Featured Artist: Pretty Lights

Pretty Lights is the work of Derek Vincent Smith, a producer out of Colorado. His reputation is spreading, but for now he is still relatively obscure and is giving his music away. His music all emanates one particular mood or sound, but if you click with it you will groove to this stuff constantly. It's instrumental hip-hop, with great beats, a liberal use of hip-hop and soul sampling, fantastic bass lines and excellent structure. It is structurally that he is so unique - though his aesthetic is classic hip-hop, his structure is pure electronica. None of this verse-chorus-verse stuff; Pretty Lights is all about the constantly evolving mood, with flourishes emerging into new memes mid-track and a constant dynamic interplay among a song's elements.

Suffice to say, Pretty Lights is really, really good at what he does. RJD2 and DJ Shadow may cross more boundaries (sometimes to terrible effect - RJD2, stop trying to be a singer-songwriter and DJ Shadow, you are not mainstream and never will be), but Pretty Lights has nailed a sound and there is no one better at it. You can download .zip files of his EPs and LPs to date at his website, completely free, or download my favorite tracks below to form your own opinion.

Pretty Lights - I Can See It In Your Face
Pretty Lights - Fly Away Another Day
Pretty Lights - Sunday School
Pretty Lights - Total Fascination
Pretty Lights - Let Em Know It's Time To Go