Pearson Sound

David Kennedy, operating primarily under the Pearson Sound alias, works from London as a producer, DJ, and mix engineer who has remained central to experimental bass music and U.K. soundsystem culture. Together with Ben UFO and Pangaea he established the forward-thinking Hessle Audio label. Beginning in the 2000s as Ramadanman with dubstep productions, Kennedy steadily folded in garage, techno, and footwork elements, issuing the 2011 mix Fabriclive 56 under both the Ramadanman and Pearson Sound names. He sustained this bass-heavy experimental approach through the 2015 album Pearson Sound and the 2022 Red Sky EP.

Around 2006 Kennedy arrived in the dubstep scene as Ramadanman and helped launch Hessle Audio alongside Ben UFO and Pangaea; his Ramadanman material surfaced on Soul Jazz, Apple Pips, and Aus Music. In 2009 he introduced the Pearson Sound project via a run of 12"s that increasingly reflected house and garage leanings together with the rising Chicago footwork movement. He soon retired the Ramadanman name, although the 2011 Fabriclive 56 mix appeared under both monikers and nearly every later release carried only the Pearson Sound credit. That same year a Night Slugs white-label 12" paid tribute to two key influences through reworkings of Baltimore club producer Rod Lee’s “Let Me See What U Workin With” and Hardrive’s “Deep Inside,” steering the music toward heavier breakbeats.

In 2012 Kennedy joined Joy Orbison and Boddika for a 12" on their SunkLo imprint and simultaneously started the Pearson Sound label, releasing singles and EPs that continued to fracture and abstract his sound. The sparse, percussive debut album Pearson Sound arrived on Hessle Audio in 2015. Subsequent inventive club tracks included “Thaw Cycle” and the widely praised 2016 single “XLB.” The 2017 Robin Chasing Butterflies EP leaned into ambient electro, whereas 2018’s Rubble took on a rougher, more acid-driven character. Alien Mode, a breakbeat-focused return to Hessle Audio after a five-year absence, surfaced in 2020, followed by the reggaetón collaboration “Mi Cuerpo” with artist and DJ Clara!. The propulsive, sci-fi-tinged Red Sky appeared in 2022.