This Brit beatmaker's productions ("Cockney Thug") and DJ'ing (Fabric Live 37,with Caspa) helped define early subwoofer-punishing dubstep well before Skrillex made it rage like new metal. But on Songs, rather than go full-on aggro (or even collaborate again with various Dirty Projectors, as on 2010's O.M.G.), dubstep is outweighed by effervescent house, pop, R&B, dancehall, even twostep garage – a style that preceded dubstep – with vocals ready to pop like champagne bubbles. Even when the lowend gets a workout, as on "Asda Car Park" and "Opium," the tone is party-friendly rather than glowering – good news for pop fans, less so for Korn devotees.

Listen To Rusko's "Opium": 

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• Photos: Random Notes

“Everyday People”

"Everyday People" managed to trailblaze in two different ways -- it was one of the first pop hits to deal with the subject of racial harmony, and it utilized Larry Graham's "slap" technique on the bass guitar, which would soon be copied by countless other bassists. Graham once said about his pulsating style, "I'd never done that before … that's where the freedom of creativity came in for the band, that we'd be allowed to do that." In 1978, the song's line "Different strokes for different folks" would be borrowed for the title of the hit television show Diff'rent Strokes.