In the ‘90s ‘the Bristol sound’ — trip hop — was omnipresent with acts like Massive Attack. Roni Size then led a new wave with his drum‘n’bass supergroup Reprazent. Today Bristol is represented by the Perth-bound KOAN Sound — Jim Bastow and Will Weeks — with their post-glitch/bass hybrid. “We currently live together with another producer we’ve collaborated with in the past who goes by the name of Asa,” says Bastow. “Bristol is obviously a big influence on us, both personally and musically. There is a well-documented lineage of music that the city has produced, and growing up in the city meant being exposed to that history — as well as all the current music that was being produced — from a relatively early age. Many of our extended friends are producers or involved in the music scene in some capacity, so it still feels like a good time for the city. Currently the grime sound has been experiencing a rejuvenation across the UK, which is cool to see, since several of our peers here are directly contributing to pushing that sound forward.”
"The grime sound has been experiencing a rejuvenation across the UK, which is cool to see."
KOAN Sound, MySpace kids, circulated their early music while still in school. Initially classified ‘dubstep’, today their output is “more refined” and “varied”. “We haven’t really been attached to any particular music scene or sound for quite a while, which has given us a healthy amount of creative freedom. We don’t really pay attention to genre tags, so hopefully people who are familiar with our music know that we like to switch it up and experiment.” In 2011 KOAN Sound dropped the Funk Blaster EP, the first of several on Skrillex’s fledgling OWSLA. The pair also scored an unusual commission remixing Ed Sheeran’s breakthrough The A Team – “on a really tight deadline”. Sheeran would tell Radio One’s Zane Lowe he dug it. “He’s not really a conventional pop star, but it’s really cool to see a humble guy like him do so well on a global level.”
In May KOAN Sound unleashed the EP Forgotten Myths. “With this record, we wanted to give more of a direct nod to the influence that drum‘n’bass, especially the darker side of the sound, has had — and continues to have — on us. We also wanted to combine some of our other influences, such as metal-type stuff — à la [Washington prog-metal band] Animals As Leaders — as well as more orchestral and cinematic soundscapes.” KOAN Sound self-released it through Bandcamp “under a ‘pay what you want’ scheme,” explains Bastow, “partly as an experiment, but mainly to give something back to the people who have supported us financially — and non-financially! — over the years. We’re always working on new music and [we] try to maintain a balance between touring and studio time. It has been difficult in the past finding that equilibrium so, after the summer, we have scheduled time off to work on music.”
Fresh from a North American tour, they headline mini-fest Major Bass. “Aside from having lots of new music to play, this time we’ll be bringing our good friend and superproducer Culprate with us, so expect lots of material you haven’t heard before.”
