Alexander Stuart

While I'm in my ambient dance trip hop mood, here's a truly beautiful set by British DJ Throwing Snow (Ross Tones) on video Live in the Boiler Room in London (courtesy of YouTube ). Tones is fascinating to watch as he works with a quiet concentration on the wholly original, fabulously bassy and enveloping sounds that he creates with a mix of samples, tracks, keyboards and iPad.  He's one of the few DJs I've seen who doesn't use headphones, and whose focus on his work is such that he creates an almost tangible private space around him.  His music combines elements of two of my all time favorite artists, DJ Shadow and DJ Cam , with its mellow, dancey beats, intriguing ambient samples and totally seductive bass lines. Throwing Snow from his Facebook page. Born in Bristol (the city that produced Massive Attack , Tricky , Portishead and Roni Size  to name a few), Tones is also one half of the duo, Snow Ghosts , featuring singer Augustus Ghost

Some of my favorite sounds at the moment - not least the stunning Blue Sunday  (with its totally seductive opening) from Truths - are by a British DJ duo with the highly evocative name, Maribou State. Signed to Norman Cook's (aka Fatboy Slim) Southern Fried Records, Liam Ivory and Chris Davids create distinctive, mellow, drum and bass influenced music that mixes ambient sounds, often-fragmented vocals and haunting beats to startling effect. This video of Maribou State  (above) spinning at Brighton's Boiler Room is a perfect window on two fast-rising DJs displaying their very considerable talent and creating a solid, beautiful and very chill set that flows with an intriguing rhythmic narrative and some expert and seemingly effortless mood and beat shifts. It also shows two guys clearly enjoying what they're doing.  Be sure to watch all the way through to catch the tasty swing into Throwing Snow's fabulously bassy and hypnotic Lingerwell. Check out Maribo