User:Ivania80

Alan Abrahams AKA Portable AKA Bodycode has been in motion his whole life—growing up in South Africa, coming of age in London, decamping to Berlin and finally settling in Lisbon and his deeply syncopated brand of electronic dance music has evolved with every step of the journey.

His formative years were spent in an impoverished Cape Town township ironically tagged “Beverly Hills”, and to the backbeat of the first wave of Chicago house records he emerged out of the ruins of a post-apartheid South Africa. Inspired musically, yet frustrated geographically, he relocated to London in 1997.

In London, Abrahams began recording as Portable, the experimental, atmospheric project that acts a living link between the indigenous sounds of his youth, and those first records whose futuristic aesthetic broadened his horizons. He founded the Süd Electronic label with his partner Lerato and released a string of 12″ releases. A succession of full-length albums followed – Cycling and Futuristic Experiments #005 on Background, Version on ~scape records, and the Powers of Ten for Süd Electronic in 2007. A rich and expansive record, Powers of Ten further explored his African heritage through a new lexicon of sonic influences, acquired from his home base in Portugal.

Upon moving to Lisbon, Abrahams conceived of Bodycode, a more dancefloor-centric project that complements Portable’s headier textures with a more body-moving aesthetic. As Bodycode, Abrahams harnesses his desire to “unlock the psyche via the body,” layering tech-funk with wisps of melody, heady effects, and a liberal wash of otherworldly vocal samples. Somewhere between the beats for the body and melody for the soul, Abrahams believes, lies the Bodycode. The result was Bodycode’s first full-length, The Conservation of Electric Charge, a whirlwind of percussive, multi-layered techno released on Spectral Sound in 2006. After a three-year absence, Abrahams resurrected the moniker for second Spectral full-length, 2009’s Immune, an intricately textured album of vocal-laced house. “I just felt it a good time for a warm, nurturing aesthetic,” says Abrahams of Bodycode’s shift in tone, “We need that right now.”

2010 saw Abrahams re-locate to Berlin where he resides now.

Discography
Portable &#8211; This Life Of Illusion

Label: Perlon

Release Date:September 16, 2010

Bodycode &#8211; Immune

Label: Spectral Sound

Release Date:June 06, 2009

Bodycode &#8211; What Did You Say

Label: Spectral Sound

Release Date:June 01, 2009

Portable &#8211; The Emerald Life

Label: Musik Krause

Release Date:December 01, 2008

Portable &#8211; Knowone Can Take Away

Label: Perlon

Release Date:July 08, 2008

Bodycode &#8211; A Document Of An American Past

Label: Yore

Release Date:November 19, 2007

Portable &#8211; Powers Of Ten

Label: Süd Electronic

Release Date: Release Date:November 01, 2007

Portable &#8211; Don&#8217;t Give Up (Remixes)

Label: Süd Electronic

Release Date:March 01, 2007

Portable &#8211; Speak Out

Label: Süd Electronic

Release Date:January 01, 2007

Bodycode &#8211; The Conservation Of Electric Charge

Label: Spectral Sound

Release Date:July 11, 2006

Portable &#8211; The San

Label: ~scape

Release Date:February 17, 2006

Portable &#8211; It From Bit

Label: Süd Electronic

Release Date:October 01, 2005

Portable &#8211; Version

Label: ~scape

Release Date:June 17, 2005

Portable &#8211; Flicker EP

Label: Background

Release Date:July 01, 2004

Portable &#8211; Distance

Label: Karat Records

Release Date:November 05, 2003

Portable &#8211; One Second Ago Or Less EP

Label: Background

Release Date:April 14, 2003

Portable &#8211; Gridshift

Label: Süd Electronic

Release Date:October 14, 2002

Portable &#8211; Futuristic Experiments #005

Label: Background

Release Date: July 01, 2002

Portable &#8211; Patterns And Signals

Label: context

Release Date: June 01, 2001

Portable &#8211; Cycling

Label: Background

Release Date: November 17, 2003