Koushik

After two months topping the electronic charts with this EP, an extensive remix and collaboration portfolio and just finishing a U.S. tour with Four Tet, Koushik is the hottest new name in trip-hop and, what’s more, he hails from Toronto. The Be With EP is a CD compilation of his three vinyl EPs and it still retains the warm sound and soft crackle. A precursor to his debut album Out My Window, fans of Shadow’s earlier breaks and RJD2’s more recent work will soon become hooked on Koushik’s sound. It is full of light, jazzy, skittish drums, psychedelic guitar samples, melodic bass lines and Koushik’s own haunting vocals echoing gently above the music. Owing as much to acid flashbacks from the ’60s as it does to ’90s b-boy hip-hop, his mother’s background in Indian classical music is a noticeable influence in taking his work in a different direction to many other artists. Most of the 14 tracks are about a minute long and act more like orchestral interludes for the few that are full songs. This is a warning shot for Koushik’s arrival.