Five on Friday with COZZIE

This week’s Five on Friday turns the spotlight on COZZIE, the collaborative project of Cosmo, 23, and Zoë, 27, whose shared devotion to underground house music and rave culture forms the foundation of both their creative and personal partnership. The pair met at a rave, and music has underpinned their relationship ever since.

Their sound sits in stripped-back, groove-driven house territory, built on deep, dubby textures, rolling rhythms and subtle flashes of melody. The influence of UK and European rave culture runs through their work, alongside a clear debt to collectives such as Fuse, SlapFunk and Half Baked. What COZZIE are chasing, above all, is the timeless energy of the underground.

Catch them opening for The Red Telephone in Margate next Sunday from 3pm, where deep and minimal house, rolling grooves and carefully curated selections will ease the crowd into the evening.

Cosmo’s Five

Wants and needs  – Jake Antonio 

I love this track, it perfectly typifies the sound which made me fall madly in love with house music. The deep bass and  ‘bow’ sample mixed with the high pitched stabs is an unmatchable fusion of sounds. Such a great feel good track and makes me reminisce on all things good. Jake Antonio if you ever read this respect boss!

Suitably Fruity – James Andrew

Another tune I love, this one only recently released I believe and have not been able to stop rinsing it. Very upbeat and uptempo, I really love the sound of the synths particularly which Juno aptly calls ‘wispy’.

Rest of the EP ‘Savour the flavour’ is wicked. I particularly like ‘Turbo Lemon Diesel’, but this track takes the crown for me personally.

Brothers – Housey Doingz

An absolute classic from the collective that needs no introduction. A seminal Tech-House classic. The dubbed out piano chords, rolling acid sound and swinging drums take you on a journey to furthest depths of the universe. It should be illegal to listen to the tune anywhere that isn’t a dance floor as it causes a severe case of itchy feet. 

Buck Naked – Madvilla

I love Madvilla, a lot. This tune is the definition of deep dark dirty afters heater. Such a crisp shuffley minimal tech house tune I never tire of hearing, Zoë would say differently however haha.

Pocket Beagle – Make a dance

Proper Zest-Fest number this, drips pure sas. Lovely high energy track with a lovely hypnotic acid sound. Also love the silly vocal sample, great fun to boogie too. 

Zoë’s Five

I’m All We Got – Nathan Jonson

This is currently my all-time favourite track. It embodies everything I love about house music. It’s dark, eerie, and takes you on a strange, almost psychological journey through emotion. It has a perfect blend of emotion and groove that I admire, and adds punch to any set. The vocal is subtle enough to not dominate the track, but memorable enough to stick with you after it’s finished. It’s a track that can change the atmosphere of a set without anyone realising why.

The Wasp Track – TSVI

I first heard this during Fumiya Tanaka’s set at a Fuse afterparty. From the very first bar, I knew I had to Shazam it. Driven by razor-sharp percussion and constantly evolving rhythms, the sparse textures and subtle shifts in groove make it feel raw, unpredictable and full of energy. There’s an industrial edge running through the whole record that keeps you completely hooked from start to finish.

This track also carries one of my favourite rave memories. My good mate Tyze was moments away from heading home, but Cosmo and I managed to convince him to stay. Not long after, this came on. This song blew us away, and we danced and smiled like it was just us in the room. It was great. 

Got Me Feelin – Parris

This is a beautifully understated record. The rhythm is hypnotic and there’s so much depth in what initially sounds like a simple track. It’s one of those tracks that’s equally enjoyable listening at home or hearing emerge halfway through a long set at 3am. It is rare for me to find a track I can listen to in all settings, so I highly recommend this as an all-round track. I can’t take credit for discovering this, Cosmo introduced me to Parris, and this song. My favourite memory of this song is us playing it in my room very early in the morning. We sat in silence, absorbing every sound we heard.

Nu Waze – Raxon

Raxon has easily been one of my favourite discoveries since I fell into the house scene ( thanks to Cosmo). Nu Waze, in particular, sits right at the heart of the sound I’m most drawn to. It is unpredictable, intense, dark (a recurring theme in my music taste) and unapologetically rude. The haunting synth and deep Middle Eastern influences create an atmosphere that’s both hypnotic and slightly unsettling. I first heard this at Starlane Pizza Bar at 6:30am, and it sent enough shivers down my spine to then play it on repeat. Enough to the point my pals are definitely sick of hearing it.

Sunbeam – ROKA

I thought I’d throw in a curveball for my final pick, as the rest of these tracks all share a similar darker energy. I discovered Sunbeam shortly after meeting ROKA, an Australian solo raver I met at Fuse this year. I actually noticed him because of his outfit, which sparked a conversation that turned into a really lovely friendship. The warmth of that first meeting is exactly what Sunbeam sounds like to me. Sunbeam evokes a feeling of optimism without becoming overly melodic. It’s rare these days to meet someone organically without social media or an algorithm informing the connection. Shoutout to ROKA.

by Damo Red Telephone

• Share
• Tweet
• Pin it
• Share
• Email
• More