Latest Purchase - Luv Jam

Luv Jam - Mature Oak (Phonica White)

 

I got very excited when i saw that there was something new out from Cottam. Apparently I got number 317 of only 444 copies. It seems a shame if there really are so few of these considering how good it is.

Luv Jam's original version is pretty good. I reckon if I'd heard it many years ago it could possibly have been a contender. All the sounds are spot on but I don't think this track does enough for me these days.

The Cottam mix on the flip is a different matter entirely. Although Cottam is still playing with basically the same tried and tested set of sounds, I'm much more taken by this side. Instantly identifiable Cottam rhythms, maybe faster than usual with quality acid tweaks and strings/washes that are determined to drag me away from the computer with my arms in the air. I know it's still early but this could be a release of the year for me.

If this is as limited as is claimed, it probably means the links I can offer will be relatively poor, but as always I'll upgrade if possible.

Hear Some Samples

 

Latest Purchase - Cottam

Cottam - Cottam 4 (Cottam)

I've heard it said that life is about priorities. If that's so then I guess my decisions about this record could be pretty telling.

This record came into rubadub the day before I got paid and I hardly had any money left. I had enough to buy 20 fags for the day and some dinner after work, or at least that is what I'd planned until I saw the e-mail telling me that this record was available. I actually took a half day from work to rush out to get this and made do with an empty belly and 10 fags.


My excitement about this record was so great that I wasn't prepared to even wait 24 hours until I'd been paid. This was down to the fact that I've been playing a different version of the A-side of this single that I downloaded from Cottam's soundcloud a while back so much that I was even messaging him to pester him to release it.

I think I've written before about how much I like Cottam, so the fact that I love this single should come as no surprise.  The A side is so good I can't stop playing it. The elements of this song are pretty simple, guitar loops plus a synth line combined with a small vocal sample and finally a few few acid tweaks, but they way they are put together and used to just keep raising the intensity of this track make me wish I still went out dancing just so I could lose my mind to this.


This isn't a mental or pounding record, it's just really great, really effective dance music. It still has the Cottam trademark detailed percussion programming and the tempo is only a bit higher than usual. Awesome stuff.


On the flip side we've got some swinging funky guitar loops with an electronic bass pulse intertwined with sirens and weird vocals. That maybe makes it sound a bit crazy, but the low tempo and subtle production resolves it all into a coherent smooth whole. While not as rocking as the A-side this grooves on sweetly for about 10 minutes in that distinctive Cottam style.

Listen to Side A 

Listen to Side B

Latest Purchase - Cottam

Cottam - Story #3

Another Discogs purchase.  Took a wee while to get here, but it was worth the wait.

Cottam is a fairly new act to me.  I picked up the first 3 white labels (well, they were all coloured but had no info, so you know what I mean) and have become a big fan of his slow motion house and edits of R&B and african stuff. 

I've been playing Cottam 2 and Cottam 3 a lot recently, while Rothko has been mixing Cottam 1 a fair bit. All great stuff.

We went out to see him play at the Sub Club a few months ago on an astounding Monox night that also featured DJ and live sets by Seldom Felt. 

It was a superb night and would recommend you jump at the chance to see either of them.  I recall Cottam had an awesome mix with Phuture - Acid Trax and Theo Parrish - Falling Up (Carl Craig Remix).


Cottam has a really excellent SoundCloud page.  It's got most of the stuff he has released, including this new single, plus loads of demos of stuff the will hopefully come out later.  You can even download some tracks. It's mostly un-mastered versions, so the vinyls sound better, but the difference isn't so great as to make them unworthy of a listen. I've already messaged him begging for Afro Edit 3 to get released as a single.

This new single has an excellent afro edit, an R&B style one and a couple of cool percussion and sample tracks.  They've all got his trademark hypnotic, slow motion grooves and I look forward to getting to know them better.

I've added a video from youtube, but the song is wrongly named (it's actually DH-13) and is very low fidelity.  It might be better to check the sound from Cottam's SoundCloud page. The EP is made up the four tracks with 'Story#3' in the title