch out for news of it think about applying to participate next year. http://www.redbullmusicacademy.com/