obsidian says this takes 13 minutes to read.
this is part one of a series of posts talking about stuff that happened this year, so uhh, yeah, lmao.
God, this year fucking sucked, didn’t it. It feels almost like a relief seeing this year end. At least the music was somewhat good this year, (at least from the music that I managed to listen to), so well, I suppose it is now time to make a small review regarding music that I managed to listen this year.
To be honest, I think I haven’t really listened to that much (new) music at all, really. When it comes to EDM that I tend to listen to (namely dubstep), Never Say Die’s death and the continuing awfulness of Disciple Records pretty much killed any motivation in searching out EDM music nowadays (and I don't feel like digging through Monstercat's catalogue at this time, so there's that.). Snail’s House continues to be good, yet seems to be quickly becoming stale, as his two recent albums have felt very same-y and just uninspired. Meanwhile, I been on a older music listening spree, with many of my top played songs coming from albums from the last decade. Note, that I fucking suck reviewing music. I am not sorry.
favorite albums from this year
Snail’s House - ALIEN POP V
Snail’s House is back at it again with a new Alien Pop release, and as per usual it is pretty good. Not as good as III was, but still pretty good. I think my favorite songs out of the album was either MeteorGirl or Stellarium. MeteorGirl has these awesome fucking drums and this kinda guitar thing going on that goes so well with the rest of the song, as per usual the “alien” singing tends to also fit really great, and overall it is a great song in my opinion. It also has the usual Snail’s House bubbliness that you pretty much expect I think.
Stellarium is another song that I really ended up liking as well, as to be expected, the alien singing returns and it is the highlight of this song IMO. It just sounds so happy (the song, I mean). It is really hard to describe it, but I just really really like listening to this song a lot, to be honest. It just feels so nice to listen to, man. And the rest of the songs are also pretty good, but I do notice a worrying trend with Snail’s House’s music.
I think the issue with these songs is that Snail’s House nowadays tends to feel pretty same-y now. Like I been noticing that a lot of his music now sounds pretty formulaic, like there is this sorta blueprint used to create the music you hear now. I think the EP that is most affected by this is PIXELIZE II, which is in my opinion, my least favorite album that Snail’s House has made recently. It feels pretty uninspired, a lot of the songs sound pretty much the same, with some bits and pieces moved and switched around. And I kinda wish that Snail’s House made something again that was like Alien Pop III, which is in my opinion, the absolute best of his discography by far. It is so fucking fun to listen to, which makes me sad the fact it is barely 4 songs long. FUSION is the second track, and when you listen to it, you can hear how complex and chaotic the whole thing sounds, yet it manages to fit all so well together and the bass carries you across the whole thing and it just feels so fun. I kinda wanted IV to be how III was, but oh well.
Anyways, Alien Pop V is pretty good, not good as III was, but still good, go listen to it.
Tyler, The Creator - DON’T TAP THE GLASS
I wasn’t really expecting a new TtC album this soon after the banger that was CHROMAKOPIA. But apparently I live under a rock, since like this album was being promoted at the time, I guess I just didn’t notice it. Anyways.
Unlike CHROMAKOPIA, Don’t Tap The Glass is a more fun and more chill (if that makes sense?) album to listen to. I originally didn’t like the album that much, but it eventually grew on me, and goddamn it is a fun album. Sucka Free, Ring Ring Ring, and Don’t You Worry Baby are my favorite tracks out of the album, with I’ll Take Care of You, Big Poe and Sugar on My Tongue close seconds. I really like Tyler’s rapping, and the album has a good balance of pretty melodic and more like, harder hitting songs. I also really like the fucking bass in Stop Playing With Me, it goes pretty crazy lmao. And the last two songs do a great job of unwinding the listener from the rest of the bangers in my opinion.
Devath - Henka
TBH the only reason why this album is here is because the first track (called Henka, same name as the album, btw) is so fucking good. It manages to mix this very emotional feeling melody and feeling with like, a dubstep drop, and like, I don’t really know how to describe it. It is peak, and it kinda reminds me of another album that I really love, which is qwaston’s Realize EP. Anyways, the rest of the album is pretty good too, however not as good as Henka is however.
The second track, Blumengarten, is also pretty good. It has a more regular drop to the song, yet it manages to keep sounding pretty melodic the whole way. And in the middle of the song, we get jumpscared by a fucking piano, which kinda gathers the whole song together. Anyways, it is also a good song too, but it isn’t as good as Henka was, tbh.
Immortal is a more traditional riddim/dubstep track and probably my least favorite song of the EP. It has a pretty dull intro, and the drop sounds like something that I heard at least a dozen times before. I feel nothing when listening to this song, aside from just the song playing in my ears.
Anyways the other two songs, Light Aspect and Petals are pretty decent as well, I don’t really know what to say anymore, so welp.
I guess the takeaway? It would be cool if more producers got onto the melodic dubstep bandwagon, and stopped making dull shit like Immortal was, and something more impactful, like Henka, i guess.
Snail’s House - ujbeats: summer
Yet another Snail’s House album, this one is part of the ujbeats series of albums, which was a kinda album series that started in 2020 and has continued up until today. The thing about these songs is that, they tend to be more quickly made, without much of the polish of what you’d expect from Snail’s House. However, I think ujbeats: summer is a good album, and there are some good songs from this album that really stand out.
