By: Natty Morrison

Hello and welcome to the inaugural post of “Natty’s Picks of the Week,” your guide to everything new in electronic music, from the underground to the mainstream and all stops in between. Each week you can find streaming tracks and mixes from some of your favorite artists, as well as a few with whom you may not be so familiar. Check back each Thursday for updates; I promise to keep the bass heavy, the drops huge and my ramblings short.

1. “My Name is Skrillex” - Skrillex

First up is Los Angeles artist Skrillex. I first heard about this guy in an email from a friend that read, “Fucks up electro, fucks up dubstep…Next Bassnectar.” While you can certainly hear some similarities to Bassnectar, as well as Justice and Deadmau5, Skrillex (a.k.a. Sonny Moore) brings his own approach to the genre: make it as heavy as humanly possible. It makes sense; he’s the former vocalist for post-hardcore band From First to Last, and that hardcore background shows in his music. Full of glitch, pounding bass and insane peaks, this Mau5trap label artist recently posted a status on his Facebook page saying: “im about to go on AFTER deadmau5 .. scared.. good times.” If he dropped anything remotely as heavy and mind-boggling as the track below, I don’t think Skrillex had anything to worry about.

2. “Major Lazer vs. Eskmo [Next Level Mash-up]” - Kraddy

A friend of mine recently asked me to define “glitch.” Since I throw the word around so much, she figured I of all people would know how to describe what it meant. Instead I froze up, mumbled a long list of fractured and meaningless adjectives and eventually trailed off. In retrospect I should have just said “Listen to Kraddy”. Originally a founding member of Glitch Mob, this Venice DJ has been spreading his message of “Heavy, Dirty and Nasty sound” on his Labyrinth Tour all winter. Check out this glitch-tastic mashup of Major Lazer and Eskmo, and visit The Untz for a free download! 

3. “Fuckable” - Hot Sugar feat. Baghdaddy

Next up is the guest on next week’s Untz.com Podcast: Hot Sugar. This oddball-character from New York has a fascinating style of musical composition, finding sounds in the oddest of places: a guy snoring, something slamming against a countertop; no sound is too far out there. This track “Fuckable” (feat. Baghdaddy) has a definite hip-hop feel, with hints of electro-rock acts like Chromeo.

4. “The Borg” - Fabian

If dubstep is more your style, then this one by newcomer Fabian should be the stuff dreams are made of. Or nightmares. Whichever sounds more pleasing to you. This track will get your spine rattling with its grimy builds and whomptastic bass. Right before the drop, you can hear a robotic voice warning “Resistance is futile.” Sounds about right.

5. “Circling”- Four Tet

My final pick of the week comes from Four Tet, an artist that doesn’t see much of a divide between post-rock and electronic stylings. This track can be found on his newest release “There is Love In You,” and features hypnotic acoustic guitar looped over a dull throb of bass drum. Try not to wind up in a trance, I dare you.

If you’re an artist who’d like to be featured in Natty’s Picks of the Week, shoot me an email at natty@theuntz.com.