Pretty Lights- Color Map of the Sun
Fourth full album from Colorado native Derek Vincent Smith, AKA Pretty Lights. Different from previous albums due to a lack of borrowed samples. All sounds used are original tunes conducted/ composed by Smith with musicians in Brooklyn and New Orleans which were lated pressed into vinyl to create the sampling catalog. Moreover, all composition of CD1 in Denver was used with analog sound machines [ie not ableton]. “A modern production album composed exclusively of hardware-- analog electronica”. Cool eh? CD1 contains the produced songs-- electro, hip-hop influences, breaks, glitch, and some soul mixed in. CD2 contains some sessions from the original sampling catalog-- lots of breaks and grooves. CD2 has more gems, in my humble opinion, than CD1.
(if you’re interested in learning more, check out the Making Of documentary on youtube. Highly recommended!)
~Mayjahn~
FCC’s: CD1, 8
Picks: CD1-- 1, 5, 8 (FCC), *9*, 11 CD2-- 1, 2, *4*, 6, *7*, 10, 13

*1. (6:11) Deep groove with breaks, spacey effects, and hard glitches. Good amount of womps too.
2. (4:51) Slower but nonetheless driving. Trumpets featured alongside diva, crackles, and medium sized beats.
3. (3:54) Glitchy, harder chune infused with big drums, rap samples, and electric guitar
4. (4:16) Hard hitting with spacey psychelia, guitar, and reverbs. Oh and Talib Kweli.
*5. (5:42) Sunny song with driving beats, dreamy keyboard + synths, and a widdle glitch.
6. (5:07) Hard song with big bass, drums + cymbals. Gritty and wicked with traces of innocence.
7. (5:53) Fast, dramatic keyboard, driving bass. More American dubstep sounds in this one.
FCC *8. (5:26) Shimmering song with soulful vocals and dreamy effects. Hard rap vocal too.
**9. (6:37) What starts as bleeps/ bloops morphs into more glitch-hop oriented with nice drums + synths. Female vocals seal the deal.
10. (5:59) Fast dance track with shredding guitar, bleeps, and hints of childhood.
*11. (7:01) Strings give way to a lighter track except for the heavy space effects and dub belches. Soulful vocals.
12. (5:34) Wailing cherubs pick you up as you float above the clouds with distorted radio waves.
13. (4:52) Melancholic final song, uptempo with drums, soulful vox, and crooning synths. Drums + glitch ja.

*1. (5:34) Horn/ drum/ bass groove/ hihat groove. Very mellow with soulful trumpet!
*2. (3:40) Stoned electric guitar/ mid-drums/ bass groove/ tight keyboards
3. (3:21) Electric guitar spotlight/ triangle/ keyboard/ bass pick up.
**4. (2:59) Psychedelic funky bass, claps, hi hats, and a crystal clear xylophone. Dope!
5. (3:08) Bass, drums, and groovy electric guitar jam together in something hazy and delicious
*6. (4:07) Sunny, shimmery jam including some synths (?), drums, and bass guitar.
**7. (3:57) Stoned but sassy horn section, synth, drums, bass guitar... complex!
8. (3:09) Darker, haunting song with sharp keyboard and repetitive bass guitar.
9. (3:34) Loungey guitar, keyboards and drums.
*10. (3:36) TIGHT bass, electric guitar, and drum groove.
11. (3:49) Plodding drum, dischordant keyboards, later keyboard spotlight
12. (3:03) Driving electric guitar, tight drums, funky bass loop.
*13. (3:09) Sunny song; shimmering keyboards, hazy bass guitar, relaxed drums