New Pretty Lights Album out July 2 - "A Color Map of the Sun"

Pretty Lights' latest album "A Color Map of the Sun" will drop July 2! And it will be available for free at www.prettylightsmusic.com as has all of his albums - but only on the DAY OF RELEASE! This album, if the latest single ("Around the Block" ft. Talib Kweli) and this album trailer is any indication, will stay true to Pretty Lights vintage sound. What's different is that this album will be original recordings with live instruments, written by Derek and his collaborators.

Pretty Lights - Around the Block (ft. Talib Kweli)

New Pretty Lights single "Around the Block" - from new album coming out July 2! Free download here

Daft Punk - "Get Lucky" - new song trailer debuts at Coachella

No question that Daft Punk's new album is one of the most anticipated of the year - and they released a new song trailer this weekend at Coachella. The trailer for "Get Lucky" features Pharrell and that vintage Daft Punk sound.

The Fugees X Cali Swag X Henry Pope - Ready to Dougie

I heard this edit/mashup of Fugees vs. Cali Swag District vs. Henry Pope in Henry's Source Festival set and I wanted it - I wanted to rip off his idea and put it into my sets, haha! It's a perfect balance of classic and chilled hip hop, with modern bumpin bass and electro beats. And then I just got an email today that he put this Edit on Soundcloud for all to hear and use - it's f***ing DJ gold! I've got three gigs coming up in the next two weeks and this will fit perfectly into two of them - I can't wait to play it. Thanks Henry!!!

Keep em coming! Listen and download here:

Friendly Intentions - Beautiful Clothes

I have a love/hate relationship with Dubstep these days. I hate that it's generally overused and so many producers and labels have taken good artists and just thrown dubstep into their music and devolved into "wall of sound" imitation crap. But when I hear dubstep done really well, with some finesse and character, especially downtempo melodic dubstep, I f***ing love it! And Friendly Intentions shared a new track that falls into the latter category - "Beautiful Clothes" - a "vintage dubstep" downtempo track sampling the Beach Boys. Friendly Intentions is a Toronto production duo with experience in DJing, EDM and metal/rock bands. They're like a Canadian version of Skrillex. Listen to the track and learn more about it from the duo themselves: 


I asked Friendly Intentions about the inspiration and "vintage" theme behind the track and here's what they had to say: "We are big fans of older songs particularly groundbreaking songs. This [Beach Boys] song was released in 1966 and was extremely innovative for its time, from its composition to the instruments used. We are also fond of the beach boys singing because often they use well thought out vocal harmonies and the two brothers: brian and carl wilson, have excellent voices that punch through a mix well.

The inspiration from the song came from the warmth that the intro had. It presented a deep and wonderful atmosphere which we felt we would work into a relaxed unique song. We felt like that the main chorus of the song did not fit so well with the intro of the song since the released version of this song was recorded in 4 different studios giving each part its own defining character. It seemed like that part stood out the most of the original song. Rather then doing a remix we decided to more or less sample the intro/verse and expand it. All the composition was done with derivatives of the current existing melodies and a new chord progression. We also wanted to keep the vintage and warm essence of the track so the way the song was mixed was something similar to the way songs were mixed during the mid to-lade 1960's using vintage analogue equipment with not so much eqing and more dynamics. The result of this was something we decided to name "Vintage Dubstep" since it has the warm feel of the 1960's and the elements present mimic earlier synth sounds in terms of timbre."

Here's another side of Friendly Intentions, a great electro-house track with a funky vibe, produced to get you GOING!!! 

Gramatik LIVE SHOW Review

I've been a fan of Gramatik for many moons, and have loved hearing his sound shift and evolve over the years. He is produced and distributed by Pretty Lights Music - so if you like Pretty Lights then its a sure bet you'll dig Gramatik. His sound is rooted in hip hop percussion and rhythms, with blues, jazz and funk melodies spattered with modern doses of electronic and dubstep elements. He's an artist who has taken the best of dubstep and applied it to his style without diluting the spirit of what he's really trying to do. His music can be downloaded for free at the Pretty Lights Music record label website.

I loved his live show last night. His lighting set up was really cool - an industrial feel with two large video screens, one served as the a backdrop and the other was the front of his DJ/setup stand. If you've seen Pretty Lights' older shows (3-4 years ago), it was kind of like Pretty Lights' setup when he was first blowing up. The sound was incredible and Gramatik didn't just blast dubstep - he played a real sweet balance and mix of his old and new and focused on what makes his style unique - a blend of jazz/blues/funk elements with modern electronic. I'd recommend ANYONE go see him. Here's a video that gives you a taste:

DJ Shiftee on the Traktor iPad App

This is why I love and use Traktor... I'm not DJ Shiftee level, but I'll keep practicing!

The Upside of Down: Freestylers ft. DV - Calling Me Home

UK breakbeat and jungle legends Freestylers are back this summer with their fifth album, and the first single - "Calling Me Home" - is a balanced breakbeat banger that I'm LOVING right now. Get it free here: