Okzharp

Joined frequently by vocalist <a href="spotify:artist:1vvphYXv0vUdhGbyTLJAsx">Manthe Ribane</a>, ex-<a href="spotify:artist:5d4kdwU7uEHb51W4JIV70e">LV</a> member Gervase Gordon has fused South African and U.K. club styles as Okzharp, an alter ego responsible for singles on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Hyperdub%22">Hyperdub</a> and <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Keysound%22">Keysound</a>, as well as an album, Closer Apart (2018), on the former label. The Cape Town-born, London-based Gordon made his first strides as Okzharp with 2010 and 2012 mixes hosted by the blog of Rinse FM <a href="spotify:artist:3ujX3LSXytB7rIVycrRCZJ">DJ Blackdown</a>, and in 2014 another set was presented by The Quietus. They featured tracks classified as kwaito and qgom, two of South Africa's hybrid dance music styles, and reflected <a href="spotify:artist:5d4kdwU7uEHb51W4JIV70e">LV</a>'s inspirations while pointing toward Gordon's solo work. In 2015, Gordon issued Dumela 113, a lean yet vivid <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Hyperdub%22">Hyperdub</a> EP that featured Johannesburg native and performance artist <a href="spotify:artist:1vvphYXv0vUdhGbyTLJAsx">Manthe Ribane</a> as vocalist on three of its four tracks. The next year, Gordon and <a href="spotify:artist:43ii0U7jI6ZeYPpWLhwVPq">Samrai</a> co-produced Gated (for <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Keysound%22">Keysound</a>), an EP followed months later by Tell Your Vision, a second four-track EP from Gordon and <a href="spotify:artist:1vvphYXv0vUdhGbyTLJAsx">Ribane</a>. The duo continued to record with one another, and in 2018 issued a full-length of discreet and hybridized electronic pop, Closer Apart, on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Hyperdub%22">Hyperdub</a>. ~ Andy Kellman, Rovi