Kowta
Benjamin Kowta — performing as Kowta — is a Northern California producer and DJ working in bass music and drumstep. He was born and raised in Davis, California, and is currently based in the Lake Tahoe area. Kowta has been active in the West Coast bass scene since around 2014.
Kowta’s recorded output begins with the 2017 debut single "U NO ME," released on Stylust’s Sleeveless Records. He followed that single with the MONSTA EP. Beyond Sleeveless, his music has appeared on Create Music Group, Saturate! Records, ShadowTrix Music and We Got This. Those releases mark his public discography to date and anchor his presence as a producer in the West Coast bass circuit.
As a producer, Kowta’s sound sits at the intersection of heavy low-end bass music and tempo-flexing drumstep. His productions emphasize tight, processed breakbeat work and bass design that leans on distorted midrange growls layered over deep sub frequencies. Technically, his tracks use chopped and reprogrammed breaks rather than straight looped beats, with transient shaping and heavy saturation on drums to give hits their snap. He frequently employs filter automation and LFO movement on mid-bass patches, plus multiband distortion to separate sub from midrange. Space and atmosphere come from short, gated reverbs and tempo-synced delays on vocal chops and FX, while sidechain compression is applied to let kick and snare cut through dense low end.
Specific sonic signatures in Kowta’s work include pitched vocal stabs that double as rhythmic hooks, snarling FM-style mid-bass tones, and percussion layers that combine brittle metallic top-end with thick low-end weight. In drumstep tracks he often programs half-time groove heads at drum and bass tempo — giving a rolling energy with dubstep-style wobble on the midrange — and balances that with punchy, reprocessed snares and crisp hi-hat work for clarity on club systems.
Career-wise, Kowta contributes primarily as a studio producer who also DJs. His releases — starting with "U NO ME" (2017) and followed by MONSTA EP — serve as concrete examples of his production approach and the labels that have supported him. The relationship to Stylust via Sleeveless Records is a documented connection; additional releases on Create Music Group, Saturate! Records, ShadowTrix Music and We Got This show a consistent pattern of working with boutique bass-focused imprints.
Publicly available information on specific personal influences is limited. The clearest documented connection is the Sleeveless Records release under Stylust’s imprint. Beyond that, the technical character of Kowta’s tracks — focus on mid-bass distortion, chopped breaks, pitched vocal hooks, and half-time drumstep grooves — places his work squarely within contemporary US bass and drumstep production practices, but specific artist influences have not been widely documented.
Kowta remains based in the Lake Tahoe area while maintaining ties to the Davis, California origin noted in his biographical record; his discography currently includes the 2017 single "U NO ME," the MONSTA EP, and releases on Create Music Group, Saturate! Records, Sleeveless Records, ShadowTrix Music and We Got This.
