Here are two American producers that are doing more interesting things than any of their kind at the moment. In short, these boys are creating 808 slammers that are simply damaging soundsystems. Distal has been doing it for a minute; several releases deep on various labels from around the world and support from Joe Nice, Breakage, Distance, Julio Bashmore etcetera. Coming from Atlanta, his tracks rely on the woozy club vibes of dirty south hip-hop, twisting around themes of dubstep, juke, and ghettotech. In recent news, “Coke Bottle” and “Boss of the South” were signed by Sinden to the new label Grizzly, which surely will expose him to a wider audience and earn him some respect he deserves. Keep watch.

Distal – Apple Bottom (Clip) // Forthcoming Tube 10

Distal – Boss of the South // Forthcoming Grizzly

Cedaa is a fresh face to the scene, 19 years old and already making hypnotic beats way beyond his years. “Tiffany” has to be one of the best tracks I’ve heard in recent weeks, and is apparently coming out on carcrashset (hopefully sooner than later). As for a download, check out “Magique”, a half-time house tune with arpeggiating spacey-strings akin to Zomby. Being clocked by Girl Unit among others, I imagine if he continues making music of this caliber, Cedaa has a bright future.
Cedaa – Tiffany // Forthcoming carcrashset

Cedaa – Magique

Some dangerous bits on the funky side of things from Venom & Damage and Doc Daneeka by way of Ten Thousand Yen Recordings. Set for release tomorrow on limited edition green vinyl from Ten Thousand Yen directly, expect this to go over well with all types of crowds. The post-rave stabs and crisp soca rhythms get the head bobbing with ease, and Daneeka gets down on the B side with some more experimental congo work and highly addictive syncopation. Currently on the bandwagon: Jackmaster, Julio Bashmore, Modeselektor, Brodinski, and more. The digital release should follow shortly first week of June.
Venom & Damage – Deeper/(Doc Daneeka Remix) // Ten Thousand Yen

(artwork by Mr. Scribbles)

Myself and the other writers of this blog had the idea to start up a new project in early April.  What has come of our effort has been unbelievably rewarding. I’d like to thank all of the artists who keep sending us music, all of our readers, and the writers personally. Keep doing you.

Below are the lists of our favorite aspects of music for the year of 2009. This year was an incredibly good year for all genres, especially the ones we regularly feature on this page. Electronic music is exploding in all directions right in front of us, and we are lucky to be in such an exciting time for it. Next year we will try to feature a wider array of artists, everything from folk to rock to hip-hop along with the usual styles we post. Be sure to bookmark this page, you will not be disappointed :).

Again, I cannot thank our readers enough for coming back to this page. Please add your own two cents to this whole “favorites” thing in the comments section, we would love to hear everyone’s opinion. Without further ado…

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Exciting things from the Night Slugs crew. A label is well in the works, and they’ve commissioned one of London’s rising dubstep talents Mosca for their first release. Expect remixes of the title track “Square One” from Julio Bashmore, Greena, Roska, Bok Bok, and L-Vis 1990 to complete this package. Make sure to check out my personal favorite of his, “Gold Bricks, I See You”, coming out early next year on the Fabric compilation Elevator Music vol 1. Get yer stream on here and hang tight for the full release of everything Mosca, gonna be some bigguns!

If you’re around LDN, definitely check out the Night Slugs party on the 3rd of December with Roska, Scratcha, D-Malica and Ill Blue (as well as the Night Slugs themselves).

I recently caught the news that Bristol producer and one of my favorites this year, Julio Bashmore, was signed to Claude von Stroke‘s San Fran label Dirtybird. Good on ya’ dude! In my opinion, he demonstrates a super balance between house, techno, and dubstep which has obviously gained the attention of lots of people this year. He’s recently completed remixes for Buraka som Sistema and Mosca, the latter of which should be out later this month on Night Slugs. It might be a while til’ the “Um Bongo” EP drops, but we’ll be sure to keep you updated with everything Julio B. in the mean time. Cheers to Curb Crawlers for the track.

Julio Bashmore – Around