Late Night Alumni - Haunted

In case anyone forgot (I'm looking at you bloc), Late Night Alumni made an album this year. It's awesome. 'nuff said.

Download

Bluetech: - Rainforest Reverberation

Probably the most overlooked album of the year, Rainforest Reverberation is an incredible electronic album. Although downtempo, it is comprised of funky beats and catchy synths. The music also sounds organic like a rainforest come alive, and is very compelling. Check it out!

Buy or Try

Ektoplazm.com

Deviating from the norm a bit to give credit to a great free music site, ektoplazm. Featuring a wide range of genre's (see tag list) the site allows artists to upload albums completely free and let the public do with them as they see fit; I know a few DJ's who've spent all nighters getting new psy-trance tracks from here. The easy to use "browse by style" section is a great place to jump in, and don't forget to look at the albums star/percentage rating!

Tipper - Surrounded

This aptly titled LP released in 2003 was one of the first electronic albums recorded in 5.1 Surround Sound. As one of the leaders of the breakbeat movement, it came as a surprise that Tipper opted to fully utilize this new technology to create an engrossing atmospheric downtempo album. But a good choice it was. Check out album highlight "Over the Coals" here.

Gold Panda - Lucky Shiner

Picture a golden panda. Cute isn’t it? Now picture that same panda stabbing someone with an oatmeal cookie. Weird, huh? But still cute in a strange sort of way. Good, now you know what Lucky Shiner is like.

Lack imagination? That’s cool; you can get an idea from this:

You are now confused yet you want more. Let me ask you; have you visited India Lately?

Desolate - The Invisible Insurrection

Digging into the crates for this one, a true gem released back in January. Desolate (real name Sven Weisemann) is an artist who, while wearing his heart plainly on his sleeve, is someone destined for bigger things. And by saying that he shows off his influences a little too prominently I mean he sounds exactly like Burial. Which isn't a bad thing per se, it's just at times you get the feeling that he's simply stolen rather than adopted Will Bevan's scratchy and distant trademark qualities. But here's the catch, this isn't actually dubstep. The Invisible Insurrection is the mark of an artist definitely on the up. Check out 'Divinus' here.