Black Sun - Kode9
Metascore
80 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 12 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 11 out of 12
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 12
  3. Negative: 0 out of 12
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  1. Pitchfork
    Apr 26, 2011
    77
    Tension and anxiety don't always have to be cavernous and austere, and Black Sun reveals a way for dubstep's vanguard to express their more ominous impulses in a way you can still dance to, no matter how the steps change.
  2. Q Magazine
    May 18, 2011
    80
    His second album evokes blade Runner's stylish futurism, populating it with Spaceape's paranoid poetry and drowning clean lines in tape crackle. [May 2011, p.119]
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  3. Uncut
    May 13, 2011
    80
    Black Sun is subdued and ruminative: snaking around dancehall, grime, hip hop, but holding fast to its own uniqueness. [Jun 2011, p.87]
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  4. The A.V. Club
    Apr 26, 2011
    83
    In spite of its sprawling palette, Black Sun is tight and compact, an album rather than simply a showcase.
  5. musicOMH.com
    Apr 28, 2011
    80
    This could be interpreted as a murky world of drug paranoia, or it could be a response to possible political disinformation and spin. Either way, it has made for one of UK bass music's most intelligent and consistent full length works.
  6. The Guardian
    Apr 26, 2011
    60
    Black Sun is more than adequate – but compared to the artists Kode9 has brought to prominence (Ikonika, Scratcha DVA, Funkystepz, Ill Blu), falls a touch short in terms of surprising ideas.
  7. Prefix Magazine
    Apr 20, 2011
    80
    The irony is Black Sun is better-suited for the club. The album's sounds and ideas are large enough to fill a dark, echoing room.
  8. Tiny Mix Tapes
    Apr 26, 2011
    80
    Black Sun is spotty and rusted, and it is likely that it will be interesting to most for this or that track - a grimy slayer, a leftfield floorfiller - or for the fact that it has a fantastic musique concrète apocalyptic vignette featuring Flying Lotus for a coda.
  9. Dusted Magazine
    Apr 26, 2011
    70
    The privilege of reinvention is something we've always granted rock bands, so why not extend the courtesy to Black Sun, an electronic album that's awkward but earnest.
  10. BBC Music
    Apr 26, 2011
    80
    When a lunar time capsule next needs a musical artefact of almost indeterminable age, Kode9 & The Spaceape are your men.
  11. The Boston Phoenix
    May 4, 2011
    88
    At times, the album draws more from drum and bass than from UK funky or any other bass music du jour.
  12. The Wire
    May 3, 2011
    70
    Black Sun has a broader palette, even if it's not really any lighter. [Apr 2011, p.53]
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User Reviews

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User Score
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No user score yet- Awaiting 2 more ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 1
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 1
  3. Negative: 0 out of 1
  1. cosmogramma
    6
    Black Sun is one of the top 5 releases since 2011 under the umbrella of 'dubstep'. It's not as experimental, paranoid, or atmospherically rich as Memories of the Future, but it still provides an interesting electronica listen. This album focuses on ingenious, intricate, layered drum-lines, with atmospherics taking second on this album. The Spaceape's lyrics aren't as ominous or moving as Memories of the Future, but are still leagues ahead of other lyrics within the same genre… Full Review »
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