Ninajirachi - I Love My Computer
I found this album recommended on a video here, and I decided to actually listen to it. It is a banger. It manages to mix that late 2000s-early 2010 esque aesthetic and mixes it with some very tasteful EDM, and it manages to mix so damn well together.
honorable mentions
Jamie Pague - Constant Companions (Deluxe Edition)
Something something this is the BIRDBRAIN album, something something.
Seriously though, I used to really really dislike vocaloid music for the most part, that was until I found this album. Compared to those other songs that had the most artificial sounding ass instrumentals, and the vocaloids sounded so unnatural, on this album, the instrumentals sound very good and are really great and I really do like the singing that both real and vocaloid singers do in certain tracks. Overall, this is a great album, yet it is not part of the “favorite albums of the year” list because I haven’t listened to it much, sadly.
Also this particular album is the deluxe version, which includes a couple more songs. Originally this album was released last year, but it got a whole re-release with more songs, which I think it is pretty nice, tbh.
Gotta admit, I will be taking a look at Jamie’s music more often, to be honest. Anyways, my two favorite songs out of the album are probably BIRDBRAIN and I Wish That I Could Fall, both just great fucking songs holy shit.
Opticalnoise - “Cassette Vignettes S · the Cruelest Beauty That Tastes Like a Sweet Knife and the Curse of Inconclusive Realization”
OpticalNoise is an artist that I ended up discovering, after finding a song called Dreamstate, which they were as part of a 5 person team, cooking up this song for like, a compilation of songs that were made in 24 hours. This song is pretty good, and it is one of the few dubstep-adjacent songs (that have been made recently) that I actually like? IDK, tbh.
I would eventually find out more about OpticalNoise when I found out about their other song, called Mirage, and my god I love this song to death. I like the sound processing/effect that the voice has, like it really adds so much to the song, and that bridge (i think that is what that’s called) at 2:16 is so good. This song singlehandedly made me try to seek out more songs from them, and well, I did end up finding more stuff that I liked.
This new album from OpticalNoise really is like Mirage, but with three newer songs. I like these songs, and they have the same vibe as Mirage as well. I don’t know what else to say, really. I really like the crunchy sound effects that the singing has in these three songs, as well as just the general vibe of the whole thing. It kinda scratches some weird itch I have in my brain, if that even makes sense, lmao.
i guess i feel, indifferent?
Synthion - Lone Wolf
Synthion spent a whole year promoting this album, and finally now that it is out, I guess I can give some thoughts about it. The singing sounds a bit off, the mixing is often whack at times, and her singing voice kinda gets tiring listening to it at times. And like, the first time I listened to it, I think it was pretty decent, but listening to it again? Yeah it doesn’t sound as great anymore, huh. I think my biggest issue is that, a lot of the songs just sound unfinished? Somehow? And the themes of the songs just tend to be something about being alone, or whatever. At the end, I guess the album is okay, but I was kinda expecting more.
Fox Stevenson - Sunk Cost Fallacy
I found this song being recommended to me on like AOTY, and I was like “damn I haven’t listened to Fox Stevenson in a long time” and decided to listen to it. Overall, I think it was pretty good, yet sadly I can barely remember most of the songs, aside from one (Road to Nothing), which is why it is not on the best of the year.
Skrillex - F*CK U SKRILLEX YOU THINK UR ANDY WARHOL BUT UR NOT!! <3
I saw this while browsing AOTY on the new releases tab. I was surprised, mostly because Skrillex is a name that I have not heard in years.1, I was of course, curious and I decided to actually listen to it. And well, I guess it was okay? Like, there is nothing really wrong with it and I didn’t really gave it a decent listen at all, but still, the songs that I did listen to were pretty middle of the road. There wasn’t one song that hooked me, and every time I try listening to the whole album, I end up just getting bored and I tend to go listen to something else, maybe something better, perhaps.
Skrillex - hit me where it hurts x
The second release of the year from Skrillex, and really there isn’t nothing special here. While there are some nostalgia throwbacks (like that iconic growl sound that used to be his signature sound in certain songs) or some voice effects from past songs, the rest of the EP is just uneventful drum and bass, and nothing really happens really.
INFEKT - Veggie Cargo LP
I sometimes wonder if I just don’t like dubstep anymore, or there is something else happening, but this album kinda sounds boring? Like sure, it is good, and it is decent, but there is something missing here. I felt nothing while listening to this, which for dubstep music, is probably a very bad sign, to be honest.
Devath - Anonimato
Remember earlier, on Henka, where I said that there should be more EPs like this? Guess even Devath didn’t follow that, and brought out a more traditional dubstep album that just doesn’t do much for me, to be honest.
I think the only song I kinda liked from the whole 5 tracks of the EP is Dream Parade, but like, go play any of the four tracks in a random spot in the middle, and you quickly realize there is barely any differences among the drops. It ends up sounding so boring, that it makes you want to play something else instead.
most played songs (and artists) of this year
I am kinda noticing a trend with my most listened songs this time around. Most of them are rap songs, and 5 songs are from TtC. I think next year, I should probably find a way to get more variety in my music listening habits, since like, sure, these songs are bangers, but I want to listen to something new or whatever.2
Originally I was gonna make a list and explain why these songs are the most listened to songs of this year, but I was lazy, so here is a screenshot of like the most played list from my phone’s music player. So uhh, yeah.
Musicolet also has the option to show the top played artists of the year, so here is an image with those too.
