Om Unit

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Om Unit

Jim Coles has spent the past three years refining his unique sound with releases on Goldie’s Metalheadz, dBridge’s Exit Records, Plastician’s Terrorhythm, Civil Music and of course his own Cosmic Bridge imprint, and via collaborations with Machinedrum (as Dream Continuum on Planet Mu), Mark Pritchard, Kromestar, Fracture and Sam Binga and his short-lived, much hyped footwork-jungle side-gig Phillip D Kick, Om Unit has also remixed Joker, Reso, Kramphaft, Starkey, VIVEK, Foreign Beggars, Shigeto, Illum Sphere and more. He shared his remix of Jay 5ive & Kromestar’s ‘Wishful Thinking‘ earlier this year after releasing his debut album ‘Threads‘ on Civil Music last October, and now, I get to ask the veteran some questions regarding everything music. He’s a producer with a long history of picking up disparate influences and fusing them in unexpected ways, and his latest record was testament to his genre-hopping versatility. He’s gearing up for an Australian tour soon, so we thought it’d be apt to get some info out of him.

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Your latest album connected dots between many genres, taking in hip-hop, footwork, jungle and whatever you want to call that outstanding collaboration with Charlie Dark. Could you talk a little bit about your musical background?

I grew up listening to hardcore and jungle / drum n’ bass mostly, so that has come back around for me, plus the whole “retromania” 20 year curve thing seems to have kicked in on a personal level too, so that’s sort of where my head is at. But I’ve also been involved in making and playing other electronic stuff for quite some years, and I’ve also produced instrumental hip-hop type stuff too as well as working with turntablism – when I was kid I played a bit of piano and drums like most people do at school; just messing about. It’s a big melting pot of all that really, plus listening to contemporary stuff and music by friends, too.

Yeah, there’s a huge hip-hop push on tunes like ‘Just Sayin’ with Gone The Hero and ‘Patients’ with Jabu. Have you always considered it a big influence?

Perhaps, although I’ve always been drawn to the left-field of hip-hop music. I never really cared for a lot of the classic New York sound. That hard, after-hearing innovative music like early jungle set the threshhold very high for me, so I was more into hearing darker, weirder, twisted stuff like anti-pop consortium and Cannibal Ox. I also produced a few tunes on that tip myself when I was working as “2tall”, including beats for Foreign Beggars and that family of people – Kashmere, Jehst. I also made a full album with Dudley Perkins (Declaime) and Georgia Anne Muldrow called “Beautiful Mindz”. I was a real rookie though, so it sounds a little dated, but it was a great learning experience for me – this was 2007 – it felt good to me to honour that influence and work with people who really have something to say. So much rap music is based around narcissism and celebrating the mundane aspects of life; it just leaves me cold nowadays.

I’ve gotta ask – what was it like working with Charlie Dark? He’s such a great poet. 

So easy dude, Charlie is a pro – he literally rocked up, laid it down, I arranged it, done. He’s been in the game for a long time and has done so many behind-the-scenes things in music in London. He’s just a solid human being.

Haha, killer. What would you say was the initial reaction to ‘Threads’?

Man, so hard to say. Everybody’s different but on the whole the feedback has been great! I think it surprised some people who were expecting more of the “DJ-able” stuff that I’ve done before, but it’s a long-player after all, not a hype thing like EPs and singles.

You’ve gone through several aliases over the years. Do you have a particular favourite to produce under? 

Well, only two really. There was one tune under “Nyquist” back in 2001, and the Phillip D Kick project was fun, but as you know it was just a quick, short-lived thing. Om Unit has been the most fun though I have to say.

The Om Unit record was released almost four months ago now, have you got anything brewing in the pipeline yet? 

Always! I have more music starting for Metalheadz in 2014, I have a few more collabs getting ready and just generally heaps more ideas. You’ll just have to wait and see!

Exciting – what about any forthcoming releases on Cosmic Bridge?

Yep! The ‘Cosmology Vol. 1’ compilation is coming soon as well as some new signings to the label – you’ll have to be patient for those too, haha.

You often get lumped under ‘bass music’, even though that’s far too simplified. Are there any up-coming ‘bass’ producers who you think we should keep an eye on in particular?

Yep, heaps. Epoch, LAS, Etch, Sub-Basics, Moldy, Coleco, J(ay) AD and Graphs to name just a couple – follow the rabbit hole from there! I see you’ve already featured a few of these producers on your website.

Indeed we have! You’ve released tunes on various imprints – Exit, Metalheadz, Civil to name just a few – but was there one that really stood out for you? Was getting signed to Metalheadz, for example, a specific goal of yours? You would have been stoked. 

Man I grew up with Metalheadz so to me it’s a bucket-list thing to just be involved – it’s more than just putting tunes out on the label though. Goldie [the Metalheadz boss] has been great to me on the phone just giving me advice and mentoring me; it’s such a blessing! Also dBridge with Exit has been very supportive too – I’ve been made to feel very welcome working with that side of dnb. It’s all part of the journey though, not the be-all and end-all.

How do you stay inspired musically? 

All I can say is I can’t remember the last time I was bored…

Haha well that’s good – what can we expect from the Australian tour though? Unreleased bits I hope. 

Maybe! From myself and others for sure… You’re gonna have to wait and see for that, too!

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22.02.2014 – Sydney, The Civic
28.02.2014 – Melbourne, The Forum Theatre
01.03.2014 – Hobart, Mona
02.03.2014 – Canberra, Transit Bar
06.03.2014 – Brisbane, The HiFi
07.03.2014 – Perth, Metro City

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