Om Unit Vinyl & CDs

Review: After deciding to sidestep off-kilter bass music bangers in favour of exploring the more experimental side of his musical personality, Jim Coles AKA Om Unit has seen his career get a deserved bump. At the heart of this transformation has been the superb Acid Dub Studies series of albums, which here reaches its third and final instalment. Like its predecessors, Acid Dub Studies III offers an enticing mix of weighty digi-dub 'riddims', deeply psychedelic TB-303 trickery, boisterous dub-leaning bass music grooves, trippy effects aplenty and some of the most immersive sound design around. Yet while there are some genuinely weighty and forthright dancefloor moments - see the rugged 'The Chase', bouncy 'Hungry World' and steppas-powered 'Usurper' - Coles also finds space for warmer and more loved-up excursions, with the gorgeous 'Lost & Found' standing out.

Review: Om Unit's Acid Dub Studies album, an inspired fusion of outer-space ambient sounds, deeply psychedelic TB-303 tweakery and outer-space digi-dub riddims, was for our money one of the standout electronic albums of 2021. This surprise sequel more than lives up to the high bar set by its predecessor, with the Bristol-based producer subtly expanding the project's boundaries (see the borderline Balearic brilliance of 'Camo') while delivering more fusions of ambient techno, acid and digi-dub. Highlights are plentiful, with our picks including the slow-motion strut of 'Strange Brew', the intergalactic squelch of 'Pursuit', the warming loveliness of 'To The River' and the borderline tropical melodiousness of 'Liberation'.