Daily Hat Track Wrapup: December 2019

It is now the year 2020. This blog itself has been somewhat active for about a year and Hat Tracks have been posted on my linked Twitter for an entire year. One a day (on average due to inconsistent scheduling) bringing a total of 365 songs to enjoy.

 

And frankly I’m done with the daily thing. I’m still going to post songs on Twitter occasionally, but I’m not even going to try and do it daily. I’ll just share what comes up in my queue if I consider it good enough to display on a tiny pedestal for about a hundred people to see. Really, everything’s gonna chill out a lot more. I can’t afford stress in my hobbies anymore.

 

But  it wouldn’t be right to leave the last two months of the year unwrapped, so here’s the final Hat Track wrap-up for November and December of 2019. Let’s get started on getting it ended.

 

Daily Hat Track: November 1 (Auralnauts – Deep Sea Adventure)

 

Deep Sea Adventure is exactly as described. From the first splash onwards, the song serves as a splendidly interesting immersive journey with a fun groovy soundscape bringing fantastical creatures of the sea to life in my mind.

 

Daily Hat Track: November 2 (Mazare & Essenger – Berserker)

 

I’ve been getting into a combos of rock and electronic especially with the harsher vocals displaying an emotion of determined anger and edginess. Anyway, here’s an example of what an edgy being as myself has been enjoying.

 

Daily Hat Track: November 3 (Crazy Astronaut – Slam)

 

I’ve shared the varied madness that is Funky $#!+ 2014 and the intense arm hurting danceable song that is Date, but neither of them are quite as trippy as the  incredibly chaotic Slam.

 

Daily Hat Track: November 4 (Bliss & Ritmo – Od Daka la Mana (Pitch Bend remix)

 

I’ve expressed my adoration for Bliss enough for it to be well established that any recent song with him is worth mentioning. Though I just realized that another song by him was released recently so that’s going on my queue now

 

Daily Hat Track: November 5 (Infected Mushroom, Tuna & A-WA – Lost in Space)

 

You know, I wasn’t a huge fan of the combination of this particular Infected Mushroom song’s rap (like in Artillery) and non-English vocals (like in Send me an Angel) but it’s grown on me.

 

The other two are still better though.

 

Daily Hat Track: November 6 (Andy Hunter – One Motion)

 

Definitely a classic for me. It’s towards the end of Andy Hunter’s dance focused career but I so vividly remember rocking out to that build in the initial behind the scenes preview. Definitely brings back some good memories.

 

Daily Hat Track: November 7 (Gramatik, Ryan Shaw & ProbCause – Don’t Give Up)

 

I always like the mixture of picking apart the underlying dystopia in our society and sprinkling a little hope for change into the mix.

 

And the fact that Gramatik is a funky groove master seals this song as a solid experience.

 

Daily Hat Track: November 8 (Xilent – Particles)

 

Xilent’s most recent album (and by recent I mean half a year ago) ended with a lovely psytrance/psystep mixture that I found to be quite enjoyable. Always a pleasure to see artists I enjoy reach into genres I like even more.

 

Daily Hat Track: November 9 (Matduke – Forgotten Kingdom)

 

Interestingly Matduke’s Forgotten Kingdom was nearly forgotten, not even findable on Spotify as the Monstercat Christmas comp was for some reason unavailable. And so when Matduke reuploaded it I was really happy to see it again.

 

Daily Hat Track: November 10 (Memtrix Ic Yr Pain)

 

I see your pain. Except oddly abbreviated. And one’s pain isn’t always quite visible my friend. But hey, that’s just a slight vocal added into this badass bouncing DnB tune.

 

Daily Hat Track: November 11 (Feint & CoMa – Snake Eyes)

 

Snake Eyes is one of Feint’s most popular tracks as well as one of his best. Though maybe I’ve got a bit of a fictional bias as this song fits some of the characters I’m writing all too well.

 

Many songs do that though.

 

Daily Hat Track: November 12 (Ashbury Heights – Corridor)

 

Ashbury Heights’ slight delve into dubstep while still keeping up the prime existentialism is certainly a treat.

