Just that EBM slash futurepop that I would expect from an Assemblage 23 album. The Deluxe Edition’s remixes added pretty much nothing to the experience, so that basic set of ten tracks are fine as they are.
Assemblage 23 – Mourn
LONELYOUTH – Floating in a Negative Space
Nu metal with all that you’d expect from a melodic modern metal band. I like these young new bands so much who doesn’t get bogged down by “oh this has been done before” and create something that’s clearly along the lines of a genre that’s sometimes considered past tense and moved over, and still can hit their own voice and create something great.
Arnaud Rebotini – Shiny Black Leather
EMB and industrial flavored electronic dance music and cold wave.
The Terrordactyls – The Terrordactyls
I came across the track Fall on an episode of Mythic Quest: Raven’s Banquet and it has that trigger of “alright, what’s this, search immediately”. The album as a whole is like a low-fi bedroom alt-rock recording, and in that Fall is a smash hit.
Blackploid – Cosmic Traveler
During the first track I was considering skipping this EP altogether, lucky I didn’t. This is a collection of some oddball electro tracks, which are too boogie to be IDM but too silly to appear seriously on a dancefloor. But it would be FUN to hear a track like Night Drive in a club. Although the one titled Pleasure Activism could totally fit a chiptune set.
Pessimist – Pessimist
Darkish drum and bass, medium tempo. Not for the dancefloor but for headphones. Could be sci-fi but I’d rather think of cityscapes than empty space.
Alignment – Nothingness EP
This record is like a sampler to my current taste in techno. Brilliant tempo, minimal beat, but there’s also hooks and occasional vocal samples. There’s also this trance sound that’s new for me in techno and I’m completely in love with. This is yearly top 10 level of amazing. Makes me miss the dancefloore once more.
KAS:ST – A Magic World
It’s either a wide range of sound of artistic expression, or a mishmash collection of pieces from someone’s backlog of ideas. There’s literally every kind of electronic music from slow to uptempo, instrumental and vocals, techno and broken beats, chilling and dancefloor. What it’s not is foreground music, but also because of the variety it serves as a good backdrop mix for doing something, like work or reading.
ASHE – Strangers Dream
Moody atmospheres, triphop tempo, electronic music meets orchestral sound.
Hugo Massien – Metamorphosis
Bass-heavy slow to mid tempo electronic music. Genrewise it’s a mishmash: the highest percentage is probably house, but it’s changing every other track to dubstep, breakbeat, house, IDM, ambient. Good backdrop for work.