This post has been inspired by countless messages/posts/threads and blogs. You know, the classic "I don't really listen to any electronic music but I heard a few songs and I wanna get some good stuff but I don't know anything and I hate X genre."
There are a lot of these posts. Everytime I see one I am inspired again to go through my music library and suggest music and link youtube videos, just because I am a compassionate guy and I want people to know that there is a whole world of amazing music out there that isn't boring untz untz untz. Well, I ended up doing this so often that I decided to sort of standardize the entire experience. I want to create a little "Intro to Good Electronic Music" guide for people who are interested to take a look at and find something they appreciate.
There are a lot of these posts. Everytime I see one I am inspired again to go through my music library and suggest music and link youtube videos, just because I am a compassionate guy and I want people to know that there is a whole world of amazing music out there that isn't boring untz untz untz. Well, I ended up doing this so often that I decided to sort of standardize the entire experience. I want to create a little "Intro to Good Electronic Music" guide for people who are interested to take a look at and find something they appreciate.
IMPORTANT SERIOUS BUSINESS!
1. This sampler is just music I like, I am not intending to be a guide to every major and minor artist or say that anyone or any genre not mentioned is crap or poop or whatnot. This guide's only intention is to serve as my electronic music enthusiast response to people asking for suggestions.
2. I am not concerned with the deep technicalities of genre for this guide. I will classify music in the sampler only to the most basic level needed to navigate the electronic community.
The way this sampler will work is this: I will list several large genres that the music I am experienced with generally falls into, and under each genre I will post some personally suggested artists and one or two examples of their tracks. I recommend you check out each genre. There is a large variety of music here and hopefully you'll find at least something that strikes your fancy. If one genre really isn't doing it for you then just move on.
PROTIP: closing the spoiler stops the youtube videos
Electro
When people say electro they almost always mean electro house. This is an absolutely enormous genre with some really far out artist calling their stuff electro. As a house genre these tracks will have the standard steady 4:4 beat. I like my electro pretty aggressive and partystyle, so if thats not what you're looking for skip this section. NOTE: The long drum intros in some songs are called the "mix-in", they are there to allow for easier transitions when DJing, you can skip them without guilt.
ARTISTS
Wolfgang Gartner
Aggressive stuff with lots of instruments and fast cuts.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_rQ6Av0gMY
Feed Me
Same guy as Spor (DnB artist), great party music with excellent bass. Older music is very hard.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDtw7Iyz5HI
Lazy Rich
As party music as you can possibly get without dying of alcohol poisoning. Newer track are more complex.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LcWuh3CmhY&hd=1
Redial
Uplifting music with some great retro flavor.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDT35gEReqg
The Subs
Crazy catchy music, batshit insane live show.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJMuEB5hFdc
Danger
More retro styled stuff, sort of got some old game soundtrack elements.
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Dilemn
Awesome French electro, classic french filter flavor.
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Mille
Someone posted this guy in this thread...AMAZING, such catchy riffs and variations out the ass. LOVE IT.
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John Lord Fonda
Epic and sort of sad...great production.
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Knife Party
Two of the dudes from Pendulum's new electro-step/party music project....SO GODDAMN COOL!
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OVERWERK
Sometimes electro sometimes a bit slower, tons of arpeggios and good stuff
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3Rr6wbqpAg
PrototypeRaptor
Bizarre name, really catchy stuff with some classical themes sometimes.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1SpFtOYLKo
DistanTT
Supposedly like 12 years old or something, very snappy mastering, some videogame influence
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D32iHUX1Lys
Also check out:
F.O.O.L
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Trampboat
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Taking the fastcuts style even choppier
Parov Stelar
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DEFEAT
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Neus
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Hip-Hop
Yes, this is a genre apart from rap. There is actually tons of great stuff out there. I prefer more chill and melodic tracks generally. Sampling is common in this genre, if it goes boom......chik.....boomchik, you are reasonably safe calling it hip-hop.
ARTISTS
Pretty Lights
Gotta be number one, produces a massive amount of wonderful quality tunes, all free to download.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrRNV4Z3zok
Blue Sky Black Death
Since I prefer instrumental, their latest album Noir was amazing.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFbkoHTk1Dw
Man Mantis
Pretty indie still, great old analog sounds, even got a little bit of ratatat style. Not on youtube but you can still listen!
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Ronald Jenkees
This guy was a Youtube sensation a few years ago, then dropped off the map. His first album wasn't very good bu the second is great.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRnZtn1a9bM
Little People
Not much to say, they rock. (chillishly)
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IK5I4cTkL-E
The Glitch Mob
I'll put these guys in the hip-hop section. Amazing group, older stuff is more glitchy and aggressive, newer stuff is all their own style.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lv2J18MQRQI
Haywyre
Awesome dude, unsigned and releases amazing free albums usually either instrumental hip-hop or dubstep. I'm putting him here.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgYSVs5SDKQ&hd=1
Guts
Nice sample based instrumental stuff, chill
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EE12GidB5o
Tycho
Had some nice stuff in the past, but the latest album, Dive, is pure sex, a must listen release. No all in the hip-hop tempo range but its got a similar feel
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IuGO6WHcruU
Also check out:
RJD2
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKJeLG8-M5I
Dubstep
Many people think dubstep is shit. There IS a lot of shit dubstep, but here is also tons of amazing dubstep that can be tons of fun. Please don't discount entire genres just because some of the fans and artists are morons. Dubstep elitists call everything aggressive and loud brostep and flame it, I have no time for people like that. There is great chillish dubstep and great angry dubstep, you just have to find it. We'll start with a few chiller artists and move progressively into the harder music.
