ALWAYS EVERYTHING

MIX // KOWTON

Jouem - Dyad [Just Another Beat]
Szare - Unknown [Unreleased]
Conforce - Stop Hold [Meanwhile]
Goldwill - Blush [Wandering]
19.45.4.18.5.25.5.18 - All The Way Back [Horizontal Ground]
Kowton - Untitled 19-6 [Unreleased]
Kowton - Drunk on Sunday [Idle Hands]
Szare - Indo Greek [Unreleased]
Svreca - Obscur (Marcel Dettmann remix) [Semantica Records]
D-Bridge - ZX81 (Shed remix) [Fat City Recordings]
Panamax Project - Maximum Width [Subsolo]
Joe - Claptrap [Hessle Audio]
Ramadanman - Glut [Hemlock]
Peverelist and Hyetal [The Hum - Punch Drunk]

>Download Kowton’s Resident Advisor mix here<

The wonderfully murky ground between techno and dubstep has changed subtly over the last couple of years. There’s been a definite shift away from the sort of Berlin-infused 140bpm material showcased on Appleblim’s Apple Pips label and pioneered by many of the Bristol crowd - ‘blim himself, Headhunter, Peverelist, the more contemplative ends of Komonazmuk’s output. Instead, with tempo often dropping to 135 and below, the 4/4 chassis of techno and house is finding itself torn apart in any number of different ways: the fragmented sketches of Shed’s recent The Traveller album; Addison Groove’s propulsive footwork-isms; and the creeping, deep blue glow of Joe Cowton’s music. His debut 12” under the Kowton pseudonym – having put his Narcossist alias to one side – came out on Martin Clark’s Keysound label, and immediately struck a chord with us. ‘Stasis (G Mix)’ in particular was fascinating and beautiful in equal measure, slowing two-step down to a sparse but tightly swung slow jam, and the two tracks he put out on Chris Farrell’s Idle Hands imprint earlier this year were just as radical a departure. On both ‘Basic Music Knowledge’ and ‘Hunger’ he further dropped the pace to a soporific crawl, leaving merely the skeletal imprint of dubstep’s sub-bass behind to buoy both tracks up. We duly sang its praises >as part of our 12”s You Might Have Missed series<.

This excellent mix he’s put together for RA further emphasises the latent connections between his music and the darker, dubby sounds emanating from Berlin – placing new tracks of his own beside Goldwill’s bewitching ‘Blush’ (from the excellent What Is Behind EP), Shed’s mindwarping remix of dBridge and ambiguous headspaces from Szare. Suddenly erupting into Joe’s ubiquitous ‘Claptrap’ and ending on the stargazing high of Hyetal & Peverelist’s fucking triumphant ‘The Hum’, it’s a sudden reminder that within dubstep lies space wide enough for crossover with techno’s four-to-the-floor pulse.

There’s currently a gradual re-emergence of serious interest in techno and deep house in Bristol, after the last few years of sub-heavy, rave atmospheres. The newly launched Caravan party on 5th October, with Kassem Mosse, October, Emptyset and Chris Farrell playing alongside Kowton himself, should prove an excellent kick up the backside for a scene overly accustomed to nuum tunes. Keep it locked to AE for more on Bristol techno in the next few weeks…

Rory