Memory keeper. Mostly music and movies, plus some series and video games. Obscure darkness meets pop culture glow.
Another Level is my new favorite track on repeat. It’s just too short; after one day I’m already annoying myself by playing it on loop.
After my last year being a deep dive in goth moods throwback I have the feeling that ’80s synthpop vibes might hit me this year. And this song is a perfect lead-up to that.
Perfect lounging breakbeat. Sometimes it’s liquid drum and bass, sometimes it’s dubstep, but for the most part it’s soulful broken beats with a soothing tone. Reading the liner notes gives a good perspective to this album: I can see how something so full of soul can come from grasping for the life line in a time of need.
Another great album that helps while working. Ambient techno.
Nice and evocative sci-fi atmosphere. Too bad I didn’t quite get hooked by the gameplay loop and didn’t stick with the game, because otherwise the world and the visual fidelity was stunning.
Another record that went from zero to a hundred on my listening charts in something like a week. I had listened to it once or twice previously but it hadn’t stuck with me, and then last week it just did, a lot. At this point it has a guaranteed Top 3 spot in my year-end list.
The whole album is sprawling with musical references from so many things that I love. And it’s not just a few specific things but entire aspects of music that I’ve been getting hooked on and have been loving in practically my whole life. From the post-nu jazz of the ’00s with its artistic and electronic reinterpretations, through the big beat sounds of the likes of The Chemical Brothers or The Crystal Method, and electro-infused electronic music that I have often a hard time to put in a box other than “electronic music”, all the way to leftfield pop that is just meant to be blasting from the radio.
I rarely pinpoint single tracks because I usually like the coherent experience of a full album best. And this is an a-ma-zing album as a whole, no question about that. Still, Gimme A Reason is just a hymn, I am floored by this song. To me, this is the ultimate pop hit of this year. I don’t even remember when I put a single track on repeat for such a long time as this one. And after a hundred replays I still get goosebumps at the exact same timestamps. I can’t talk highly enough about this one, it’s an essential track.
It’s like the ’90s: triphop and industrial, could be a new Portishead record.
Progressive breaks, electro vibes, great flow, head nodding steadily.
First off, this is a great ambient record. This has been my go-to focus music for the past week the mindset it creates for me is just awesome.
On the other hand, one feeling I can’t shake off is how much of a generated music this could potentially be. I really don’t know anything about Stürtzer, his past work, and process, I just feel like music like this could exactly be the type that can be generated by AI today. I feel bad to think this, it feels like such an asshole thought to have, but this is just what the ambient genre is plagued with today. And if I look at an artist’s discography and I see several records published yearly that kind of confirms the idea; either that this is generated music or music that’s produced on a conveyor belt.
And after having these ideas at the back of my mind I’m going back to listening to the record and think: I still like it, I find it pleasant to listen to, it helps me focus and work and create stuff. So what does that mean? What if this is generated music really? Am I happy with generated music? No, I shouldn’t be. I want to value a true artist’s human output and genuine creativity. But still… What if this just works? Ahh, I don’t know. I hate the AI generated problems of our lives when it comes to art.
Ambient breakbeat, chill-out, ethereal drum and bass, wondering jungle.
Post-punk goth vibes with that classic deep male voice. My only complaint is the drums, which falls in that uncanny valley of not being played live, but mimic that just too closely while not getting there. Something that sounds more like classic programmed drums would work better, or just playing the whole thing with a live band would as well, of course.