Om Unit

Jim Coles, a British producer and DJ, shapes his output under the Om Unit name into a detailed yet seamless blend of multiple bass-driven electronic styles. Recognized among the earliest figures to merge juke/footwork elements with jungle, his productions maintain evident respect for drum'n'bass traditions even as they advance the style. He first introduced the Om Unit name in 2009 through tracks leaning toward dubstep and wonky hip-hop, yet subsequent work such as the 2013 album Threads became steadily more layered and resistant to easy classification, claiming distinct sonic space. In the opening years of the 2020s he developed an additional direction across the Acid Dub Studies series. Releases by Om Unit have appeared on respected drum'n'bass imprints including Metalheadz and Exit Records, while he also operates Cosmic Bridge, a label likewise focused on forward-looking bass music.

Originally based in London, Coles began making jungle as a teenager during the 1990s. In the next decade he turned to hip-hop and worked as a turntablist, issuing several albums as 2Tall that included the 2007 collaboration Beautiful Mindz with Dudley Perkins and Georgia Anne Muldrow. After the 2008 album The Softer Diagram, Coles launched the Om Unit project while folding dubstep into his approach. The track "Encoded" appeared on Fabric's early-2010 compilation Elevator Music, Vol. 1, and a white-label remix of Joker's "Digidesign" circulated widely. Further Om Unit material soon surfaced on labels such as All City Records and Terrorhythm.

When Chicago's juke/footwork scene gained wider attention in 2011, Coles identified connections between the new style and his own drum'n'bass background. Under the Philip D Kick alias he created footwork-inflected bootleg versions of classic jungle cuts including LTJ Bukem's "Horizons" and Omni Trio's "Renegade Snares." As Om Unit he issued two EPs on Civil Music—The Timps and Transport—that moved between electro and unconventional jungle. He also started Cosmic Bridge with the single "Solar Cycle," a joint effort alongside dubstep producer Kromestar. The juke/jungle hybrid project Dream Continuum, formed with Travis Stewart (Machinedrum), put out the one-off EP Reworkz on Planet Mu in 2012. After the Aeolian EP that year, Civil Music released Om Unit's first full-length Threads in 2013. He brought a renewed angle to drum'n'bass with Small Victories, a collaboration with Sam Binga issued on Exit Records, and made his initial appearance on Goldie's Metalheadz label via Sleepwalkers; the album Inversion followed on the same imprint in 2014.

After moving to Bristol in 2015, Coles maintained activity through Cosmic Bridge while also issuing several joint releases with Sam Binga on the white-label BUNIT imprint. He supplied a remix of Nasty Habits' techstep classic "Shadow Boxing" and completed the Torchlight EP trilogy. In 2017 Om Unit delivered his third album, Self, which he characterized as the genuine follow-up to Threads. The next year Coles issued the first full Philip D Kick EP, Pathways, together with the debut 12" from his jungle alias Mahakala. The EP Violet came out on the identically named label in early 2019. Untitled Works, an EP recorded with Kid Drama, appeared via R&S sublabel Apollo, and the mix CD Cosmology: Dark Matter was released on Cosmic Bridge.

The self-released Submerged EP arrived in early 2020. Terrorhythm put out the Corridor EP, which included a Shigeto remix. As We Continue, a second Philip D Kick EP, surfaced on Astrophonica. In November Om Unit shared collaborations with experimental dub crew Seekersinternational (Secret Location) and Dutch producer Martyn (The Passenger). The self-explanatory Acid Dub Studies I appeared under his own name in 2021, followed by the more drum'n'bass-oriented Flux. He teamed with Canadian dub producer Deadbeat for the 2022 EP Root, Stalk, Leaf and Bloom. Acid Dub Versions and Acid Dub Studies II both arrived later that year, succeeded by the single "Return of the Lightworker."