 

Got some slippery sloping towards nihilism in there and that’s something I strangely love.

 

Daily Hat Track: November 13 (Varien & 7 Minutes Dead – Mirai Sekai Continuous mix)

 

I’d definitely consider this to be an underrated masterpiece of an EP. The styles of Varien and 7MD work beautifully together and the continuous mix of the album serves as an experience of its own.

 

Daily Hat Track: November 14 (Carpenter Brut – Escape from Midwich Valley)

 

I’ve shared my favorite from the Brut already but I feel it’s important to note where it all began as well. Both in the sense of the first track off of Trilogy and the first song I had ever heard from him.

 

Daily Hat Track: November 15 (Solar Fake – Not What I Wanted)

 

Ok, so crumbling relationships aren’t my favorite subject matter in music (See Three Cheers for the Newlydeads review), but there are some RIDICULOUSLY catchy exceptions.

 

Unsurprisingly, this is one of them.

 

Daily Hat Track: November 16 (The Flashbulb – Gray Pill)

 

I always find it fascinating when I find a song like this with seemingly cryptic lyrics to tear into.

 

Not sure how I feel when it turns out the song is about a suicide pact gone wrong though.

 

Daily Hat Track: November 17 (David Crowder Band – Can You Feel It?)

 

Not really huge on worship songs these days, but there are some that have clearly had an influence on my taste over my life. This one’s a bit more electronic than most David Crowder’s stuff.

 

Daily Hat Track: November 18 (Colony 5 – Black)

 

Edgy love song but not in a toxic way, more in a goth gf way.

 

The best way

 

Daily Hat Track: November 19 (Aviators & Lectro Dub – Paralyzed)

 

Perhaps the catchiest of Aviators’ discography. I’m not sure if it’s the funky beat or the fantastic vocals in the chorus that draws me in. Probably both.

 

Daily Hat Track: November 20 (Celldwelller – A Matter of Time)

 

While I’ve found the structure of Celldweller’s singles as of late to be somewhat odd, he’s still on top of his game at providing that blend of electronic and rock I gushed over in my review of his debut album.

 

Daily Hat Track: November 21 (London Elektricity & Inja – Possible Worlds)

 

While most of the DnB tracks I’ve shared  on here have been the more energetic, there are some, like this one, that are much more calm and soothing. Plus it’s got a bit of inspirational message telling in there.

 

Daily Hat Track: November 22 (Grendel – Cloak & Dagger)

 

I shared Grendel a good couple times a while back. Here we are again with Cloak and Dagger, a song exploring twisted and distorted modern morality. I have an unhealthy obsession with this topic…

 

Daily Hat Track: November 23 (5haus – Unfixed)

 

I’ve been sharing nothing but lyrically dark music lately. How about some cheering up with something that sounds equally dark but with a beautiful tint to it. Also a lack of existential lyrics helps keep the mood from sinking.

 

Daily Hat Track: November 24 (Noisestorm – Crab Rave)

 

? M ? E ? M ? E ?

 

No but seriously this was good funk straight from the beginning before everything was g o n e.

 

Daily Hat Track: November 25 (Moby – Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad?)

 

Sometimes depression hits without any reason or warning and you just don’t know what to do…

 

Daily Hat Track: November 26 (VNV Nation – A Million)

 

A haunting beauty, perfect for late night meditation and introspection covering every struggle to occur upon the Earth.

 

Daily Hat Track: November 27 (Apoptygma Berzerk – Kathy’s Song (VNV Nation remix))

 

Somewhat continuing with the existential VNV Nation, here’s Kathy’s song, originally by Apoptygma Berzerk but remixed by VNV. And like some sort of songs I’ve shown previously, this song explores one’s ambiguous moral standing.

 

Daily Hat Track: November 28 (Sub Focus – World of Hurt)

 

I’ve been thinking a lot about the flaws of this world we live in a lot lately. Getting really existential.

