acdwn2
"[A] standard kick and snare being substituted for mutant bass and some incredibly rigid and angular shots of pure electricity"
As my homeslice meepbeep describes it, these are the foundation of this song which immediately begins assaulting your senses. And that's in a very interesting, intermittent manner, where the rhythm has these small windows of silence so as to leave your soul ringing with the frequencies, just before the next iteration of this ever-shifting rhythm pummels you again.
In a sense, the music sucks you into itself, and makes you part of it. You're stuck inside its freeform gallop for some 12 minutes. You of course get treated to several sections of this, with the essence of it pouring slowly into you by the time a windy pad begins filling in the gaps. You get to witness the stiffening of the beat as well, gradually switching to simpler, less aggressive combinations. I can't help but be grateful at this track for dragging me into its own degenerating performance.
Exquisite Tension
A pretty self-explanatory title. The slow, sparse (thanks, marimba!) galloping of this song is quite inciting, and the best attempt at a sense of release is the hushed vocal melody that lulls you along. That is, of course, until the choruses envelop you in warm, detuned pads, sending you to soar slightly. The key being slightly off C is also a great factor in this, with the nostalgic flare of analog equipment playing the tune to you.
Fold Paper
I probably really like this song because of its frenzied tempo. It suits Faux Fur's characteristic dry guitar and drums very well. Even though those also work wonders in the slower tracks. What a versatile group they were...
This song has perhaps more skronk than the healthy levels, but that's to its benefit. The insistent downstroke plucking, the hi-hat tapping and not beating, the delayed harmonic anchoring from the bassline. And then the sudden modulating refrain thing, with that extra-twinkly guitar which feels like it'll get so loud it'll hurt you. With only that hint of distortion in the whole track, it shows how driving clean guitars can be.
Working Nights
I did NOT expect a This Heat offshoot to be anywhere as good as the original band. And yet, here we are. With this being my first taste, I was delightfully deceived (no pun intended).
I must be growing a thing for bass and drums only bands. Of course, that's excepting the synthesizer which insistently delineates the whole track with its windy drone. But something about the way the former two instruments are used to fill up the whole space really turns me on to these groups. And here they both fire at all cylinders. The bass rings out when it needs to, and goes staccato when it needs to, making a beautiful contrast all throughout the song. And the drums are in a constant sprint, with unparalleled stamina.
Perhaps the most outstanding thing about this song's structure is that it's actually a diptych, in how it restarts shortly after the halfway mark, except this time in a mellower, perhaps more melancholic setting, with the same dull reflection of the working culture in England. This song is a 2-in-1 deal, what else could you ask for?
Some might be thrown off by the lack of low-end, given how the bass is often busy with the higher frequencies a guitar would cover, but in all honesty I'm a sucker for that shit.
ponirepublic
With the lull of a toy you probably played with as a kid, this melancholic rocker lures you in. I really like the defeated vocals in the verses and sheepish drum machine; everything in this track is soft as cotton candy. Even those anchoring guitars during the chorus, with a delightful riff on top that brilliantly uses a combo of staccato and delay. Surely Ian Williams would find it cute.
Dragnalus
It works wonders how this track starts so sluggish and kinda crawls up into shape, and that's probably the greatest two-note* riff in the game, with the rhythm section really making it all sound full with beautiful distortion and the complexity that the riff eschews. There's also something to be said about the unshakeable drive in those swampy choruses. In its simplicity and sleaze, they crafted a riveting, punk masterpiece with frequencies that just tickle my head every time. In particular that "YEAHHHH!!" at the beginning of the second verse.
Tux & Damask
What really holds me in about this song is that beautiful, aching pad, softly blowing inharmonic languidity into the upbeat drum programming that these guys can't do without. It feels like a greater presence within this track, and then it just gives way to a more danceable, peppy drum break in a quite satisfying release of tension. I love this kind of contrast in music.
Also it's in C minor h*ck yeah
アイペース
Lovers of inabakumori's frenzied releases were likely left puzzled at the drop of this song, with its barebones, degraded sound, like it was made inside of a tin can. And those vintage-sounding synths straight out of the Casio keyboard you used to practice with as a kid. Maybe this experimental sound might not have been enough to sell that awesome beat switch when the chorus gains full steam, complete with tambourine every half-beat.
The truth is that everything that makes inabakumori's unmistakeable sound is in this song, except with a less orchestrated arrangement, to let the rhythm into the foreground. The dominance of rhythm just makes me want to move my body along with the music. And then there's that beautiful instrumental bridge...
BAM #15
Okay. Imagine this song is properly mastered.
Or maybe not tbh. To me, the low volume of this one makes it feel even more reserved. It feels like the greatest expression of C418's self-perceived inexperience. But you can't really consider yourself a bad artist if you can pack this much emotion in a rushed track made in a week.
Even if the sound design might not be particularly skilled, the sound of every synth is simply the perfect one for this track. The burbling, crystalline pad laying down the chords, the gentle keyboard singing that deceptively simple melody, the initially static bass which then adds more color by simply changing chords... all amount together perfectly into a tiny masterpiece.
And I just read that C418 originally called this a "boring one". It kinda hurts how self-deprecating he could have been in the old days...
Penetrator
My first taste of this band who seemed to me like they'd be so inaccessible... it turned out to be very easy to take in. The bright, bleating guitar pours into the holes the superhuman drums burrow into your brain. And they burrow with such an infectious rhythm, which makes you want to move, but not quite dance. Refer to vocalist Zack Borzone's uncomfortable squirming during a live performance for a clearer idea of that. He is probably the hardest element to take in from this band's sound, but it just means that he's succeeding in communicating the music's feel.
When I listen to this I feel completely defeated by the time the rototoms signal, in limping pace, the chorus coming in. And by God, that chorus is one of the heaviest sounds I've heard with that lack of low-frequency. Death metal bands are doing it wrong. You need to go up sonically.
My 10 favorite songs this year! (2025)
This list contains the songs I first heard this year (important! Not songs that came out this year!) that I loved and enjoyed the most. Of course I will blabber on about each of them to try and transmit the feelings I feel from listening to them, but if I had to summarize them in one word it'd probably be "sexo"
I need not mention that all these tracks are a 5/5 for me, do I? xD
Also, you can play most of these tracks by hovering on the big artwork beside them!