Pretty Lights is a really impressive collaboration between two artists - Colorado based Derek Vincent Smith & Cory Eberhard. Smith uses samples as the basis of his production - normally this would be uninteresting, however i have never heard an artist (aside from maybe Daedelus) who manipulates them in such a unique and exciting fashion - using a Monome and and Akai MPD32, accompanied on the drums by Eberhard, Pretty Lights is able to create some truly exceptional live music.

Their latest album 'Making Up a Changing Mind' is unbelievable - a tour de force of glitch-hop beats, buzzing synth lines, crammed full of funk and soul samples...and the best part, is that, like rest of their music, the album is completely 100% free

The band relies on donations, so please please please donate here,

To give you an idea of what to expect from the download, listen to this, a really cool reinterpretation of 'Private Number' - Judy Clay & William Bell 

Finally Moving - Pretty Lights.mp3 
 

Download the album here:
'Making Up a Changing Mind' - Pretty Lights (VBR)

Dont forget to donate here

Dear Readers,

Let there be rejoicing in the streets - ONEUPMANSHIP is back - but with a brand new look, two fantastic new writers and one shiny new rule

From now on we will NOT be posting 320 kbps mp3's - the exception to the rule is if we have the express permission of the artist, if we do post a link, it will be YouTube quality

I am sorry for the ridiculously long down-time, i had plans for a .com collaboration with our old blogging friends APEWITHBARRELS, however the cost was too high, so for the time being .blogspot will have to do!

In the sites down-time i continued finding, expanding and refining my music collection - in doing so i unearthed a mountain of old school finery which i will be sprinkling throughout the blog over the coming year... i will continue to post whatever is in my current most played - the music that delights and inspires me - as usual i will try not to focus on any particular genre... and if i am struggling for inspiration i will be looking to the Shoutbox to provide me with ideas for posts.

So here we go (in no particular order)

As per usual Hospital records maintain their ridiculous signing standard by bringing Blokhe4d onto the scene, i have had their debut album 'Bad Taste' for a while - and it doesn't disappoint,  Frictions' review sums it up in a nutshell - 'Super dark, super dirty, what did you expect?' - suffice to say they are certainly good enough for this whole post to be devoted to their sterling efforts, instead i am giving you a taster of NHS162 release 'Full Circle' - its out on promo now (and i was lucky enough to bag a copy) - get yours direct from Hospital Records on March 22nd

Scratchy, thumping and oddly relaxing check it out here,


Next up a techno track from Spektre, this ridiculously exciting duo hail from Leeds, i have been watching their growth with interest since i stumbled upon their remix of Wake Turbulence by Koen Groeneveld - they are England's roundhouse kick to Berlin's Techno scene, and definitely ones to watch - here is a sample of their latest burnt offering 'Tesseract' from the Black Ice EP available here for digital download

Tesseract - Spektre.mp3
 

While Spektre seems to heading for greatness, this artist is already out the other side, a veritable Techno god... master of all he surveys - Sascha Funke is a veteran producer and firm member of the Kompakt and BPitch Control club,  i have always admired his work - and once again i was forced to pull my jaw off the floor after listening to his latest album 'Mango' - it is a masterpiece, this is one of my Desert Island Discs - and here is a taster - 3.05 in and you will be throwing money at the computer screen for the 320 (i guarantee it!)

Feather - Sascha Funke.mp3
 

I posted a Netsky remix of Miike Snow back near the birth of this blog - just like Calvin Harris, Miike Snow has a remarkable pull for remixes, his latest song 'Silvia' is literally drowning in them... to be honest this version can get a bit grating after the first few plays - however i am going to post it here cause it would definitely make a crowd jump - i must confess i know nothing about the artist responsible for the remix, but their juddering rework of the vocals is spot on and definitely lives up to their name

Silvia (Robotberget Remix) - Miike Snow.mp3
 

Last but not least a song that i have been searching for since Sonar 09 - Joker dropped it in his EPIC set at the Sonar Lab Stage (check it here,) there was a possibility that this song would never be released because of difficulties getting sample rights cleared - but i waited nearly a year and one month ago my prayers were finally answered by Black Box Recordings when the nicely wrapped vinyl dropped through the post - so here you go, one of the best dubstep tracks of the decade - the vocals are sublime and the drop is oh so heavy

Naked Mario Kart - RSD.mp3
 

ONEUPMANSHIP is back boys and girls - and it feels good :)

Enjoy!