 

Sometimes, that’s just my default state of mind…

 

Daily Hat Track: November 29 (1200 Micrograms – Acid for Nothing)

 

This fun psytrance tune is about lucid dreams and not drugs at all, why would you even think that?

 

Daily Hat Track: November 30 (Julian Emery & Dana Jean Phoenix)

 

Much of my life is synthetic. I’m interacting with said synthetic life right now.

 

Except this song might be demonizing such an idea so maybe I shouldn’t glorify it too much.

 

Daily Hat Track: December 1 (Danny Cocke – Thief of Time)

 

Thief of Time, eh? Sounds like a brilliantly dangerous thief to me, but I do have biases with my enjoyment of that title.

 

Regardless of the title, the song definitely draws me in through its layers of beauty.

 

Daily Hat Track: December 2 (Mire. – Bury)

 

Cryptic darkness and a calming twinge of vocal chopped beauty always makes for a good combination. Kind of feels like darker Glitch Mob if that makes any sense. Piano is nice too.

 

Daily Hat Track: December 3 (Ghost Rider – Felt)

 

Ghost Rider is becoming one of my favorite psytrance artists as of late. He gives out an enthralling combo of beauty and funk that I keep finding myself coming back to. And the topic of emotional balance draws me in deeper.

 

Daily Hat Track: December 4 (Walking AIndivisiocross Jupiter – The Truth was Revealed)

 

Walking Across Jupiter is a magnificent name for a band. And their music is equally magnificent, with some great blend of orchestral with some lovely guitar progressions. The glory of the song lives up to its lofty title.

 

Daily Hat Track: December 5 (Micah Ariss & Matthew Parker – Bring Me Down)

 

Rediscovered Matthew Parker a week or so ago via this Micah Ariss release. That name really brings me back to the Glowing Collision days of Andy Hunter.

 

But even without my most nostalgic artist backing him, Matthew holds up.

 

Daily Hat Track: December 6 (Laur – Sound Chimera)

 

Listened to this on the commute home a couple days ago. The sheer unpredictable chaotically energetic energy that this song displays should have probably gotten me arrested, considering how affected my driving.

 

It was 2AM tho

 

Daily Hat Track: December 7 (Indivision, Colourz & Jonny Rose – Time Traveler)

 

Have I ever mentioned how much time travel fascinates me? I’ve enjoyed building a world around it and consistently enjoy songs like this one involving the concept. Plus it’s DnB so this song is simply an instant win.

 

Daily Hat Track: December 8 (Varien & Tori Letzler – SOHEAVYSOHOLLOW)

 

Varien once again treads the line between darkness and light. There is definitely a beauty to this song’s call for peace and dominance over the shadows. But that doesn’t mean said shadows aren’t there.

 

Daily Hat Track: December 9 (Draper – Let’s Pretend)

 

This song has a sax

 

Sometimes that’s all I need

 

This song has a sax

 

It’s really the only reason I’m sharing

 

This song has a sax

 

You might not have noticed but there’s a particular woodwind I like

 

This song has a sax

 

Daily Hat Track: December 10 (I Will Never Be the Same – Skyhunter)

 

This song fits that great blend of rock and electronic but it’s quite nicely subdued, even when the syncopation comes in

 

Daily Hat Track: December 11 (Juno Reactor – Dakota (Undercover extended mix)

 

Starting off this spam with some hard-hitting psytrance. Much of the vocals are typical of the genre but I do have the urge to highlight that female solo towards the middle. Lovely piece.

 

Daily Hat Track: December 12 (Black Sun Empire – Obselete)

 

And here we have something a bit grittier and skin crawling. Slower and not quite in my usual comfort zone, this song does have an overwhelmingly intriguing emotion to it that keep some enthralled.

 

Daily Hat Track: December 13 (Rinzen – Renegade)

 

As with any good song on Mau5trap. The progression of this groove and the groove of this progression really tickles my mind a bit. I’m not saying it’s a work of art, but I am saying I’m having quite a good time with it.

