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