Throughout the week, a whole lot of material gets posted here on XLR8R. And while we know—and love—that some hardcore readers will eagerly pour over every single news story, interview, podcast, video, and MP3 download that appears on the site, we also realize that for most people, it’s impossible to see everything, which means that some quality XLR8R content is likely to get missed in the hustle and bustle of everyone’s daily lives. In the interest of making it easier for everyone to catch up, every Friday we present The Lowdown, a weekly wrap-up of the top 10 tidbits from our site.

1. All month long, we here at XLR8R have been looking back at the past year with our Best of 2013 series. As it turned out, this week’s most popular entry was the one focusing on the year’s disappointing releases.

2. We started off the week by putting together a list 2013’s Best New Artists, which listed the 10 producers and DJs we felt made the biggest impact with their arrival this year.

3. For the first time ever, our year-end coverage included a look at the more technical side of things, as our Best of 2013: Gear article listed the five best pieces of hardware and software that popped up during the past 12 months.

4. Thursday found us unveiling the first half of our top 30 releases of 2013. (The second half was published just this morning.)

5. After allowing ourselves several days to take in Burial’s intriguing new Rival Dealer EP, we put together our official review, which detailed exactly why we’re so enthusiastic about the new record.

6. Four Tet has kept himself very busy in 2013, and this week saw the UK producer suddenly releasing a batch of 15 unreleased tracks via Twitter. We selected our favorite of the bunch, “101112,” and posted it as a free download.

7. Machinedrum was also in a giving mood this week, as he offered up the Vizion EP, a collection of ambient tunes that were produced during the same sessions that spawned his acclaimed Vapor City LP.

8. Ableton got into the holiday spirit as well, giving away a free sample pack of drum loops to registered Live 9 users.

9. Ableton also released a new video this week, which paired Machinedrum with fellow expat producer Lando Kal and documented the pair working together in the studio.

10. New Jersey beatmaker Clams Casino elected to wrap up his trilogy of instrumental mixtapes this week by giving away the series’ final installment via Twitter.

An expanded version of the The Lowdown is also available via a weekly email newsletter. Those interested in an even more in-depth round-up of XLR8R content, including a complete listing of all the free downloads we’ve offered in the past seven days, should sign up by entering their email address below.

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