 

Daily Hat Track: December 14 (Andy Hunter & Saint Louis – Moving On)

 

I haven’t been paying the utmost attention to Andy Hunter’s Presence Project as most of it differs a bit from the classical Hunter I fell in love with but the most recent volume seems to have some more upbeat variety.

 

Daily Hat Track: December 15 (Drop Frame & Annie Inkerman – Swim)

 

Am I drowning in the immersivity that is Drop Frame or am I perhaps drowning in reality itself? There’s a slight line of edge in here and that’s a sweet spot for me.

 

Daily Hat Track: December 16 (yh & Laura Brehm – Suppressant)

 

Not really in a position to sleep at all at the moment but I’m getting the vibe that it’s not my conscious self that needs to rest but the subconscious whispers that constantly threaten my esteem.

 

Daily Hat Track: December 17 (OBNX – Right Wing Death Squad)

 

The sound design of this one could stand to be a slight bit less harsh but there is definitely a hidden groove within there, especially in the second half.

 

Daily Hat Track: December 18 (Donbor & Crimson – Bleeding)

 

Quite a new song here from Donbor. While still chilly dark as usual, Crimson’s vocals now seal the deal with an edgy feel.

 

Daily Hat Track: December 19 (Infected Mushroom – The Messenger 2012)

 

Home to one of my favorite transitions in the entire Infected Mushroom discography. It’s when the entire song freezes up a bit over halfway through and then recreates itself from this frozen point that fascinates me.

 

Daily Hat Track: December 20 (Astrix – He.art)

 

He art is definitely a highlight of epitomal psytrance. Sure it follows all of the tropes, and I’m pretty sure it wasn’t the song to establish said tropes, but it was my introduction to many of said tropes.

 

Daily Hat Track: December 21 (Thomas Barrandon – Fragment)

 

So I’ll begin this final mad dash to the end of the year with something that’s simply a beautiful daze. A bit too soothing to be busy at 4:30 AM

 

Daily Hat Track: December 22 (Antti Martikainen – Kalevala)

 

Just a small little bit of epic orchestral cinematic rock

 

Only twenty five minutes long

 

No big deal

 

Daily Hat Track December 23 (Champion & Veela – Breathe)

 

Veela’s vocals are always gorgeous. Well executed vocal chops are always groovy. A good DnB tracks always has good energy. So it’s no surprise that this Champion track is full of gorgeously groovy energy.

 

Daily Hat Track: December 24 (Varien – MATRICULATED)

 

I’m not sure why I thought this song has to do with cheering or why it’s actually about academic acceptance but it’s certainly tripping me out whatever it is.

 

Daily Hat Track: December 25 (MASTER BOOT RECORD – Skynet)

 

Not only does this song consistently rock throughout, it also consistently accelerates in tempo and intensity up until the end. Some great fusion of metal and chiptune in this one if I do say so myself.

 

Daily Hat Track: December 26 (Killigrew – Otherworld)

 

Artists like Killigrew are masters of mixing the slight bit of darkness within one’s introspection into the overall beauty that is their music. I love it.

 

Daily Hat Track: December 27 (Andy Hunter – Tiny Planet)

 

I know it’s been barely any time since my last share of an Andy Hunter Presence Project track but I once again want to highlight Andy’s splendid return to the energetic technogical feeling I’d originally discovered him as.

 

Daily Hat Track: December 28 (Tut Tut Child & Kendall Morgan – Made It For Me)

 

Decided to peek back in the distant Monstercat past. I’d forgotten how much Tut Tut Child bangs.

 

Daily Hat Track: December 29 (Deadlock – Imagination)

 

This song didn’t catch my attention quite immediately despite hitting so hard and fast, but somehow the way it progressed really sealed up my enjoyment, though upon relistening the lyrics do raise an eyebrow.

 

Daily Hat Track: December 30 (EDDIE – Abandon)

 

EDDIE really meshes the chilling vocals, haunted atmospheres, pulsing basslines and rhythmic melodies into quite an experience in this song.

