~Glitch/(!)Clicks and Cuts [electrónica]

Techno music is usually identified by—and loathed for—its monotonous thud of a beat. But music producer/artist Steven Ellison, better known by his rapidly multiplying fan base as Flying Lotus, is rescuing heavy electronica from jackhammer hell. His third album, Cosmogramma, throws sci-fi-style synthesizers, arcade game bleeps, soft vocals, and sweeping violins over drum-line samples and ’60s avant-garde jazz percussion. (No surprise that he cites his late great-aunt and -uncle Alice and John Coltrane as major influences.) The 26-year-old Angeleno’s ambitious reinvention of the glow-stick-swinging genre pretty much demands to be heard in a club, since the bass lines are so submarine deep your average laptop speakers can’t bring them to the surface. “It’s low-end music,” Ellison says. “The kind that makes the subwoofers go.” Your feet, too.

The Glitch Mob is a three-piece electronic group from Los Angeles, composed of Ed Ma (edIT), Justin Boreta (Boreta) and Josh Mayer (Ooah). The group, originally a four-piece including Kraddy, was formed in 2006 within the burgeoning Los Angeles bass-driven ‘beat’ scene. The Glitch Mob made a name for themselves playing live, choosing to perform with laptops and MIDI controllers. They have won fans through showcasing their chosen technology during performance solos gaining attention in Los Angeles and San Francisco, eventually touring more widely along the West Coast and then to various festivals worldwide. Founding member Kraddy left the group in 2009.

Telefon Tel Aviv is a music collective based in Chicago, IL started by Josh Eustis and the late Charlie Cooper of New Orleans, Louisiana. The two originally met in high school, but did not begin working on music together until after university studies. Since 1999 Josh and Charlie had been working to cultivate their sound, based largely in electronic music, but that also showed flourishes of classical, vintage soul, ambient drone, and noise, among other things. The group continues as a mostly solo project of Josh Eustis after Charlie Cooper’s death in January 2009.

Sometime back in the mid-90s a fresh faced Brazilian ex-pat living in the UK decided he was going to put down his harmonica, pick up a sampler, and name himself after a Stephen King novel. The resulting album, Cujo’s Adventures in Foam (released on Ninebar records, later reissued on Ninja Tune) signalled Amon Tobin’s entry into the world of music.