Estelle Ft. Kanye

The new R&B track "American Boy" released by Estelle ft Kanye is quite the jam. Destined for the mainstream radio and most parties, this song will be big. Ill throw in a Danger remix as well.

American Boy
American Boy (Danger Remix)

Orbital

Orbital is one of the most famous electronic duos known for their live performances that include sam fisher-esque headsets and a thoroughly drugged out audience. Their two disc album In Sides is one of the most praised electronic albums of the last 15 years and a must have for any electronic music fan.

Dwr Bud
Satan (Industry Standard)
Dr Who (live video)

"Motor" by SebastiAn

The track "motor" has been dropping like crazy at many live shows ranging from SebastiAn's own shows to djs like Busy P and MSTRKRFT. This song is pretty bomb as SebastiAn somehow figured out to get synths to sound like a motor. A lot of people are rumoring it will be on Ed Banger III when it comes out. Well this is the best version of the song i could find with many of the versions on the blogosphere being live ripped versions.

motor

Steely Dan

Steely Dan is the jazz fusion duo of Walter Becker and Donald Fagan. In order to understand much of todays modern day music, we have to look back at the roots of everything. For me this is the bare bones jazz, blues, and funk that went from the 30s and 40s swing era into the early 80s with Herbie Hancock. Steely Dan has been sampled by many modern artists, especially MF Doom, who used a ton of Steely Dan samples throughout his career and you can hear Steely Dan in alot of his instrumentals from the Herbs and Spices instrumental albums he has out. Some of their stuff is absolute gold with great piano and guitar playing that epitomizes the shift in jazz and funk over the years from the brass and piano to more electronic sounding music with guitars and synthesizers. Here are some tunes off Two Against Nature (2000) and Cant Buy a Thrill (1972).

Cousin Dupree (Two Against Nature)
Reelin' in the Years (Cant Buy a Thrill)
Dirty Work (Cant Buy a Thrill)
Do it Again (Cant Buy a Thrill)

MGMT

MGMT is the new thing. Theyre out of Brooklyn and graduated from Wesleyan (along with Mangini and Bellicheck!), which is a great school. Theyre sound is pretty interesting as well. I could compare them very roughly to the Rapture, another Brooklyn-based group with electro and rock influences. However, I feel MGMT has much more depth then the Rapture. They combine psychedelic aspects with electro and indie and folk. They have a pretty unique sound that I cant really say is a definite mix of x and y. Rolling Stone added some hype by putting them in their artists to watch in 2008, and you definitely should.

kids
time to pretend

Phantoms Revenge

Phantoms Revenge is a little known artist I discovered through the magnificent Solid Goldberger blog. I highly recommend going through the archive there, its an absolute goldmine. Little is known about this guy through the little write on SGB, and even when i saw the myspace for the guy, it didnt seem legit. More importantly the music is very well done. He uses the French House sound, but really messes around with effects. Its essentially solid french house chopped up a little with some filters on it and whatnot.

for those who came in late
french cheese funk
burn da red dog

Maskinen

Sweden is world renowned for blonds and electro blogs (discobelle). Now they can add a triple threat. The tune "Alla som inte dansar" by Maskinen is known for its catchy tune as well as its lyrics that according to many other blogs translates into something along the lines of "anyone who doesnt dance is a rapist". I endorse this statement 100%, almost as much as I endorsed the new New York Governor (D Pats) over Spitzer because both him AND his wife had affairs. Heres the tune as well as the newly released video for it.

alla som inte dansar (song)
alla som inte dansar (video)

Squarepusher

Combine two of my favorite things-bass guitar and electro- and BAM, you have squarepusher AKA Tom Jenkinson. His music could fit into the IDM genre,but I feel its something more than the IDM sound of drum and bass and the synthesizer (plus effects). His live bass playing adds something to his music that makes him extremely unique. He performs by playing bass live and/or runs the turntables a bit too. His style is comparable with Aphex Twin and the two are actually friends. He has had a couple Chris Cunningham-directed videos as well, even furthering the bond between the two artists. Here are some of his older and newer stuff mixed together as well as some great cinematography from his videos.

my red hot car
dimotane Co.


VIDEOS
do you know squarepusher
hello meow (live)

TERROR DACTEL

Terror Dactel is a DC-based electro artist with 4 tracks circulating on the blogosphere as of late. Most of his songs are 100% electro using various writhing synth lines accompanied by the throbbing bass. Reminds me of Enkel Apa in this respect. So here are the tracks:

automatic dragons
gunslinger
rocket ready

Breakbot

Breakbot is yet another Parisian electro act. He has thrown out a couple nice tracks, that keep the beat moving, yet not too crazy. He is different in that his tracks arent like many of the other big Parisian acts such as Justice, Daft Punk, ... the list goes on.

baby (breakbot remix)
summer party
happy rabbit