James Blake

British dubstep wunderkind James Blake leaves most of the dubstep elements behind and delivers what can best be characterized as a modern take on the classic soul album. Bon Iver meets Mount Kimbie.
FCC: Clean
Try: 2, 11, 1, 6

1) 3:04 * Soft opening, deep kick and falsetto vocals. Clicky hi-hats. Culminates with playful vocal effects and grainy synth.
2) 4:36 ** Reverb-drenched drums and vocals. Repetitive structure, builds and builds, soaked in static.
3) 4:52 Starts out acapella, buiiiiilds. Several vocal loops interwoven. Drums about 2 minutes in, builds even farther. Gritty synth crescendo.
4) 2:43 Vocoder acapella. Very slow with plenty of long pauses
5) 2:59 Continues where 4 left off. Same melody on top of a front-porch guitar loop and simple kick.
6) 4:40 * Lovely Feist cover. Starts out as piano/vocals and adds deeeeep bass at 0:55. Might damage old transistor radios. Wonderful
7) 1:54 All acoustic again. Improvised piano opening. Warm, cute ballad
8) 3:54 Weird, warped vocals, fast-paced synth trickles. Shy dubstep.
9) 1:36 Another piano ballad, dissolves into electronic limbo and high-pitched vocals.
10) 3:35 Soft Mount Kimbie-esque dubstep. Very organic, plenty of indecipherable vocal samples.
11) 4:21 ** Chamber synth-pad-pop for 2011. Starts simple then layers Blake’s vocals on top of themselves again and again. A one man choir