KOAN Sound is an English production duo and DJ act from Bristol, England. The pair—Will Weeks and Jim Bastow—formed in 2008 and work across bass music subgenres often associated with drum & bass and jungle scenes, including drumstep, dubstep, glitch, chillstep and wider bass music.

They first gained public attention with early dubstep material. Notable early items in their catalogue include the track "Akira" and the Max Out EP, released in May 2011. On 1 November 2011 they issued the Funk Blaster EP on Skrillex’s OWSLA imprint. Over the following years KOAN Sound broadened their palette beyond dubstep into glitch hop, drum and bass–aligned tempos and other bass-driven styles. The duo released the album Polychrome in December 2018 and have toured internationally as producers and DJs.

As producers, Will Weeks and Jim Bastow map a shift from bass-heavy dubstep toward cleaner, textural arrangements that borrow from glitch hop and drumstep. Across releases from the Max Out era through Polychrome, their work emphasizes tight drum editing, layered atmospherics and detailed bass design. You’ll hear precise transient shaping on kick and snare, chopped or pitch-shifted vocal fragments, and glitch-style rhythmic decoration stacked over sub-bass foundations—techniques that underpin both their downtempo/chillstep moments and their higher-tempo drumstep pieces.

On the DJ side, KOAN Sound’s sets and live appearances reflect that cross-genre range: they program tracks that move between halftime dubstep weight and faster, break-driven sections consistent with drumstep and modern DnB tempos. Their mixing tends to highlight low-end clarity and textural movement—bringing forward bass variation and atmospheric transitions rather than long, uninterrupted beat-matching of a single tempo.

Career highlights and concrete releases: formation in 2008; early recognition for dubstep material including the track "Akira"; the Max Out EP (May 2011); Funk Blaster EP on OWSLA (released 1 November 2011); expansion into glitch hop and drum and bass–related material across later singles and EPs; and the full-length Polychrome (December 2018). The OWSLA release links them directly to the early-2010s international bass music circuit, and their subsequent touring activity underlines their role as both studio producers and live/DJ performers.

Specific named influences are not extensively documented in the public record; however, their catalogue and label associations (notably the OWSLA Funk Blaster EP) place their work alongside the era’s contemporary bass producers and cross-genre electronic acts. Polychrome (December 2018) remains their major long-form statement to date and a concrete marker of the duo’s move into broader, more textural bass music territory.

Releases & EPs

If You Hadn't

Mosaic

Cascade

Beyond the Shadows

Sanctuary