13 Mad Decent Artists You Need to Know

For the last seven years, Mad Decent has purposefully put on a number of artists you'd probably never heard of, which is a big part of their staying p

Not Available Lead
Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

Not Available Lead

For the last seven years, Mad Decent has purposefully put on a number of artists you'd probably never heard of, which is a big part of their staying power. Forever staying on the pulse of what's hot, or more importantly, what's about to be hot, and picking the right producers to highlight. For whatever reason, some of these acts might get neglected by the masses, but it just takes one big push or release from a known platform to give them a push, which is what Mad Decent (and The Jeffree's) are here for. Today, we wanted to take a look at 13 artists that have released music via Mad Decent over the last seven years; artists that we feel help tell the story of Mad Decent, or represent the future of what the dance music scene needs (or will get, one way or the other). Here are 13 Mad Decent artists you need to know.

Bonde De Role

Not Available Interstitial

Location: Curitiba, Brazil

While Mad Decent is much more known for their contributions to the dance music scene, many forget that this Brazilian trio was the first release on Diplo's imprint, back in 2006 before they signed to Domino. "Melo do Tabaco" is a weird mash-up of old school hip-hop and "Man in the Box," murdered by MC Laura Taylor. Diplo first heard of this group via their MySpace page, and we have a feeling he fell in love with their free-spirited/don't give a fuck style. They've managed to put out material on Mad Decent through the years, including a pair of remixed singles in April of 2013.

Swizzymack

Not Available Interstitial

Location: Philadelphia, PA

Mad Decent has strong roots in Philly, from Diplo's early career as a DJ to the first (literal) Mad Decent Block Party, so it'd make sense that the future of Mad Decent and the bass music scene would come from the Philly-bred Swizzymack. DAD's been heavily into his sound for a while, first as a DJ but over the last year as a producer, and the release of his Bass EP solidifies what we've known: be it trap, Philly club, or any other kind of sub-driven treats, Swizzymack has the goods.

Kito & Reija Lee

Not Available Interstitial

Location: London, by way of Perth, Australia

These two have been childhood friends since the age of 13, and first hooked up on the track "LFO," which was released on Skream's Disfigured Dubz imprint. In a bass music scene that needs more female energy, Diplo/Mad Decent putting on an artist like Kito is key, and releasing their debut EP "Sweet Talk" on Mad Decent is clutch. That EP hit #1 on iTunes, and was sampled by Trinidad Jame$ on "Females Welcomed." Here's to hoping they bring us more material in the near future.

Juyen Sebulba

Not Available Interstitial

Location: Dallas, TX

Mad Decent might not be associated with the huge festival house sound, they did make sure to put out Juyen's first official single "Superjam" back in May of 2013. Once you hit play, you'll know why the likes of Laidback Luke, GTA, Moska, and others championing it, for good reason. It's just one of those infectious tracks that is crafted to crush dancefloors, and is one of the reasons why we hear that a number of acts are looking to work with the young producer.

RiFF RAFF

Not Available Interstitial

Location: Houston, TX

We imagine a number of people turned their head in confusion when Diplo added RiFF RAFF to the Mad Decent fold. He was originally known as that white rapper on MTV's From G's to Gents reality show, but as he continued to become a viral hit, we knew there was nothing manufactured about his personality. Eccentric is the perfect word to describe RiFF, from his fashion sense to his stream-of-consciousness flow. Love him or hate him, he's making noise, and the current mutation of trap music has created the perfect bed for the NEON iCON to operate in.

The Partysquad

Not Available Interstitial

Location: Amsterdam, Netherlands

This Dutch duo is probably most well-known for producing "Original Don" along with Major Lazer (as well as being featured on Free the Universe's "Mashup The Dance"), but they've been great at bringing the sounds of dance music to the mainstream (at least in the Netherlands), and you can even hear it in the hardstyle-heavy "Original Don." These two know how to blend sounds, and its showed, with them parlaying their expertise into huge singles with Afrojack and Alvaro. Hopefully their U.S. presence is more widespread.

THE 10 BEST MAJOR LAZER TRACKS

Mr. Carmack

Not Available Interstitial

Location: Hawaii

Carmack was already getting his name out there in a major way before linking with Mad Decent for the "Birth Control" / "Hopscotch" single on Jeffree's this past Spring; he'd achieved the #1 spot on Bandcamp with two consecutive releases, Bang, Vol. 3 and Life/Death. he's a part of that next wave of chilled beatmakers, carving out their own sound in the bass music scene with elements of trap, downtempo, and synth-happy rhythms.

Valentino Khan

Not Available Interstitial

Location: Los Angeles, CA

Valentino Khan shouldn't be a stranger to DAD readers, as he chose our site to debut his #TrapThursdays series. He's only released one track officially on Mad Decent, the moombahton scorcher "Rukus" with Will Bailey, but he's also produced tracks with Major Lazer ("Bubble Butt," anyone?), along with knocking out beats for the likes of T.I., B.o.B., and others. He's as great at trap as he is at moombahton (and other genres), and is already making a mark on 2013. Catch up now before he's fully taken off.

Swick

Not Available Interstitial

Location: Melbourne, Australia

Swick is one of those producers that's just damn good. For a guy like Diplo, that's a great producer to have around, and his massive "Bubbles" got so many spins from Diplo that he figured why not put it out there for the public. Since that single release in 2012, Swick's released an EP on No Brainer and put out "Keep It Gully" with Diplo earlier this year. We need that youth sound in today's dance music scene. It's just that damn good.

Douster

Not Available Interstitial

Location: Lyon, France

French producer Douster has been working on music since he was 14-years-old, and got his first taste of Mad Decent love with the 2010 Get Rich Or Die Trying EP with Savage Skills, who also linked up with the producer for a release on Dim Mak. His solo track "Boom Shaka Laka" was another beast entirely, finding him crafting a bouncy tropical bounce that still gets us going two years later. He's recently dropped a track with Gina Turner, and we're hoping more material from Douster is on the way soon.

LIZ

Not Available Interstitial

Location: Los Angeles, CA

With the cyclical nature of dance music, it's refreshing to hear the sounds of the '90s being re-imagined with everyone from Disclosure to the juke scene. It'd obviously make sense that Mad Decent would then scoop up LIZ, an artist that's making some of the most perfect bubblegum turnt up R&B that we've heard in a while. It's that late '90s/early 2000s sound that producers like Ta-ku and Lockah find inspiration from, but new. She's on it.

Foxsky

Not Available Interstitial

Location: California

Foxsky is one of those artists that we're glad Mad Decent introduced us to, with the twisted video game flavored "The Whip" introducing us to an artist that we need to know more about. There's just something about the way he rolled the intro of this 8-bit soundtrack-flipping electro house number that let us know that it definitely wasn't a game, and we imagine it's only a matter of time before more fans and DJs see this.

Kennedy Jones

Not Available Interstitial

Location: Southern California

You'd think that a guy doing a trap remix of Elvis Crespo's "Suavemente" wouldn't be getting love. You'd be an idiot. That remix set off a major push for Kennedy Jones, who dropped his "Came To Party" via Mad Decent/Jeffree's and it hit #11 on iTunes the day it was released. That's in part to the tremendous support and respect for Jones' work, which finds him as one of your favorite DJ's favorite secret weapons. This guy is on fire.

Latest in Music