The Cosmic Bridge label celebrates its fifth year with a third volume of its Cosmology series of compilations featuring 10 productions hand picked by label head Om Unit.
Om Unit Presents Cosmology Vol.3 continues its showcase of the label’s roster — with this year’s additions of J Kenzo, J(ay)A.D, and TMSV — and of the varied takes it offers on dubwise, electronic and bass-heavy soundscapes and productions. “This is the best Cosmology yet for me,” says Om Unit. As always, the compilation includes exclusive solo productions as well as collaborations and remixes of previous releases.
Parisian dub specialist Moresounds and London’s J:Kenzo open proceedings with ‘Real Tree Riddim’, a solid roller that challenges the legs. Moresounds also turns in a spatial rework of Om Unit’s ‘Wagonist’, sending the original further down the cave, and J:Kenzo updates his well-received ‘Skatta’ with a percussive VIP version. Newcomers TMSV and J(ay)A.D both show why they’ve earned their place at the table, the former with the ten-ton heavy ‘Send Them Come’ and the latter with the footwork-tinged ‘No One 2’. Tucked half way through the compilation is one for the heads, an unreleased version of the label’s first release, ‘Solar Cycle’, a space-traveling odyssey from Om Unit and Kromestar. Boston’s Graphs goes sci-fi epic on ‘Poisoned Throne’ while DJ Madd takes a well-paced dubbed out techno walk in Kingston with the muddy ‘Trenchtown Techno’. Munich’s Danny Scrilla shows a more delicate and jazzy side with his reimagining of Om Unit’s quarter-time meditation ’Lightbody Transfer’ before the label boss himself closes the compilation with the murky ‘Hidden Dread’.
As a producer and DJ, Jim Coles has been a significant and pioneering presence in various dance music circles for the past five years. Following a formative decade in the global hip-hop underground, Coles took the name Om Unit in the late 2000s and began to travel across genres and scenes in search of sonic tropes to cross-breed and re-imagine.
On record, Coles’ explorations into the deeper end of the electronic music spectrum have come via releases for Civil Music, including a critically acclaimed debut album, 2013’s Threads, legendary drum & bass outfit Metalheadz, where he was given access to Goldie’s personal sample archive as the inspiration for 2014’s Inversion album, Planet Mu, for a collaboration with Machinedrum as Dream Continuum, All City Records, remixing Grammy-winning producer Om’Mas Keith, Plastician’s Terrorhythm, and Exit Records, where he first collaborated with Sam Binga (leading to their BUNIT series of white label releases). The same exploratory approach has made him an in-demand remixer and BBC Radio 1, Boiler Room, Resident Advisor, FACT, XLR8R, and Rinse FM have called on him to provide mixes and showcase his sound. This year he joined with Alix Perez, Chimpo, Fixate, Fracture, Om Unit, Sam Binga and Stray on the collaborative Richie Brains project on Exit.
In 2011, Coles set up Cosmic Bridge Records, through which he has exercised an A&R sensibility that has created an exciting independent home for likeminded artists. The label’s releases, pressed onto limited edition vinyl runs, regularly sell out within days of their street date. Through Cosmic Bridge, Coles has championed veterans such as Kromestar and Boxcutter alongside new voices from Europe and America, including Moresounds, Danny Scrilla, and Graphs. The label’s breadth is best seen in the celebrated, and award-nominated, Cosmology compilation series Coles began overseeing in 2014. Cosmic Bridge represents a dual path of inspiration: that which Coles found in others’ music, and that which others have found in his.
Forward ever!
V/A ‘Om Unit Presents – Cosmology Volume 3’
Release Date: 2nd December 2016
Label: Cosmic Bridge
Format: Digital
Cat No: CBR019
Tracklist:
01. Moresounds x J.Kenzo – Real Tree Riddim
02. TMSV – Send Them Come
03. J.Kenzo – Skatta VIP
04. Om Unit vs Kromestar – Solar Cyle (Melody Mix)
05. J(ay).A.D – No One 2
06. Graphs – Poisoned Throne
07. DJ Madd – Trenchtown Techno
08. Om Unit – Lightbody Transfer (Danny Scrilla’s Jazz Combo mix)
09. Om Unit – Wagonist Riddim (Moresounds Dub)
10. Om Unit – Hidden Dread
http://www.cosmicbridgerecs.com
Tour dates
01-Oct // Dark Horse, Birmingham, UK
14-Oct // Powered By Channel One, Brixton Jamm, London, UK
22-Oct // Bam Festival Closing PARTY, Caserne Fonck, Liège, Belgium
29-Oct // Telerama Dub Festival, Dock De Paris, Paris, France
04-Nov // Le Grand Mix, Tourcoing, France
05-Nov // Le Tetris, Le Havre, France
11-Nov // Cosmic Bridge @ Fluc, Vienna, Austria
12-Nov // Stadtwerkstatt, Linz, Austria
18-Nov // Corsica Studios, London, UK
09-Dec // Richie Brains @ Motion, Bristol, UK