I don't hear too much about ladies making beats in the hip-hop world, but perhaps that's about to change with the emergence of VJ Smith, who records instrumental hip-hop as Pursuit Grooves. This is actually VJ's second album (she also appeared on the recently reviewed Beat Dimensions), and it displays a ton of influences. Instead of developing tracks to exist as distinct songs, Wild Art Forestry prefers to establish a beat and ride it out for a few minutes with each track. If VJ weren't so versatile, the record could quickly become monotonous, but VJ mixes it up, starting with more sluggish beats, then tossing into some chiptune, then some ambient, then going a bit jazzy, before turning more turntablistic and uptempo before closing with some vocals. Every track sounds a little bit different from what's currently out right now, and perhaps that's the female touch, but it could also be VJ's strict adherence to not using laptops, but only hardware. Definitely one to grab for those who like the beats.

As Eve Basilides opens up with strumming a harp, a distant lo-fi hiss transposes you into a surreal world of shadows and broken dreams. By the time Kaithlin Howard's voice breaks through the reverb and lightly touched piano chords I begin to wonder if the imagery is indeed from my long lost memory. These spellbinding soundscapes accompany me into a world of modern classical and magical realism. "A strange and beautiful tale, voiced across the windswept plains and forests of purgatory." Here I give into another temptation to repeat the album's poem: "In a dream I am standing/At the entrance to a forest/Here there are constructed/Numberless arches that radiate light/When I step through them at night/My body floats gently in the air/At this precise moment/When I am on the cusp of sleep/My shadow vanishes/And with it my weight." Why bother attempting to even describe such beautiful and timeless experience? Rudi has captured it all. The album photographs perfectly echo the artist's message via the visual senses. Rudi definitely reminds me of The Blue Notebooks by Max Richter, because of the melancholic piano, cinematic strings, and beautiful spoken word. I hope Arapahoe's future is bright with creating mystical soundtracks to a world that we carve out of this visible reality. For when I close my eyes, it rapidly vanishes. And only music remains.

Reimer Eising, producing under the name of Kettel, is no stranger to the IDM scene. Since 2001, Eising has vigorously released a dozen EPs and nine full length albums on a handful of respectable labels, such as Planet Mu, Neo Ouija, DUB, Merck, Kracfive, and his home label (which he co-runs with his brother, Wouter Eising and Kristian Peters), Sending Orbs. Myam James Part 1 was originally scheduled to be an EP, but Eising's onslaught of his mind-to-music-stream has borne not one, but two albums in the Myam James series. Based out of Groningen, The Netherlands, Eising is a classically trained musician, playing piano since he was five years old. His love for Bach is clearly evident through complex, mathematical, and harmonic progressions in the acid driven, micro programmed, and organically acoustic pieces. From the album page on Sending Orbs: "Kettel manages to squeeze uplifting, warm, cheerful and enjoyable music out of his kettle and pottery factory, which is sad, melancholic and sensitive at the same time." The tracks on Part 1 are as intelligent as Inteligent Dance Music can be, with excellent production, masterful effect control, and instantly memorable melodies. Towards the end of the album, the track My Dogan (from his last album of the same name), gets a treatment by Phoenecia. We also get an excellent remix from Secede for "Church".

Never before have I heard the "noise rock" style usher in songs I would describe as beautiful, but Elapse-O seem to have figured out a way. Their debut EP somehow manages to inject beauty and soul in between feedback and noise, with post-punkesque vocals and drum machine loops adding even more flavor to each track, and never once sounding superfluous with their inclusion. It's amazing that I'm just hearing about this band now. Normally when an EP this succinct is made, its existence is heralded all over the blogs and Pitchfork before the CDR's are even burned. Credit has to go out to to Records on Ribs not only for the discovery of this band, but for releasing the music for free as is their mission. CDR's are made to order upon request. But don't let the low price tag fool you; this music is worth your time and your money.

L.A. hip-hop producer and frequent collaborator with Flying Lotus as Flyamsam releases a follow-up to his debut album Rap Beats on Kode9's previously dubstep only label Hyperdub. It's no secret Kode9's been smitten with the bass-heavy hip-hop sound for a while now, working with Flying Lotus on a RinseFM set and big-upping Rustie at every opportunity. With Samiyam, Kode9 is showcasing one of the emerging stars of the increasingly vibrant L.A. hop-hop scene. Samiyam's aesthetic is not much different than frequent collaborator Flying Lotus's early work, but Samiyam is more consistently upbeat and less moody. Samiyam goes a bit more experimental with "Cheesecake Backslap", but ends compromising some of the best parts of the track. He's more comfortable on tracks like "Moon Shoes", where he's perfected the sound of L.A.-based instrumental hip-hop, where the production is so interesting an MC would only hinder the track. Be on the lookout for more from this talent.

We can always count on Aaron Funk to punish us at least once a year. If you're not familiar with Venetian Snares, it's time for you to open up that hole and crawl out. Seriously. Winnipeg (Canada) based Funk is a prolific champion of the edgiest of genres - from modern-classical orchestral arrangements violated with breakcore to noisy IDM sprinkled with clicks and cuts. Among the collection of labels, he has managed to span some of my favorites - Zod, Distort, Sublight, Hymen and of course, Planet Mu. Detrimentalist is Funk's twentieth (!!!) album, in which he steps away from classical themes sampled and revisited in his last album My Downfall, and brings back the early drum'n'bass loops only the way Venetian Snares can. Planet Mu describes the release as "Venetian Snares' 332nd official studio album of disgusting ejacutronic rave horn." After a couple of rotations the intelligent design behind complex time signatures stands out from the imitators' attempts at making [whatever]-core simply for the sake of it. The first two tracks, Gentleman and Koonut-Kaliffee set the tone for the entire album, and the grind never stops. The cover art is sprinkled with an array of neon green aliens, robots, skulls, wingdings, guns, cassettes, and other demented and detrimental paraphernalia. And ducks. My favorite track is Eurocore MVP with ragga vocal samples, Funk's staple bass rips, drilling Amen breaks and an obligatory snare rush. This is breakcore at its finest. Keep it coming, Funk... We're listening...

