Cottam - Cottam #4 Review

Cottam - Cottam #4 (Not On label)
It's fair to say that we're big fans of Cottam, the mild-mannered Lancastrian who released 3 devastating 12"s over the course of 2009 and introduced the world to his unique blend of afrobeat, reggae and house. We were lucky enough to catch him playing the early slot before Seldom Felt and Jackmaster tore up the subclub, and his DJ set tied up all the elements of groove, melody and dub that are represented on record. This new 12", which hit the shops last Thursday, continues Cottam's winning streak and I'm pretty certain Molotov Disco's Kyriakov will be unable to shut up about it any time soon. The A-side bears all of Cottam's hallmarks, with snippets of obscure afrobeat tracks looping over Kuti-inspired percussion and a solid techno undercarriage. However, with a more house-friendly bpm (as high as 119) than past tracks and a big techy chord chopping up the rhythm, this is probably one of Cottam's most accessible tracks to date and has critics comparing it to early Carl Craig releases. It's going to be huge.
On the B-side, a slumberous techno beat gets injected with funkadelic grooves and snippets of soul vocals. Clocking in a 9+ minutes, it's all about evolving a groove, and throws bongos, shifting guitar loops and brooding bass into the mix. It's a tricky little number that challenges DJs to work for the big pay-off, but is an invaluable weapon if used correctly.

Cottam's soundcloud contains mixes and unmastered demos available for download. I highly reccomend checking it out.
Cottam-Causes Of Colour Mix by Cottam

EDIT: I just bumped into Kyriakov, and the main focus of his discussion was how he'd spent his lunch money on Cottam #4.
I just dropped into RubaDub records. They'd sold out of Cottam #4 within five hours of opening - this one's gonna go fast.