ARTISTS
Phaeleh
Minimal and gorgeous as fuck.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lh4brL7PC2E
Mimosa
Great mastering and sound design, superclean sound.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqyGGW3-bMU&hd=1
Matta
Getting harder now.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmKK41aYNB4
Robokop
So much stuff going on, nice soft edged sound.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-Lais0y988
Feed Me
Yes, he does dubstep too, and its awesome.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-ymuFzsnwU
16bit
This dude does all sorts of stuff, some of It I like a ton, some not, but thats ok.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGDqM5jE2cg
Skism
Some cool tracks, he's got a signature bass sound that sounds great on nice subs. We're getting pretty hard now.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uRGOIbGAA0
Dodge and Fuski
Mark my words these guys are the next big thing in dubstep. Amazing variety of sounds. If you get bored listening to a D&F track I don't know what to tell you.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50m9KAoRjR4
Skrillex
Somehow Skrillex has become the posterboy for terrible pop dubstep probably entirely because he was signed by Deadmau5's label. I don't care though, I listen to ALOT of music, indie and mainstream, and Skrillex makes great electro and dubstep. Absolutely nothing to hate on here.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSeNSzJ2-Jw
Torqux & Twist
Now we are entering the absurdly heavy territory, awesome pump up music.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YzLZ0N2DJfE&hd=1
Broken Note
This is about as hard as you can get. My posterboy artist for heavy dubstep with actually a lot of variation that won't bore you.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnDIzHndGl4
Ajapai
Now the actual musicality starts to break down and we just end up with a bunch of cool noises really loud. Still fun if you're in the mood.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPN6pSHrLpk&hd=1
Blackmill
And back to liquid, much prettier and more melodic than ajapai . Need a bit of help mastering but hopefully that will improve.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAFjgpuWREM&hd=1
Troublegum
Really cool dude actually has some bass sounds that arent totally played out yet!
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoyN7t4b_8E&hd=1
Fonik
Wow, this is some dense shit! Crams a melody in there too, I have no idea how. Really neat.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ez2MXmhW6pM
Timeline
Very unique dubstep artist, keeps a very cool interplay between melancholic and not through strange tracks. Mastering isn't perfect but I just keep coming back to his music.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQdPY2VBmJU
http://www.beatport.com/track/left-behind-original-mix/3029593
^^^listen to me
http://www.beatport.com/track/left-behind-original-mix/3029593
^^^listen to me
Also check out:
Mark Instinct
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Statix
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Akira Kiteshi
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Psytrance/Goa
You know, like Infected Mushroom, except I find IM pretty boring....I haven't been able to add much psy to my library as most of it is pretty repetitive stuff you have to be on X to enjoy. But I have found a few artist who impress me. This stuff is great driving music. Beware the Mix-ins again.
ARTISTS
Space Buddha
Yeah, I really would just describe him as Infected Mushroom on ADD meds, switches up melodies like Tiger Woods does pancake waitresses.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgofUuXxycc
Vibe Tribe
Good Stuff too can sometimes get a bit silly but I still like it.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t46Qx-03MeU
The Synthetic Dream Foundation
Epic Orchestral Psy? Yeah, its pretty unique.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmwOunZKCAc
Breakbeat and DnB
According to wikipedia "characterized by the use of a non-straightened 4/4 drum pattern (as opposed to the steady beat of house". Basically a more natural sounding beat you could play on a drumset. Usually people call it Breakbeat if its around 125BPM, and it turns into Drum and Bass if sped up past 150. We'll start with Breakbeat and speed up into DnB.
ARTISTS
Zircon
Good old Zircon. Very melodic.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ve3KHazMIT0
Plump DJ's
Good stuff with some retro flavor.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXTywjxix2c
DaVip
One of the many extremely talented russian breaks artists. Pump up track master.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQ44BJZa71g
Mars
Yay russians!
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6G9SCqs3wk
I'm sneaking in a dubstep track they did together, really just slow breaks right?
I'm sneaking in a dubstep track they did together, really just slow breaks right?
The Crystal Method
The ancient masters, veterans of countless movie soundtracks! Actually really really good!
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELAMEj59XlY
BreakbeatBuddha
Can anyone guess what genre he produces?
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlNJU4o_OIU&hd=1
MOVING INTO DRUM AND BASS
Receptor
Insanely talented, makes every genre from DnB to solo piano and does it well. Also Russian.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rl-KbsAE0_o&hd=1
B-Complex
One of the premier artists in the Liquid DnB subgenre (generally more uplifting and melodic).