LINE is a label of another breed and dimension. Created by Richard Chartier in 2000 under the 12k umbrella, LINE publishes experimental and abstract installation compositions by sound artists exploring contemporary digital minimalism. LINE has a nice roster of signal processing and deconstructing composers, including Alva Noto, Taylor Deupree, Vend and Asmus Tietchens. For the latest limited 2008 release, LINE has re-issued a 2004 acclaimed work by Richard Chartier and William Basinski, Untitled 1-3, first appearing on Japanese label Spekk. The two original Untitled tracks are remastered by Taylor Deupree and complemented by two new works - Untitled 3 and its Reprise. The initial edition of 1300 remained on the market for only two months before completely selling out. Basinski has been working on experimental soundscapes for over twenty five years. His installations and collaborations with filmmaker, James Elaine, have received international exposure and acclaim. Chartier has been producing experimental and minimal work that "explores the inter-relationships between the spatial nature of sound, silence, focus, and the act of listening." His sound works reached international exhibits and digital art/music festivals. Both musicians have appeared on Olaf Bender and Carsten Nicolai's hailed German label, Raster-Noton. In this aural documentary of another planet's lifeform, Basinski incorporates tape loops and elements from an eight voice polyphonic analog synthesizer from 1982, Voyetra-8. Chartier adds thick slabs of frequencies with elements from various sound installations. The piece is dark, haunting, and brooding, with alien feathered beings chirping in the background. Although the ambiance of composition is everlasting, the feeling of uneasiness remains with you well after you've downloaded these instructions into your brain. Untitled 2, at 35 minutes alone, is your guide for examining the album's abstract expressionist artwork by Chartier himself. Bring this album with you while visiting your local contemporary museum, select a dark, minimal, and abstract piece, and dissolve for a half an hour into the essence of being. You will find it... there...

Hip-hop group Cyne follow-up their 2005 album Evolution Fight on City Centre Offices with an album on the ever-improving Project Mooncircle label. Cyne's raps hearken back to the time when hip-hop was a cultural voice and not just a chance to brag about how many cars or women you've had. Cyne's productions are crisp and fresh, but also firmly rooted in the DJ Premier style of production so prevalent in the mid 90s, which is never a bad thing. Cyne waxes both political and philosophical, avoiding the trappings of traditional underground hip-hop by not even mentioning the fact that what they do is underground by not being self-conscious and just focusing on the elements that make successful hip-hop: fresh beats and fresh rhymes. Case in point: Cyne reprises their raps for Deceptikon's "Montana", and what should be a stale track because of the re-used rhymes is actually a rbeorn track, with the new beats taking the track in an entirely different direction. From laid back to serious in their rhymes, Cyne is a message for those that think the genre has nothing left.

Flying Lotus follows-up last year's excellent Reset EP with his sophomore album and debut for Warp. FlyLo set the bar high with last year's EP, most notably due to his broken-beat R&B opener "Tea Leaf Dancers", showcasing felxibility and range not previously heard on his debut album 1983. With this album, FlyLo has created an ode to the city he calls home by covering many of the different sounds emanating from the City of Angels, from the excellent R&B track "Roberta Flack", a worthy sequel to the greatness of "Tea Leaf Dancers" to the tribal drums of "Melt!" to more uptempo tracks like "Comet Course" reminding me of GB at his best. The album may come off as a bit scatterbrained, and it is, and because of that it only partially meets the pre-release hype. But this album still etsablishes Flying Lotus as one of the premier hip-hop producers of the post-Dilla era, and I can't wait to hear what he comes up with next.

An amazing array of releases from Raster-Noton can drain any serious collector's wallet. My latest search includes the twelve super rare twenty-minute monthly releases titled 20' to 2000, and I highly doubt that I'll be able to score it for anything less than a thousand bucks. Oh well... So instead I'll give myself a present of Kangding Ray's sophomore release, Automne Fold. And the album more than satisfies my experimental, organic, and dark rhythmic cravings. Kangding Ray is an alias of Berlin based David Letellier who creates synthetic, glitchy, and yet very musical compositions of analog tones, micro-programmed beats, and digital errors. Letellier's musical experience includes being a guitarist and a drummer for a band with rock and jazz influences. Stacking against his electronic music design is his diploma in architecture - perhaps Letellier erects and demolishes soundscapes in the same way. The sound of Kangding Ray is not as minimal as the usual roster of Raster-Noton (e.g. CoH, Ø, and the label owner, Carsten Nicolai). It is still experimental, super intelligent, yet at the same time very listenable - I found Alva Noto's Xerrox Vol. 1 conceptually very fascinating, but for some reason the album did not remain in my rotations. Kangding Ray, on the other hand, seems to fit more along his contemporaries like Hecq, Subheim, Kattoo and Murcof. There are even lyrics in some of the "songs". Perhaps Automne Fold will create a gateway into the label's catalogue for listeners with a less sensitive ear. Be sure to pick up Kangding Ray's 2006 release on Raster-Noton, titled Stabil. Highly recommended. Makes my Best of 2008 list so far.