KOAN Sound ( ; named after the word ''

kōan A ( ; ; zh, c=公案, p=gōng'àn ; ; ) is a narrative, story, dialogue, question, or statement from Chan Buddhism, Chinese Chan Buddhist lore, supplemented with commentaries, that is used in Zen Buddhism, Buddhist practice in different way ...

'') is an English electronic music production duo from

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

, consisting of Will Weeks and Jim Bastow. A track from the ''Max Out EP'' is titled "One Hand Clap" – a reference to a well-known ''kōan'' with the implied answer of silence. They initially gained recognition as

dubstep Dubstep is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in South London in the early 2000s. The style emerged as a UK garage offshoot that blended 2-step rhythms and sparse dub production, as well as incorporating elements of broken ...

producers, with earlier popular tracks including "Akira". Some of their many types of music includes

glitch hop Glitch is a genre of experimental electronic music that emerged in the 1990s, which is distinguished by the deliberate use of glitches in audio media and other sonic artifacts. The sounds featured in glitch tracks usually come from audio record ...

, neurohop, and Drum & Bass. The duo have since released music on various labels including Inspected Records and

Owsla Owsla (stylized in all caps) is an American record label and creative collective. It was founded by Skrillex, Tim Smith, Kathryn Frazier, and Clayton Blaha in 2011. Skrillex announced the label on August 17, 2011. The label's first release was ...

, and have worked with a number of other artists, including producer Asa and singer

Ed Sheeran Edward Christopher Sheeran ( ; born 17 February 1991) is an English singer-songwriter. Born in Halifax, West Yorkshire, and raised in Framlingham, Suffolk, he began writing songs around the age of eleven. In early 2011, Sheeran independently r ...

Career

The duo cite bands such as

Rage Against the Machine Rage Against the Machine (often abbreviated as RATM or shortened to Rage) was an American Rock music, rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1991. It consisted of vocalist Zack de la Rocha, bassist and backing vocalist Tim ...

and

Incubus An Incubus () is a demon, male demon in human form in folklore that seeks to have Sexuality in Christian demonology, sexual intercourse with sleeping women; the corresponding spirit in female form is called a succubus. Parallels exist in many c ...

as early influences. In 2005 the duo began to explore

electronic music Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...

through artists such as

The Prodigy The Prodigy are an English electronic music band formed in Braintree, Essex, in 1990 by producer, keyboardist, and songwriter Liam Howlett. The original line-up also featured Rapping, MC and vocalist Maxim (musician), Maxim, dancer and occasi ...

and

Noisia Noisia was a Dutch electronic music trio from Groningen, Netherlands. The trio was composed of Nik Roos, Martijn van Sonderen, and Thijs de Vlieger. Their music spanned several genres, including drum and bass, dubstep, breakbeat, and house. They ...

. On 23 May 2011, KOAN Sound released the ''Max Out EP''. The release was seen by many as a turning point in their production, gradually moving away from the

template of their earlier music and displaying a wider range of styles. On 1 November 2011, the duo released the ''Funk Blaster EP'' on

Skrillex Sonny John Moore (born January 15, 1988), known professionally as Skrillex, is an American DJ, record producer, musician, singer. Raised in Northeast Los Angeles and Northern California, he began his career in 2004 as the lead vocalist of the ...

's label

. The EP reached number 1 in the

Beatport Beatport is an American electronic music-oriented online music store owned by LiveStyle. The company is based in Denver, Los Angeles, and Berlin. Beatport is oriented primarily towards disk jockey, DJs, selling full songs as well as resources that ...

releases category. During 2012, KOAN Sound performed across Europe and North America. They supported

alongside

Diplo Thomas Wesley Pentz (born November 10, 1978), known professionally as Diplo, is an American DJ and music producer. He is a co-creator and lead member of the electronic dancehall music project Major Lazer; a member of the supergroup LSD (group), ...

and others on the ''Full Flex Express Tour'' in 2012. On 4 September 2012, ''The Adventures of Mr. Fox EP'' was released. The release includes remixes from Reso, Neosignal and Opiuo. A remix of "Introvert" by Vexisle, a duo of KOAN Sound's frequent collaborator Asa and Kursa, was released soon after as a free download. The EP track "80s Fitness" (music video by director Tim Hendrix and producer Filippo Nesci) featured on an advert for ''

The Radio 1 Breakfast Show ''Radio 1 Breakfast'', also known as ''The Radio 1 Breakfast Show'', is a radio show that is broadcast across the UK on BBC Radio 1. It is hosted by Greg James since 20 August 2018 as the show's 16th presenter. The show ran six days a week u ...

'' with

Nick Grimshaw Nicholas Peter Andrew Grimshaw (born 14 August 1984), nicknamed "Grimmy", is an English broadcaster and author. He became known for having hosted a variety of shows on BBC Radio 1. He is also known as a television presenter for his Channel 4 rol ...

and received airplay on

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and Contemporary hit radio, current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including ...

and

1Xtra BBC Radio 1Xtra is a British digital radio in the United Kingdom, digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It broadcasts Black music and Urban contemporary music, urban music, including Hip hop music, hip hop and Contemporary R&B, ...

. Their songs have been played by

Skream Oliver Dene Jones (born 1 June 1986), known professionally as Skream, is an English electronic music producer based in Croydon. Skream has released records on several British record labels, such as Tempa, Tectonic, and Big Apple Records, and ...

and Benga,

MistaJam Peter Dalton (born 19 January 1983), known professionally as MistaJam, is a British DJ and radio presenter. He is known for presenting radio shows on BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 1Xtra from 2005 to 2020; since 2020 he has presented on Capital Danc ...

and Annie Nightingale among others, and they completed a ''Daily Dose: OWSLA After Dark'' mix for MistaJam. On 22 October 2013, the duo's collaboration EP with Asa, ''Sanctuary'', was released through OWSLA and Inspected. This was considered to be another turning point in their production, where they began to incorporate more orchestral, organic and ethereal elements in their music, as well as releasing various tracks that sounded almost completely acoustic. Their fourth OWSLA release, the ''Dynasty'' EP, was released on 1 April 2014. One of the four tracks, "7th Dimension", entered the

UK Indie Breakers Chart The UK Independent Singles Breakers Chart and the UK Independent Album Breakers Chart are music charts based on UK sales of singles and albums released on independent record labels by musical artists who have never made the UK top 40. It is com ...

at number 12. Their fifth release, ''Forgotten Myths,'' was released in 2015 through

Culprate Culprate (real name: John Hislop) is a British electronic music producer, whose music ranges from IDM to dubstep. He established his role in the burgeoning UK dubstep scene by releasing EPs on Dubsaw Recordings and Inspected Records from 2010 to ...

's Open Outlets label and Shoshin. Their sixth release, an album titled ''Polychrome,'' was announced on 1 November 2018 and released on 7 December 2018. On 20 September 2019, they became a featured artist on the rhythm game ''

osu! ''Osu!'' (stylized as ''osu!'') is a freeware rhythm game originally created and self-published by Australian developer Dean Herbert. It was released for Microsoft Windows on 16 September 2007, with later ports to macOS, Linux, Android (oper ...

''.

Discography

Albums

Extended plays

Singles

Other appearances

Remixes

References

{{Authority control English electronic music duos Musical groups established in 2008 Dubstep music groups Owsla artists Musical groups from Bristol