 

Daily Hat Track: December 31 (L Plus – Taking me Higher)

 

And to conclude the Daily Hat Tracks we have some DnB, my first favorite EDM subgenre. This one has a great energetic classical DnB feel to it. A fitting possible conclusion to this project…

 

And so concludes the Daily Hat Tracks. The playlist I’ve created over the past year is now somewhat complete. I say somewhat because apparently there’s a few day’s worth of songs that somehow didn’t make it into the playlist and as of right now, I don’t feel like trying to figure out which ones so I can squeeze them in there. I’m putting the Daily Hat Tracks behind me after all…

 

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4CIZYAQAzctqYqFG89HIv2?si=yWcT6WrvRbm4mArnqQgUbg

 

Daily Hat Track: Roundup October 2019

First off before we get into the biggest Daily Hat Track summary of all time, I want to take a moment to make an announcement on scheduling in case you’re not looking at my Twitter. There is no longer a schedule. Now, that I’ve got myself a full-time job going on, there is absolutely no possible way I can keep up with one review a week, regardless of how motivated I am. And on top of that, the stress I’d receive from trying to review so much would get to me and make it impossible for me to enjoy reviewing. So, from now on, I’m going to be sending out reviews whenever I finish them in my free time. I’ll still be spending significant time reviewing. I’ll just have some longer breaks between longer reviews and maybe some shorter breaks when it comes to tiny reviews (One of the near future reviews is only 5 songs long so I can’t imagine I’ll spend excessively long on that one).

 

Not that anyone will notice but I’m also shutting down my Patreon. No one was really donating anyway, discouraging me from making any review previews and really just discouraging me from reviewing in general, because at this point in my life, it’s not looking to be really possible to just use this site as a launchpad into becoming a full-time creative. I’m already working on finding another route so we’ll see how that works in the future, but for now, this is going to be one of several hobbies that I’m simply doing for fun.

 

Anyways, it’s time for the October Hat Track Summary. Likely the longest Hat Track Summary I’ll ever do. September might not have existed, but I made October a double month to make up for it, even if it devolved into an early November onslaught of chaos at the end there. Let’s see what tracks got shared before that happened, and while that happened.

 

Daily Hat Track: October 1 track 1 (Danny Barranowsky – Mausoleum Mash)

 

One of the most iconic tracks from one of my favorite games thanks to it’s use in the opening cutscene and one of the game’s early levels. I honestly discovered the soundtrack before the game but I love both.

 

Daily Hat Track October 1 track 2 (Bliss – Blaze Up)

 

Bliss is one of the best psytrance artists in recent years, if not the best. He’s been on a roll for much of this decade. This release from last month, for example, is a lovely mixture of playfulness and badassery.

 

Daily Hat Track: October 2 track 1 (Seven Lions & Ciscandra Nostalgia – Serpents of Old)

 

This must be the oddest creepiest thing to come from Seven Lions as far as I know. And as someone who is quite a fan of the odd and creepy, I find this to be one of my favorites from him.

 

Daily Hat Track: October 2 track 2 (Saltillo – Following Evelyn)

 

Alright, let’s follow up the pleasantly ugly with the pleasantly gorgeous. I feel this song is my favorite from Saltillo, mostly thanks to the vocal samples about growth, change, and finding one’s place in the universe.

 

Daily Hat Track: October track 2 (Reliant K – The only Thing Worse than Beating a Dead Horse is Betting on One)

 

This is way outside my usual genre but can we just take a minute to appreciate how much Relient K was able to pack into a song that barely surpasses a minute?

 

Daily Hat Track: October 3 track 2 (Openwater & Matt Vice – No Regrets)

 

I guess today is a nonelectronic day as this one is more of an inspiring combination of orchestral, piano and a slight bit of rock. And it’s a worldview I really need to adapt if I’m going to move forward.

 

Daily Hat Track: October 4 track 1 (Sam Maher – New York)

 

I’ve really been getting into handpans as of recent and this is guy is my personal favorite handpan master. Here’s about six minutes of unique handpanning. Enjoy.

