THE ARTIST FORMERLY KNOWN AS DAN WANTS TO EXPAND YOUR HORIZONS

[EDITOR’S NOTE: Back in November when I was away on an undeserved but still enjoyable vacation and unable to blog, lots of good people stepped up and contributed posts of their own so that NCS wouldn’t have to go dark while I was gone.

One of those contributors, The Artist Formerly Known As Dan, took a running head start on year-end album lists and became one of the first writers in metal blogdom to stake out a position on the year’s best metal (here). That post scored a massive number of hits, no doubt due in part to the fact that it was featured on MetalSucks.

With the end of the year rapidly approaching, we asked Dan if he had made any revisions or additions to the list he prepared a month ago. What we got from him was this.]

So, I hope all the NCS readers aren’t bored with me after my first list. I thought my picks for the best of 2010 were pretty solid, but reading lists can get old, so now I’ll try to focus my attention on one subject. That subject is potential musical recommendations for my NCS brethren that are outside the realm of metal.  I have a pretty wide range of tastes, but I thought that at least some of my “other” music might interest a few of you, specifically because it generally follows the NCS manifesto:

-it’s not pop music

-it has at least one or more of the following characteristics: fast, punishing, cathartic, dark, powerful, crushing

-there is no clean singing

So let’s get started.  (after the jump . . .)

The overarching topic of the day is electronic music.  Now, before we continue, I am going to ask that you forget what you know about electronic music.  If you think I’m inviting you to go on some glow-stick infested, ecstasy-taking, disco-ball rave trip, you are wrong.  I mean if you want to take drugs and listen to this music, that’s cool, but it’s besides the point.  The music I’m talking about is really dark and heavy stuff, so prepare as though you were going to be listening to some metal.  On a side note which matters, turn your bass way up.  On a side note which doesn’t really matter, most of what I will mention today falls into the category of “dubstep” for anyone who was curious.

The first suggestion I have is a track by a couple of DJs known as Datsik and Downlink.  This particular song starts off a little on the soft side, but that’s key not only to this track, but the genre as a whole.  It’s all setting the stage for the massive drop that comes at 0:55 seconds.  Don’t skip to that point, let it build, the context makes a big difference.  As you get more into dubstep, you’ll find that bass- and beat-drops are the bread and butter of the genre and are really what make the songs hit so hard.

If that last one wasn’t metal enough for you, check this Singaya track out.  This shit is extra dark, and gets really heavy at around 0:35, and even more so around 1:44.  This track is really groovy, but also quite glitchy, so I imagine it will be to your liking if you already like the newer deathcore or djent stuff.  And if you don’t like the song, well, at least the picture is metal as fuck.

Still reading?  Excellent, because at this point we’re ready to move to another DJ who goes by the moniker “Skrillex.”  He was originally in a terrible screamo band, but we won’t let that tarnish his reputation, will we?  Ok, maybe a little.  Nevertheless, he does redeem himself with this fucking beast of a track.  It starts off with a bit of a pop-esque melody, but just wait for that sickness at 0:41.  Holy shit!  That wobble is filthy good and gets my head nodding every time.  This guy is really talented and I highly recommend some of his other stuff, though it is admittedly less “metal.”

Ok, so I may have lost some of you there.  But I saved my trump card for last!  A lot of you probably already know about Commissioner, but I’ll explain it anyway.  It’s a project between Cameron Argon aka Big Chocolate of Disfiguring the Goddess and Mitch Lucker of Suicide Silence.  I’m not really sure how to classify it, but it’s electronic, has distorted guitars, and the vocals are certainly not clean.  This track destroys, AND, Argon revealed on his daily v-log (cameveryday) that the EP is dropping really soon.  He’s also really fucking talented   Enjoy.