alan abrahams aka portable or bodycode is a south african composer and singer his style of music is loosely termed african electronicahe is not only famous for his outstanding live performances but also as a video artist and for his music videos which he directs and shoots himselfhe 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 journeyemerging out of the ruins of a post apartheid south africa and rising from a slum in cape town producer alan abrahams has made a name for himself in the electronic music by way of his bodycode and portable projects he started his discovery of dance music listening to the backbeat of the first wave of chicago house records inspired musically yet frustrated geographically he relocated to london in 1997in 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 sd electronic label with his partner lerato and released a string of 12 releases a succession of fulllength albums followed cycling and futuristic experiments 005 on background version on scape records and the powers of ten for sd 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 portugalupon moving to lisbon abrahams conceived of bodycode a more dancefloorcentric project that complements portables headier textures with a more bodymoving aesthetic as bodycode abrahams harnesses his desire to unlock the psyche via the body layering techfunk 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 bodycodes first fulllength the conservation of electric charge a whirlwind of percussive multilayered techno released on spectral sound in 2006 after a threeyear absence abrahams resurrected the moniker for second spectral fulllength 2009s immune an intricately textured album of vocallaced house i just felt it a good time for a warm nurturing aesthetic says abrahams of bodycodes shift in tone we need that right now2010 saw abrahams relocate to berlin where he resides now