Definitely techno for the dancefloor, but like with trance blended in. It’s not silly but still not serious.
Vladimir Dubyshkin – pornographic novel
Mother’s Cake – Cyberfunk!
This was the biggest wow moment towards the end of 2020. Huuuge funk and psychedelic rock mixed up, like putting Rage Against The Machine and The Mars Volta in a blender, and occasionally spicing it up with some space disco vibe.
After around the time of Black Angel’s Phosphene Dream I started to get weary of a lot of psychedelic rock records sounding all the same—there was a canon that so many new bands could only follow but show nothing new there. It’s also telling that in the funk rock area one of the best new things I’ve heard in the past decade was Shobaleader One playing live, which is basically IDM played with a different instrumentation. Overall, I rarely hear something that feels new and fresh in these genres nowadays, and Mother’s Cake has definitely one of those moments.
Rabbit Junk – Xenospheres
It’s industrial metal with a heavy electronic drag. And most of all, even though it’s presented as a neo-noir cyberpunk aesthetic, I still feel a positive vibe in there. It’s not like one of those doomed self-deprecating whiners who suck all your willingness to live but this one rather pushes you to go go go and if there’s something in your way just crush through it. It has energy and fun.
Years of Denial – Suicide Disco
This is easily one of my most influential albums that I came across in 2020. Modern technoid EBM with bubbling analog synths and tight industrial beats. It has all the dark beauty of any oldschool EBM but without the spotlight mainstreamism of some retro abusing modern electronic music. They are to EBM what Led Er Est was to post-punk goth rock—something new that understands the roots and fully lives in the present. Wonderful, fantastic music, soundtrack of my life material.
Township Rebellion | Marc Holstege – SVT184
Tripping melodic mid-tempo techno and tech-house.
I have a feeling that I became a sucker for something that’s too mainstream with listening to all these Koletzki and Township releases. But I feel like it’s 2008 again and Kalkbrenner is new. Although these releases are from 2016-17, so I’m late to this party. Well, like I was late to the Kalkbrenner party, too, by just stumbling upon him after Berlin Calling came out. And there was Kah-Lo just recently as well. It shows that I’m usually a late adopter for dance music. Except that I’m getting more and more fond of trance, that has to be something different being in a revival time frame. You cannot be late by a few decades. (Or can you?)
Machinedrum – A View of U
I just finished the 2020 long player of Sub Focus and decided not to put it up here when this record followed and I thought, so this is the one that was meant to be. The same kind of accessible, easy to listen drum and bass electronic dance music but with just a little bit more sophistication and less sugarcoat. Although it’s still fluffy and light like a smokey Saturday afternoon. I feel so good that this is released by Ninja Tune: I could also say this is drum and bass through the Ninja’s lens, as in that being quality assurance.
Pearson Sound – Alien Mode
Breakbeat in its truest form with tone and tempo ranging from nu skool breaks to trip hop.
Richard Norris – Elements
Hypnotic ambient, great for focused work.
Girlschool – Hit and Run
This has been at the top of my Play Later list for three months now. This happens to a few albums that I keep relistening and I know after removing from there I’ll get back more rarely to them, so I want to give them more time to sink in my brain. I feel now that this record has sank its rock and roll girl power fangs well enough, the name Girlschool will stay with me all right.
They are usually referenced as contemporaries with Motörhead, but I can even say that they are good to be called the women version of Motörhead. This is powerful hard rock and heavy metal at its best. I would love to see a full movie using only this album for a soundtrack.
The Ocean – Phanerozoic I: Palaeozoic
It has a post-rock atmosphere with prog-rock elements but a metal sound. Apparently this is post-metal or prog-metal, which I’m not too familiar with as a genre, probably should be. But then again I guess Tool could fall in this category, too, I’ve just never thought of them this way. And thinking about it this way I ralize the difference between post-metal and prog-metal. Tool is more on the prock-metal side essentially coming from a prog-rock/art-rock angle just adding more metal weight to instrumentation. While The Ocean is more heavy on the post-rock vibe with epic instrumental spaces where massive and rhythm-heavy riffs bridge calm and sorrow melodic sections.
In any case, this is a fantastic record, takes me on a journey, and I definitely want to follow it up with its successor Phanerozoic II right away.