KiloWatts

James Watts is the mind behind KiloWatts and his many different projects and styles. His work embraces the bulk of electronic genres, including breaks, IDM, techno, and downtempo. His fluency in piano is evident throughout his work, as is his penchant for jazzy riffs, intelligent structure, wistful melodies, and an often cheeky take on the current state and history of electronic music as a whole. His album “Ground State” is out on Native State Records, home to fellow pioneers Bluetech and Shen. It’s a collection of sweaty psychedelic downtempo grooves, churning molasses-thick basslines, and undulating synthetic sonorous mandalas. KiloWatts has albums on Artificial Music Machine that are full of visionary dimensions, fusing together a dexterous knowledge of sound synthesis, deep emotional articulation, and solid melodic intuition. Peppered throughout these monumental statements are releases with class labels such as Harmonious Discord, Thoughtless Music, and his own outlet, KiloWatts Music, that celebrate his adept technical expertise, often bringing a whirlwind of mindblowing digital wizardry in the form of glitches and edits.

He began making music in the early 90s with DOS-based trackers and releasing them on BBSs through the demoscene under an undisclosed moniker. He was a driving force in the foundation of Soulseek Records, a netlabel celebrating independent musicians during a time of heavy backlash from the record industry against filesharing. The label helped show that independent electronic musicians can use filesharing to their advantage by promoting and collaborating with eachother. The label was born among a flurry of netlabels, many which still exist today.

An ever-growing list of projects and collaborations exists. Skeetaz, with breakbeat cohort Bil Bless brings hard-hitting digital glitched-out psychedelic funk. His collaboration with singer Peter Van Ewijk is a mystical ride with vocals and guitar, nested atop edgy electronica. With Tanner Ross, an eerie style of dark techno is born under the name Voodeux for Dirtybird’s techno sublabel Mothership. Fellow Philadelphian MC Amagine delivers consciousness-driven motifs in their digital glitch-hop project called Super Galactic Expansive.