XLR8R magazine’s web equivalent has long been a great source for some of the best “dance”
and electronic music downloads out there. In fact, the site offers so much more
than that, but in terms of putting new stuff online and available for free downloading,
XLR8R in my opinion remains the most reliable option when it comes to consistency
and quality. Plus it’s easy to use.
It isn’t for everyone, XLR8R tends to veer
on the side of bass music and more experimental genres within the wider dance
music sphere, but that’s what gives it a significant point of difference. And
it also means exposure is given to artists you wouldn’t normally hear on the
radio or on some of the more mainstream dance music compilations.
As
is customary at this time of year, ‘best of’ and ‘worst of’ lists for the
calendar year are being compiled everywhere and naturally XLR8R has compiled
its own list of the site’s top 100 downloads for 2012. And of course, it’s
free, in the form of a zip file found at the foot of this link.
***
Radikal
Guru is a remarkable artist. I was blown away by last year’s The Rootstepa album
and rated it as my number one (or most listened to) album of 2011. This year he’s
been less prolific with recorded output, but has remained
active as an increasingly relevant live/touring performer.
Over at Soundcloud, here’s a couple of
brand skanking new free downloads from the man himself … just in:
Those year-end
countdowns are now in full swing, and since the generally pretty excellent
XLR8R website has long been one of my “go to” sites for all things of an
electronic/dance bent, I was keen to see what that site was going to throw at us for
2014. 
