About

Jim Coles once again turns the tide towards a new horizon and travels further into the echo chamber. Leading on from the much-lauded Secret Location mini-album with Seekersinternational, one-offs such as ‘Open Palms dub’ (Dub Stuy) and other teasings, Acid Dub Studies is the fully-fledged result of the merging of the calligraphic expression of the 303 acid bassline with the stern sway of dub reggae and the hazier edges of dub techno and ambient music.

For those who have been paying close attention, this project will come as a welcome return to the vulnerability and playfulness of early Om Unit records such as his sub-radar single from 2010 ‘Lightgrids/Lavender’ (All City Records) or the unearthed chugging ambience of ‘Friend of Day’ (Idle Hands) and indeed in some sense draws from similar wellsprings as moments on 2013’s Bass classic ‘Threads’.

Whilst being perhaps an ‘interim project’ this is still a vital and important expression of exploration and playfulness. A study in the true sense and borne out of a subtle but pervasive frustration with the rigidity found in musical words he has up to now been cohabiting, comes from the pressing need to break with perceived expectation and to explore an honest and natural space away from the genre labels and tags that had been often lazily applied to his sizeable catalogue of music.

With no desire to reinvent the wheel, rather to paint pictures in an honest framework, the LP was crafted using a medley of classic analogue mixing techniques inspired as much by the adventurous dubbing of Adrian Sherwood as by the inward-delving haze of Scott Monteith’s Deadbeat project. Created during a period of lonely introspective walks through his home town of Bristol, the cover art is a photograph of some of the iron kerbstones that are found almost exclusively in the characterful and hardy city which were installed in the late 1800’s to protect pavements from cart wheels. Something about the permanence of those iron slabs and cobblestones inspired a sense of comfort and determination.

Once again Jim has shown a rare convincing adaptability that few electronic artists can embody. Another step on the journey of personal and creative curiosity that fans are sure to appreciate. — (via Label)

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140g Black vinyl
Packaged in full colour 3mm spine sleeve

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Following the head-wobbling dub of his hook-up with Seekers International, Om Unit gets deeper in the acid dub echo chamber on the first in a promising new series

Repatching uchronic connections between OG Jamaican dub, its Bristol and London variants, and a wave of ‘90s electronica experiments, Om Unit’s ‘Acid Dub Studies’ work in a hypnotic, rooted style shared by the likes of John T. Gast, TNT Roots, Andreas Tilliander and Ossia in the contemporary field.

Listen up for very classy, Wild Bunch-adjacent vibes on ‘Bristol Theme’, and worm charming rumbles on ‘Treading Earth’, pus a dash of soggiest acid dub in ‘Celestial Envoy’, hefty mystic steppers pressure in ‘Circled’, and totally baked 303 work on ‘Tapped’, but we recommend immersion in the full album for best effect. — (via Boomkat)

Vinyl Tracklist
A1 Intro
A2 Bristol Theme
A3 Treading Earth
A4 Dissolved
A5 Celestial Envoy
B1 Ghosts
B2 Circled
B3 Rolling Stock
B4 Tapped
B5 The Struggle

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Label: Not on Label
Format: Vinyl, LP, Repress
Repressed: 2025 / Originally Released: 2021
Genre: Electronic
Style: Acid, Dub

File under: Electronic // House / Electro / Techno
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