“Bristol’s new collectives are redefining the city’s bass culture, placing post-dubstep sounds, labels and radio broadcasts on the map”
The Wire
Livity Sound, the Bristol-based label trio of Tom Ford (Peverelist), Joe Cowton (Kowton) and Craig Stennett (Asusu). The seeds of Livity Sound were planted in 2009 and 2010 as the dubstep community, both in Bristol and further afield, began to splinter. As the mainstream side of the genre evolved into big-room rave music and pulled away from its sound system origins, Ford began to actively explore new territory, working at slower tempos while keeping the essence of his approach intact. Livity Sound emerged from the desire to define this newer music as its own independent entity: a raw and exploratory strain of UK techno, rooted in dub methods and sound system culture.
At the same time, Ford started sharing ideas and collaborating in the studio with Cowton, who over the preceding few years had released striking, sub-heavy house tracks and these early sessions birthed the first Livity Sound 12″. Stennett, who had recently moved to Bristol, contributed to the second Livity Sound 12″, ‘Sister’. Recognising that they shared a common vision, the trio assembled a live hardware set-up, which uses improvisation and dub effects to meld their music together into a thrillingly raw, unbroken whole. Their first live performance took place in a basement in Bristol in early 2012, and they have since played regularly at clubs and festivals throughout Europe. Since late 2010 their Livity Sound label has released a series of vital 12″s by all three producers.
