Okzharp

Joined frequently by vocalist Manthe Ribane, ex-LV member Gervase Gordon has fused South African and U.K. club styles as Okzharp, an alter ego responsible for singles on Hyperdub and Keysound, 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 DJ Blackdown, 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 LV’s inspirations while pointing toward Gordon’s solo work. In 2015, Gordon issued Dumela 113, a lean yet vivid Hyperdub EP that featured Johannesburg native and performance artist Manthe Ribane as vocalist on three of its four tracks. The next year, Gordon and Samrai co-produced Gated (for Keysound), an EP followed months later by Tell Your Vision, a second four-track EP from Gordon and Ribane. The duo continued to record with one another, and in 2018 issued a full-length of discreet and hybridized electronic pop, Closer Apart, on Hyperdub. ~ Andy Kellman