Biography
Vex'd formed as a British duo whose fierce and unpredictable productions fused dub, dancehall reggae, and hip-hop components with industrial and noise layers, shaping the paths of both dubstep and grime. Jamie Teasdale and Roly Porter first encountered each other while studying in London, yet only began issuing recordings after settling in Bristol. Their opening pair of 12-inch singles, “Lion” and “Pop Pop,” surfaced on Subtext—the label operated by Porter alongside Paul Jebanasam and James Ginzburg—in 2004, the same year “Function” appeared via Drum+Breaks, although Mike Paradinas had already signaled interest in releasing their work on Planet Mu. “Gunman” followed in April 2005, with the full-length Degenerate arriving that July; its compact-disc version added a second disc of material drawn from the duo’s prior singles. Degenerate stood as one of Planet Mu’s strongest sellers, registering strongly within the rising dubstep scene while attracting listeners drawn to harder electronic styles such as breakcore and IDM. A further 12-inch, “Bombardment of Saturn,” came out on Planet Mu in 2006, and the pair supplied remixes for dubstep producers Distance and Search & Destroy as well as IDM originators Plaid and composer Gabriel Prokofiev’s String Quartet No. 2. Vex’d issued another 12-inch, “3rd Choice,” on Planet Mu in 2008 before Porter grew weary of club environments, stepped away from production, and the partnership ended. Teasdale then recorded alone first as Dakimh, next as Jamie Vex’d—releasing In System Travel on Planet Mu in 2009—and finally as Kuedo beginning in 2010. Planet Mu later assembled Cloud Seed, gathering pieces intended for a second Vex’d album together with remixes and collaborations, while Kuedo’s debut album Severant appeared on the label in 2011. Merging Chicago footwork elements with early-’80s Vangelis textures, Severant earned widespread critical acclaim and exerted influence comparable to that of Degenerate. Roly Porter also launched his solo career that year with Aftertime, a dense and unsettling classically informed album issued on his reactivated Subtext label. The record drew similar praise and was followed the next year by the concert document Fall Back: Live at Aldeburgh, made in tandem with Cynthia Millar. Porter’s second studio album, Life Cycle of a Massive Star, emerged on Subtext in 2013. Teasdale and Porter reconvened in 2015, Porter appearing on Kuedo’s EP Assertion of a Surrounding Presence, released via Teasdale’s Knives imprint, and the pair performing together as Vex’d at Planet Mu’s twentieth-anniversary concert in Belgium. Porter’s third studio album, Third Law, arrived on Tri Angle in early 2016.
Albums
Singles
