Cooh is the recording name of Ivan Shopov, a Bulgarian drum and bass producer associated with darkstep and harder-edged forms of the genre. He begins with bass guitar in a hardcore-metal band at 16 and starts working with electronic music at 18. By the time he is established as a drum and bass producer, he has a substantial run of vinyl and bootleg CD releases.

Early work and style

Cooh begins promoting drum and bass in Bulgaria in 2002 with Valery Sholevski, known as Ogonek. He plays widely in Sofia, often with the H.M.S.U. crew, and helps push the music in the country’s club scene. His sound develops from earlier work into a contemporary hard and dark drum and bass style, while he also works in liquid and atmospheric drum and bass.

Labels and releases

His output appears on a range of drum and bass labels, including Position Chrome, Obsessions, Sinuous, TOV, G2, Bass Rejects and Reapa. His release history includes a series of collaborative bootleg CDs with Ogonek in the early 2000s, such as Fem'02, Sick of Amen, Beauty, Drum And Bass Massacre and After Coma.

He also releases vinyl and EP material as Cooh and in collaboration with other artists. Notable entries include releases with Diode and Odity on Signal Recordings, Murda Dem with Psychofreud and Sunjammer on Bass Rejects, Remaker on TOV Music, Love In Cage and Breath Stop on G2, Ganja Lighter on Bass Rejects, Armeny on Obsession, and Noisy Sneaker on Sinuous. His output also includes the Stomana EP on Offkey and the track Be Blast on PRSPCT.

Collaborations and remixes

Cooh works with a wide set of artists as a collaborator and remixer, including Ogonek, Diode, Odity, Audio, Donny, RAkoon, DJ Jeph, Future Blues, Black Science Project, Liquid Beats, AdamC, Shultz, Paralizah, Kind Of Zero and Mloski. He also contributes remixes for acts such as Tomic & Barracuda, GPK, Woody McBride and Psychofreud. A project called HARM is credited to Cooh alongside Diode and Odity.

Performances and wider activity

His tracks are played by a long list of drum and bass artists, including Raiden, Panacea, Limewax, Audio, Black Sun Empire, Tech Itch, Future Prophecies, Evol Intent, Counterstrike, Vengeanze, The Sect, Infiltrata and EBK. He performs in Russia, France, Belgium, Poland, Germany and Romania, and is also listed as booked for Spain, Portugal, Lithuania and the USA. He appears as support for artists including Noisia, Raiden, Dylan, Adam F, Shy FX, Dom & Roland, Gridlok, Tech Itch, The Panacea, Teebee, Pendulum, Bad Company, Spor, DJ SS, Goldie and others.

Other musical and artistic work

Alongside drum and bass, Cooh works in dubstep, breakbeat, IDM, downtempo and jazz. He appears at major jazz festivals in Bulgaria as part of The Stoyan Yankuolov Quintet, and also performs with Bulgarian musician Theodosii Spassov. Outside music, he studies and draws graphic prints and builds a substantial body of fine art work.