- Bristol's Joe Cowton has tended to mine his most glittering gold from the ruptures between genres. But some of Kowton's brightest moments have come through channelling the chest-out aggro of grime. We've had the solo highlight of his recent EP with Julio Bashmore, "And What?"; the spit and distortion of "TFB"; and "Dub05," which sounded like a haunted house on a north London estate.
There have been moments where Kowton's redlining has slid too far into noise, and his sense of groove has been subsumed by aggression. But though "H-Street" is rough—very rough—there's enough swagger in the snares and glass-shatter cymbals to temper it with some subtle funk. There's a delicacy to the rhythms that's like watching a gorilla tap dance—destructive power masked by a fleet-footed beauty. By comparison, "Helsinki Sunrise" is positively soporific. Elastic garage subs flex and twitch below a "Spastik" drum line, with the occasional wail of the emergency services offering some urban grit. Where "H-Street' is pure hoods-up music, this is the kind of track that'll get the girls on the floor, too. Considering the coarseness of Kowton's approach elsewhere, those flashes of softness make both sides stand out.
TracklistA H-Street
B Helsinki Sunrise