Spor - Conquerors and Commoners (V0)

Spor has been attracting a lot of attention for his powerful blend of drum and bass, dubstep and electro house since 2005, before many big-name electronic dance music producers were even on the scene. Conquerors and Commoners is a shifting, spiraling and thumping amalgamation of virtually every great genre of EDM; if you haven't heard it yet, you need to.

Download.

The Bug - London Zoo (V0)

Remember when dubstep had recognizable influences?

Download.

James Blake - CMYK EP

I don't know.
This is just really god damn good.
It's a gosh-darned great mix of electronic music and 80's mainstream production, I tell you what.

I hate him for doing what I wish I was doing.

Did you find her?

Download because this is what being relaxed must sound like.

Rusko - O.M.G.! (V0)

Rusko has his first album out this year. A lot of guests and a return to the sound that he has been most well-known for, those nicely-timed midrange wobbles, makes this a dubstep release that I'd expect to hear any DJ mixing sometime this year and throughout the next. Although there aren't any standout tracks like Cockney Thug, O.M.G.! is diverse enough to be compatible with any dance atmosphere or dubstep set.

Download.

Informant - Signal EP (V0)

Dubstep has suffered a lot of abuse since 2007. Skream and company initially took the underground UK dance scene and completely reinvented it, which is ironic considering the amount of copycats that have shown up through the years. Many dubstep artists completely threw out their reggae and dub influences, preferring wobbly bass and old jazz record samples. A low point in my foray into dubstep was the moment I realized that I'd paid money for a Caspa release just to hear, "the bitches all love me 'cause I'm fuckin' Caspa," at the end of every one of his productions. That kind of gross narcissism really corrupted the kind of attitude that I'd gleaned from artists like Rusko and Skream, who seemed to be more interested in writing music for their friends to party to than achieving some kind of elusive global recognition or exaltation.

Informant's third EP is his greatest yet. Signal is a mashup of the dub influences that made Skream so famous, electro-house and a little toolbox of neat tricks that keep listeners interested and wanting more. Informant's envelope manipulation, well-timed sampling and field recordings are signs of an artist genuinely interested in his craft, almost the antithesis of the "fuck bitches, get money" chav mentality that plagues the UK, and as a result much of contemporary dubstep. Informant's progressivisms and musical ardor definitely make him an artist to look out for in the 2010 underground dance scene.

Enjoy.