Pretty Lights
Pretty Lights (Derek Vincent Smith) is my current musical addiction. I recently ran into his music on Amazon, bought an album, and then later found out that all of his music is free. I don’t mind paying though. In fact, I suggest throwing some money his way as these albums are pretty awesome. I have downloaded 8 or so albums so far from his website and they are all great. Some really chill music with great beats and interesting sampling. From Wikipedia:
Smith’s music relies heavily on digital sampling and crosses many genres, forming a combination of “glitchy hip-hop beats, buzzing synth lines, and vintage funk and soul samples, sometimes grime.”. Pretty Lights’ sound is generated by synthesizing samples and organic beats using the Novation X-Station, monome and the Akai MPD32. Smith uses these digital controllers to program the music production software Ableton Live 8. Due to the sample-based nature of his music, Smith releases all his music for free with a recommended donation, so as to avoid having to clear samples. When performing live, Smith uses two Macbook Pros running Ableton Live 8 and two Akai MPD32s
If you like it, be sure to visit the website: http://prettylightsmusic.com
Charles Deluxe…
Makes some pretty good Electro House:
MartinSolveig – Hello (Charles Deluxe Remix) 320Kbps due popular demand ! by Charles Deluxe
End of Line.
Top 3 Albums of 2011
Here are my top 3 albums of the year, in no particular order.
Nero -’Welcome Reality’
Nero, an electronic music act from London, England released their debut album this year on August 15th 2011 to much success. The album is filled with great dubstep beats and catchy tracks. Spin wrote, “Alana Watson gives Nero’s robotic skronk a rare injection of humanity, and the U.K. producers are smart enough to build most of their debut full-length around her husky voice, skipping the sampled spasticity of Skrillex in favor of Daft Punk’s melodic big beat, ’80s-inspired electro-pop, and stadium-sized mash-ups of squealing guitar and windy synths.”
Stanton Warriors – ‘The Warriors’
Stanton Warriors, a breakbeat duo from Bristol, England released their 7th album in March of 2011. In the mix wrote, “Dom and Mark have certainly crafted a solid offering of radio-friendly ‘songs’ on The Warriors, full of catchy hooks, vocals and clever musicality. Importantly, though, they haven’t cashed in their breakbeat credentials in the process. The beats and grooves are water-tight as always, but musically they’ve pushed themselves beyond simply crafting effective DJ tools. The different elements just interlock so cleverly, with the Stanton’s clever use of samples complimenting their songwriting, rather than being the groundwork on which the tunes are based. ”
Camo & Krooked – ‘Cross the Line’
Camo & Krooked are a Drum & Bass duo from Vienna, Austria. They released their second album, Cross The Line, on October 3rd 2011. Kmag wrote, “Following the success of 2010’s Above and Beyond, Austrian duo Camo & Krooked brought their second album to the table this year, the monumental Cross the Line. Aptly released on Hospital, their trademark mix of serene vocal-lead liquid, punchy electro, and filthy tear-out featured the likes of TC, Jenna G, Futurebound, and Ayah Marar to devastating effect.”
The Hobbit Trailer
Since I am in the mood to post trailers, here is one more for you guys. The trailer for Peter Jackson’s upcoming film The Hobbit. I am pretty excited to see it:
Prometheus Trailer
Prometheus began life as a prequel to Ridley Scott’s Alien, but became something different in production. It still clearly takes place within the Alien universe though. The first trailer for the movie is here:
I can’t wait to see this when it comes out on June 8, 2012.
