well it's been a while on here! let's do a 2021 wrap-up of discoveries (from any year; people who think they can do an effective end-of-year wrapup of all releases that year as casual listeners are fooling themselves)
per RYM I've logged 212 new ratings:
| 2 at 5 stars
|||| 21 at 4.5 stars
|||||||||||| 59 at 4 stars
|||||||||||||| 66 at 3.5 stars
|||||||||| 47 at 3 stars
||| 14 at 2.5 stars
| 1 at 2 stars
| 2 at 1.5 stars (first ratings I've given this low since 2007)
One of the two 5-stars is a 90s single I've known for long and hadn't gotten around to rating before … so my best-rated find of the year is uncontestedly Arjen Schats, Manifolds (2021); classic Berlin School
Sergey Eybog: Everlasting Summer (Bright Side) (2013)
– cool VGM, very sunny atmospheres. I have not played the game (apparently a visual novel actually)
Nigel Mullaney: The Navigator (2021)
– versatile synthwork from a long-time Ian Boddy collaborator
U/V Light: Cenotaph (2015)
– hella catchy retro synthpop; 5 stars for the opener "Arriviste"
V/A / Lucky Lotus label: Journey to the Stars (2016)
– four-hour orbital strike of J-core / J-trance / allies. I got this in 2018 already but eh it was back in its day a major stimulant for me get my thesis finished and all, might as well leave it a shoutout here
Material Object: Indiana Drones (2013)
– very ambient techno, dedicated to the late Pete Namlook
CFCF: Liquid Colors (2019)
– the new savior of ambient d'n'b? not even in a meme way?
Curium: Aember (2007)
– chill IDM from what I think of as the "netlabel side" of the genre: none of the drillcore 3avant5u aggression, just a honest interest in doing clever electronic music
Маяк: Река (2013), Вышеe звёзд (EP, 2014)
– best synthwave find of the year. you may need to know something about East European 80s to get full nostalgy bonus from this
Holon: Connect | Isolate (2017), Echoes of the Void (2017)
– a new breed of synth music entirely really; psybient techniques without the drugs, electro-industrial soundworld without the angst, space exploration without the analog fetish … to honor the trend of Really Dumb Genre Names I've decided this should be called "Uplifting Industrial"
Kashiwa Daisuke: april.#07 (2007)
– modern electro-classical snippets; some fantastic, some eh
Doss: Doss (EP, 2014)
– dream trance! it's not just for the 90s, even if kids these days for some reason get the core idea usually wrong completely *coughxd*
Penguin Cafe: Handfuls of Night (2019)
– not the original Penguin Cafe Orchestra but an excellent "sequel band"; if you ever needed more Brian Eno in their work maybe
Aural Expansion: Surreal Sheep (1995)
– kinda same deal as Aember above, more actively techno; might be better than the much-hyped 76:14. it is very cool when labels put their 90s or 00s back-catalogue, rarities and all, on Bandcamp
Floating Points: Bias (single, 2020)
– some promising initial exploration into "future garage". I still have no idea what is the core sense of "garage" or if one even exists
Nanoray: Zapper (2021)
– wherein it turns out that hardcore breaks is not just a new spelling for breakbeat hardcore and is actually a cooler new evolution. a lot of it is a bit over-memed but this one is just right for me
Martin Stürtzer: The Omarion Nebula (2020)
– best ambient find of the year; artist mostly does somewhat less outstanding Berlin School
Zabutom: Zeta Force (Digitone Version) (single, 2021)
– FM synth re-edit from Swedish chiptune legend's 2011 EP. more please
Tangerine Dream: Recurring Dreams (?? compilation, 2019)
– new-generation lineup goes back to the basics forreal and puts out excellent advanced covers of their classic-era work. much better than similar attempts in earlier decades
Earth Trax: LP2 (2020)
– I'm finally starting to find good clues / entrypoints into house; this one and several others found via @lamuyazimina (thx!)
