![Threads by Om Unit - Civil Music [CIV059]](https://media.kudosdistribution.co.uk/civ059/800/cover.ki)
Threads
A 15 track leftfield/idm album (1h 1m 49s) — released November 3rd 2014 on Civil Music
Threads is the debut album from London producer Om Unit, released on Civil Music on November 2013.
While this is a debut full length for Om Unit, real name Jim Coles, it is in fact the producer's fourth studio album, following from work in the 2000s under the name 2tall. Having reset the clock on his artistic output in 2010, Coles has spent the past three years refining a unique sound as Om Unit via collaborations with Machinedrum on Planet Mu, releases on Goldie's Metalheadz, dBridge's Exit Records and Civil Music, his own Cosmic Bridge label and the short-lived Phillip D. Kick alias that fleshed out the links between Chicago's footwork, jungle and slow/fast. The confluence of all this work takes full flight on Threads.
Across its fifteen tracks Threads articulates Om Unit's musical journey from his beginnings to the present. It references his hip hop background, in the swung out, hypnotic headnod of 'Wall of Light' and the positive message of 'Just Sayin'', a collaboration with the mysterious Gone The Hero, (who will be stepping out of the shadows on Jneiro Jarel's Label Who imprint in 2014,) and touches on the music that has impacted him in recent years such as dubstep, the bassweight of which anchors the album. Dubstep's influence is most obvious in the eyes-down roller 'Nagual' and the deeply emotive 'The Silence' featuring vocalist Jinadu. There are also hints of slow-mo house's chug, a sound Coles first experimented with upon taking the Om Unit name. It's this slow groove that drives the spellbinding 'Patients' featuring Young Echo's MC Jabu, who gives life to the beat with poetic raps, and it's also central to the 2013 reworking of 'The Corridor', a track from the first Om Unit release. Here Coles slows the original's key elements down even further while managing to keep all the slow moving, hypnotic magic of the original.
Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, the album is grounded in Coles' junglistic roots, a relationship that has driven much of his recent output and DJ work. Here it takes on its most refined form yet, equally apparent throughout but obviously manifested on the most dancefloor friendly tracks: 'Jaguar', 'Wicker and Pearl' and 'Governer's Bay'. These three tracks close the album but not before one more parting shot, the deeply meaningful 'The Road' featuring London's urban poet, and legend, Charlie Dark.
A key part of the Threads experience is how the tracklisting presents the music, balancing introspective and energetic moments, instrumental and vocal. While stand out moments can be picked, as they are sure to, Threads is an album that works best when the listener lets him or herself be guided by its creator.
It is perhaps cliche for a label to claim that their next release is a standout, or even a classic record, yet Coles' maturation as a producer over the past decade has allowed him to synthesise all these influences and references into something coherent and unique that takes the listener on a personal yet accessible journey. As such Threads truly feels like it has that classic potential.
"The road is selfish and the road can be hard, the road can be long, the road can be far / The road will mean struggle, the road will leave scars, the road requires wisdom, the road requires truth / The road will never care about the fire in the booth" - Charlie Dark, from Om Unit - Threads LP, track 15 'The Road'
...we can easily tell the whole thing's going to cause some serious impact in its end of the bass pool - Boomkat
Richly absorbing, acutely realised and meticulously constructed stuff - Louis Cook Hyponik
REVIEW 5/5 Jim Coles aka Om Unit is an illuminating example of how covering multiple genres – weaving threads – can be done without sacrificing your own identity 5/5 - Joe Muggs Mixmag
t's taken a long time, but London producer Jim Coles is finally getting his dues. After years of playing the hip-hop game as 2tall, he reinvented himself as a bass producer under the name Om Unit, but it was his jungle-footwork bootlegs as Philip D Kick in 2011 that really held the secret. Since then, his music's gotten faster, and his outsider drum & bass releases on Metalheadz and Exit this year have been his most promising material yet. All of that comes to a head with Threads, his debut album for Civil Music, where he's already pumped out EP after EP of spacey future funk. And while the record isn't the furious flight of fancy some might have hoped for, Coles' rhythmic expertise and uncanny sound design are well on display, and the album wows! - Andrew Ryce Resident Advisor
A veritable potpourri of folk music of the future - HHV
Threads is a coming-of-age for a distinguished beatmaker and sound sculptor, provoking a rethink regarding the parameters of an increasingly blurred template. - Claude Barbé-Brown Crack Magazine
‘Threads’ offers us 15 beautiful tracks which explore the universe of influences surrounding Om Unit. A more subtle take on his junglist roots featuring much more lush sounds, sparse and airy drums, exploring the slow/fast realm with great results. Whatever it is, Om Unit can’t do any wrong at the moment. - High on Beats
a unifying sound that pushes both Coles and bass music to fascinating new levels - Jorge Hernandez Vibe
In certain circles, this debut album Threads was among the most eagerly awaited of the year. Coles’ approach is that of a craftsman, relying on the old-fashioned attributes of quality and sincerity, but it seems the expectations now being pinned on him go a little further. Given his past life as hip-hop producer 2tall, the footwork experiments of his Philip D. Kick alias, and the drum & bass, dubstep, and house of Om Unit, his music is seen as representative of a multifarious but fully functioning scene. Perhaps the hope for Threads — and note that well-chosen title — is that it might bring together the disparate strands of dance music, solidifying the post-dubstep landscape with something like a definitive statement. That Threads comes close to fulfilling those expectations is thanks firstly to Coles’ openness. Where other producers may just pay lip service to various styles via a few choice samples and interludes, Coles displays them with space, patience, and respect. This is most evident in the guest spots, as he gives up whole tracks to accompany the tense, serious rap of Young Echo’s MC Jabu and the meditative spoken word of performance poet Charlie Dark. But it’s all over the instrumental tracks, too, making the whole thing so varied and illustrative that it’s tempting to use the old cliché, “if you only buy one dance album this year…” - Tinymixtapes
Threads is Coles’ first album under the Om Unit moniker, As one might expect, it’s an eclectic set, titling from downbeat songcraft to sturdier beat music. Young Echo’s Jabu, Charlie Dark, and Jinadu are among the guest contributors. Full support for Om Unit at FACT - FACT
- Kudos happily ship all items worldwide.
- Shipping costs and delivery times are available here.
- UK items are sent tracked as standard at no extra cost.
- We aim to dispatch orders placed before 2pm on the same day.
- We are unable to ship orders on weekends or Bank Holidays.
- If you purchase a pre-order item amongst an order of in-stock releases, we will typically hold your order until all items are in ready to send.
- Although we use all reasonable means to ensure that your order is delivered within a specified time, we cannot accept any responsibility for late deliveries due to circumstances outside of our control. We will do our best to inform you of any unexpected delay.
