Space Afrika

The 5th act of Kuboraum’s Digital Sound Residency presents <3less by Space Afrika, a delicately collaged soundscape spanning time, consciousness and genre.

The duo composed by producers Joshua Inyang and Joshua Tarelle made its name with dub techno-soaked sonic impressions of the grey streets and distinct voices of their hometown, Manchester. As sonic painters, they portray visual stories in the listeners’ minds: rich emotional landscapes translated into contemplative, weightless sound collages. Oblique mosaics of dialogue, rhythm, texture, and shadow leaning into an enigmatic fusion of smoky dub, alchemize ambient and cosmic downtempo. Genre-spanning emotive electronic music rooted in everyday life and real-world experiences, allowing the listener to empathize and see the world through the artist’s eyes, just as they see it.

Space Afrika started their career with minimal and dub techno productions.
Their first albums Above The Concrete/​BelowThe Concrete (2014) and Somewhere Decent To Live (2018) were sparse yet intimate, paying tribute to the landscape of their home city, but also expressing a desire to escape its sometimes depressing disintegration. In 2020, they released the mixtape hybtwibt?, a powerful exploration of black consciousness through an assemblage of conversations, news reportage, r&b samples and ambience. Their third album “Honest Labour”, featured as best album of 2021 in Pitchfork, Guardian and The Wire Magazine to name a few, is a 19-track collection of crepuscular moods and beautifully liquid washes of sound. A delicately created vulnerable sonic tapestry, almost entirely organic yet with a binding hint to something more cosmic in the air.