Sound Unwrapped Artists in Residence and pioneering producers, composers and visual artists, Space Afrika, return to Kings Place for an exclusive headline show as part of a new season of Luminate. With support from Manchester based experimentalists Hyperdawn.

Set times
8 – 8.40pm | Hyperdawn
8.40 – 9pm | Interval
9 – 9.45pm | Space Afrika

Producers, contemporary composers, visual artists, performers and NTS Radio hosts, Space Afrika, are pioneers of electronic music encompassing UK Dance, Ambient, Alternative, Trip-hop, Pop, Modern Classical and Experimental. To date they have released two critically acclaimed albums, with their debut, Somewhere Decent To Live, released in 2018, followed by their album Honest Labour, released in 2021 on Dais Records. The album went on to receive critical acclaim and became one of the standout albums of 2021, topping Resident Advisor’s Album of the Year and earning Space Afrika two nominations for DJ Mag‘s Best Live Act and Best Album.

In spring 2021, Space Afrika stepped into film by releasing Untitled (To Describe You), a collaboration with photographer, filmmaker and poet Tibyan Mahawah Sanoh, creating what has been described as “a living, breathing study of the duo’s Northern working-class Black British reality”.

In 2022, the duo were selected as one of The 15 Top Live Acts Of The Year 2022 by Mixmag, receiving national radio play across BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio 6, and BBC Radio 3 Late Junction, becoming one of the most in-demand artists in experimental electronic music performing at world-renowned art institutions and festivals across Europe and North America including Gladstone Gallery [US], Southbank [UK], MUTEK [CA], Meet Factory [CZ], HKW Haus der Kulturen der Welt [DE], Unsound [PL], Lafayette Anticipations [FR] and Berlin Atonal [DE].

Expanding on their work into film and cinema, the duo provided music for Pacific Club, a short-film documentary directed by Valentin Noujaïm, going on to win the Jury Special Mention at CPH: DOX, Lichter FF and Videoex. As of June 2023, Space Afrika became signed to Warp Publishing.

‘The duo’s groundbreaking music takes the mischievous appeal of their home city’s sound and adds a fresh dose of dark ambience’ The Guardian 

Manchester based experimentalists Hyperdawn have honed their own distinct, hands-on approach to music making, using live reel-to-reel tape processing, electronics and vocals. From vast off-kilter beats to melting r’n’b croons, theirs is a language between pop and performance art.

‘Very few bands actually reimagine pop. Hyperdawn, however, are entitled to make such a lofty claim.’ The Quietus