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0prFicLgXxw
Telemetrik
Released a bit of stuff then kind of dissapeared...nice tho.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tr_kOavSAl8
Fourward
One of my favorites that nobody seems to know about.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXL6fo52cFY
State of Mind
They make a lot of boring stuff but a few tracks are gold.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQEDygzhpJQ&feature=related
Spor
Same dude as Feed Me, dear lord this man is talented.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ru48xfuTzTg&hd=1
^GORGEOUS
^GORGEOUS
Mind Vortex
Great production and hard as well as jazzier tunes.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=As3XbUe_8iM&hd=1
Also check out:
Shock One
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Kubrak
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Randomer
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Progressive House Mini-Section
Incognet
Its pretty rare for me to find prog house that doesn't bore me. This guy is good.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEMSFI8nD2c
Deadmau5
Yes, Deadmau5. I haven't really liked his more recent forays into electro, but his older progressive tracks are occasionally sublime.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5fqEsOS64c
Atlantis Ocean
Woohoo, new prog house! I love these guys I just discovered, keep enough variation to maintain interest and very pretty melodies. I love some nice house to realx with.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5QqhkmG0CI&hd=1
Unclassified
This is not to say you COULDN'T cram this into a genre, mostly I just don't feel like it. If I haven't found anyone else who really sounds like an artist or the artist doesn't stick to a genre they are going in here. Also maybe I'll stuff a few artists who I don't have enough of their genre to make a real section.
I HIGHLY RECOMMEND ALL THE FOLLOWING ARTISTS
Royksopp
Love love love these guys, making everything from happy party tunes to the deepest melancholy.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klxai9aaxUw
Trentemoller
oh my god, listening to this mans music with headphones on while lying in your dark bed is the closest thing i'll ever have to a religious experience.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNtOB3P4UZU
Siriusmo
Awesome warm sound and lovely happy music.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdSIyz3qyds
Ott
This dude has a genre, its dub and its amazing.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSQ6zQV5xpI
Noisia
Didn't put them in a genre because they do whatever they want. EARGASMS
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INhzlIz4QXA
Amon Tobin
Probably some sort of musical genius, goes out and records stuff and them makes music ranging from extremely experimental to dope ass beats. Jazzy.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jaRA6nGyUg
Vibrasphere
They call themselves psychadelic something, but I call it astoundingly beautiful and relaxing music.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfhI7oPhqQo
Ten Madison
This guys does all sorts of stuff, his latest album has some world flavor, great.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZj4tfpRvAI
Beats Antique
Speaking of world flavor, Beats antique are like belldancing music with sick bass.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9nPKhXZEsQ
Long Arm
Completely unknown Russian dude create amazing instrumental jazz/hip hop. HE SHOULD NOT BE UNKNOWN.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCK_8F6t_H4&hd=1
Moderat
Collab audiovisual project between Apparat and Modselektor, heartbreakingly minimal yet not boring. I would sell both my kidneys to see them live.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DoxUiqUpkw4
Jon Hopkins
Amazing piano mixed with glitches and samples so clean you could eat off them. The Album Insides is a MUST HAVE, listening to it while watching a sunrise is a MUST DO.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNa1AZpmndA
Allure
He claims its electro, we don't believe him but we don't really care either.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sj683lrVrI&feature=related
Faux Pas
Kind of like charming hipster stuff but all nice because there are no whining vocals.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQDB7fn9a5E
Bonobo
Hmm, pretty chill, Melodic with a capital M. Excellent. Lots of real instruments.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYZA7pn6WM4
Unicorn Kid
Chiptunes! You know, its like old gameboy music, except orders of magnitude better. The happiness and nostalgia combine for maximum effect!
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOP5kIzaWQE
Abakus
Chill, gorgeous, simple but varied.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wrqozz_90o&hd=1
Govinda
Combination of middle eastern influences, live instruments and sick bass. Forgive 240p youtube vid.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymvNV_Os9Hg
Floex
More Russians making impeccably mastered jazzy IDM stuff.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IuafNJBr-h0&hd=1
Kalya Scintilla
Eastern influenced semi-minimal bass music, impeccably mastered and super sick, highly recommended.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIoaqTwZZM8&hd=1
Hinkstep
Not sure how to describe this guy, its definitely not dubstep despite his name, very clean, dubbish, deep bass, beautiful understated melodies. You may think meh if you just listen, but lie down with some headphones and really concentrate and its gorgeous with perfect song structure.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgIR-fmnUzE&hd=1
Oh my god im done.
There it is, all my musical knowledge and suggestions(i'm sure I forgot all sorts of stuff lol) condensed in a post.
Hopefully a few people will be exposed to some great music that they otherwise never would have known about!
Feel free to contact me via PM if you want any other assistance related to finding certain artist or whatever connected to the music. I have access to pretty much every electronic release and can help you obtain them no problem. Also if one of the youtube links breaks or something.