Buku

The electronic dance music producer and DJ from Pittsburgh, Buku, is in short a Bass Master. Signed to Pilot, Slit Jockey, Civil Music & UKF records this guy is going places and fast as he only joined social media websites as “Buku” in the year 2011. A perfect blend of hip-hop, rap, trap, bass drops I really can’t find anything that he releases that I don’t enjoy and download myself. His tunes are not like usual defined “trap” although you’ll see his name everywhere if that’s what you search for on Youtube, he is redefining it and I think a lot of other EDM producers are going to struggle trying to find a similar sound. His percussion is crisp, and he works with more tribal and world-like music over the norm of an 808 kick. It was about a year ago when Buku’s EP Janky was released, proving the deferential aspects he had and still has to offer electronic music. Here is his Soundcloud, enjoy.

Brass Knuckles & their Bad Habits

A friend introduced me to Brass Knuckles a few weeks ago, and although I was skeptical at first as I am not a traditional-house-electro head at heart, I fell for these guys. They’re an electronic music trio signed to Ultra Records, and their Facebook description describes them pretty well- “Once Brass Knuckles hits, you’ll feel it.” Upbeat dance rhythms with a twist of nu-disco, I really enjoy them because they’re unlike many house/electro artists of today’s EDM world, they’ll keep you guessing at what’s going to happen next. Their first single “Bad Habits” is above, a super fast-paced tune with only two lines of repeated vocals “I smoke, I drink, I try to stop, I can’t, because this toxic dance has got me all possessed. Lord knows I got some bad habits baby, but I do it all for you.” Short and to the point, I love this song because it has a sad emotion about it but you can’t help but dance to it, and I think that’s what a lot of people need to do when they’re upset- just dance.

Stylust Beats

Straight out of San Fran is one of my top trap artists, Stylust Beats- another Canadian native. Only recently breaking 15k likes on Facebook and 15k followers on Soundcloud, I feel pretty special knowing about this producer. He is currently on the “Sleeveless Zombie Tour” which is unfortunately keeping him mostly in Canada and California, as I would love to see a show of his all the way out here in New York. Stylust recently put out his debut album R.Y.F.S.O, full of all the types of genres you should enjoy if you’re on this blog. He sticks to hip-hop, dubstep and trap beats- as his Facebook likes to describe them as “Good Music.” Honestly, I can’t find out much about this guy on the internet but all I know is that I’ve listened to his Shambhala 2013 mix more times than is probably healthy. Below is the link to one of my favorites of his, “Maybe I’m Dreamin'” featuring Emotionz, check him out and get back to me if you hear about him being on the East Coast~

Chainsmokin’

Up and coming NYC natives Alex Pall & Drew Taggart make up the Indie-House/ Progressive duo of The Chainsmokers. They were founded in 2010, and since all of their remixes have made their way onto Hype Machine’s popular charts, all charting in the top 3 with over 200k plays & their last 5 remixes have all charted consecutively at number 1. They’ve played at places like Terminal 5, Pacha, Roseland Ballroom and have been musically supported by big name EDM gurus like Tiesto, Adventure Club, W&W and Felix Cartal.

Above is their remix of Two Door Cinema Clubs’ “Sleep Alone,” go see for yourself why they’re up and coming!

Youtube Phenom: Arion

About 3 years ago after searching through the vague pages of “dubstep” on Youtube, I came across this 16 year old Canadian dub producer who had put out a remix of Diddy & Skylar Grey’s “I’m Coming Home” with a few thousand views which thoroughly impressed me. He proceeded with his own version of the Pokemon theme song & LMFAO’s “Party Rock Anthem,” the rest is history.

Since then, Arion has been busy- busy improving his productions and becoming for versatile, delving in genres like trap, punkstep and new wave but never abandoning his dubstep roots. He talks to his 122k fans on Facebook and asks them for remix suggestions. Below is the dubstep version of Lana Del Rey’s “Young and Beautiful” he put out this past May. Try not falling in love with this guy’s humbleness and talent to create dance music, I dare ya.

 

Gettin’ Childish~

Haven’t had enough hip hop on here lately so I’m here to talk about Childish Gambino, or Donald Glover, real quick. In 2011 he was signed to Glassnote Records after releasing many of his own mix-tapes and albums by himself, then released Camp– his first album for the label, that same year. In 5 days he is supposed to be releasing his second studio album Because the Internet. Long story short, I find this guy similar to a new-age Nas, his beats are awesome, his raps are meaningful and he’s way too underrated for the talent he could offer mainstream hip-hop. But then again, a part of us doesn’t really want great artists to go mainstream, do we? Below is one of my favorites of his, “The Longest Text Message Ever” which has a little something everyone can relate to: being in love, disliking the person you love, and unfortunately having those feelings come out when super intoxicated. Regardless, the tune is dope.

Unlimited Gravity: Sail

Throwin’ it back about 2 years tonight to when Awolnation’s “Sail” was EVERYWHERE. Unlimited Gravity’s dubstep version of this trifle angsty-suicidal-no-one-understands anthem is the best one I’ve ever heard, and I’ve heard a lot. If you don’t know who he is, his Soundcloud is right here; he hasn’t exactly broken the surface into really well-known electronic music yet but with wobbles like these I expect him to soon.

Women Crush Wednesday?: Lindsey Stirling

The 27 year old American classically-trained violinist found her way into electronic music over a year ago, when she released her dubstep/ string instrument composition “Crystallize” which has received about 80 million views on Youtube. Seeing this woman live was amazing, she has so much energy as she jumps about the stage not missing a beat on her violin. It’s obvious that she is extremely passionate about the music she plays. Just last week she put out a new original mix entitled “Minimal Beat,” you’ll find that along with the music video to it above!

Late night snack of Milk N Cookies

Chicago based Milk N Cookies is made up of two electronic music heads, who happen to be identical twin brother DJs. Their production in EDM began in 2009, but they’ve been musicians their entire lives. Although everything on their Soundcloud is tagged as “Post-Bro,” their tracks are a hefty mix of trance-like vocals, electro house and a large dash of dutch house- super unique and refreshing. They’re currently on tour throughout their home-state of Illinois, but you can hear all their music right here on their official website. Below is their VIP edit of “Still Dre,” a tune I know I’ll definitely be adding to my set-lists.

Revolving around Revolvr

The Las Vegas native Revolvr, or  Touvan Sughiarto, is far from new to the electronic music stage. He began producing in the electronic realm in 2011, since then you may have heard of his Podcast Radio Show “The Chamber” in which he just finished his 25th episode or just his own music in general. Each track this guy has put out in the years 2011 and 2012 have all reached the Beatport Top 100 chart. From melodic dubstep to club tracks full of energy and bounce to trap Revolvr is extremely versatile and is clearly proving himself worthy of being noted for more than one electronic dance music genre.

Below is his trap edit of “Collide” by Hellberg & Deutgen vs Splitbreed that he released 7 days ago, you’re welcome.