 

Daily Hat Track: October 4 track 2 (Shirobon – Regain Control)

 

I find Shirobon’s retro style quite interesting. This song about regaining control over one’s life (expectedly relevant to me) is a great example of Shirobon (Born Survivor is better but I shared that long ago).

 

Daily Hat Track: October 5 track 1 (Icon of Coil – Dead Enough For Life)

 

I haven’t posted a sufficiently existentially edgy song yet this month so this one goes out to the crippling depressive angst of getting stuck in a monotonous cycle with no eacape all while feeling dead inside.

 

Yay

 

Daily Hat Track October 5 track 2 (Rootkit & Anna Yvette – Against the Sun)

 

Probably favorite song from Rootkit, though I believe one influence of that could be that I believe Varien had a small hand in this as well. And considering Varien is one of my favorite artists of all time… Yup.

 

Daily Hat Track: October 6 track 1 (Assemblage 23 – The Noise Inside My Head)

 

The noise inside my head could possibly be a simple tune that turned out to be an earworm… Or is it the dark existential insomnia-inducing thoughts that appear so regularly that they’ve unfortunately become the norm?

 

Daily Hat Track: October 6 track 2 (Squarepusher – Mutilation Colony)

 

A beautifully ominous beginning eventually transforms into a distorted nightmare. An interesting unconventional journey.

 

Daily Hat Track: October 7 track 1 (Rotersand – Hey You)

 

I shared Rotersand’s Not Alone a long while back and I consider this to be its companion song. The music sounds quite a bit different and there’s a bit more dark was in there but the theming and structure are similar.

 

Daily Hat Track: October 7: track 2 (VNV Nation – Homeward)

 

Several of the recent hat tracks (as well as today’s review) have been focused more on a great personal meaning. That’s what happens when one is in a big transition in life. I just hope I can keep home in sight.

 

Daily Hat Track: October 8 track 1 (Aviators – The Path Home)

 

Remember when I’d reviewed Aviators’ Aeterno? Well, a couple weeks ago, the man released a remastered version of a few of the tracks off that album and many are a vast improvement. I think The Path Home benefited the most

 

Daily Hat Tracks: October 8 track 2 (Neilio – Captivating)

 

I don’t care much for the musical content of this Monstercat classic (hardstyle just isn’t my thing), but the lyrical content is a glorious illustration of my relationship with music so I quite enjoy the song otherwise.

 

Daily Hat Track: October 9 track 1 (Bruderschaft, Apoptygma Berzerk, Icon of Coil, VNV Nation, and Covenant – Forever)

 

What I love about Bruserschaft is that it’s four futurepop artists all collaborating all at once. And as a huge fan of futurepop I obviously enjoy that. And Ronan Harris from VNV Nation at the front is definitely a treat.

 

Daily Hat Track: October 9 track 2 (Lindsey Stirling – Shadows)

 

I’d originally discovered Lindsey when this song was featured in a video by Nerogeist called the guardian, which you should also definitely check out as I’d argue that it’s just as beautiful as this song.

 

Daily Hat Track October 10 track 1 (Beborn Beton – Another World)

 

This is way too catchy for it’s own good. Such a specific concept too with the singer being a spirit from the beyond the grave warning a loved one to leave his resting place alone, for he has found the afterlife.

 

Daily Hat Track: October 10 track 2 (Rameses B & Aloma Steele – Darkest Place)

 

This one used to be on my top ten Monstercat songs of all time though it admittedly has been slipping back a slight thanks to my attention being drawn elsewhere. My DnBias keeps me coming back to it though.

 

Daily Hat Track: October 11 track 1 (Neelix – Mosquito)

 

I’ve shared a remix of this song before quite a while ago, but I want to take a step back and admire the original version with its dramatic tension, danceable drive and distorted mosquito sampled synths.

 

Daily Hat Track: October 11 track 2 (Deltron 3030 & Del the Funky Homosapien – 3030)

 

I like to share a lot of songs depicting the future. Often they’re hopeful, bu this one is a bit bleaker. I never minded bleakness though long as it’s not too destructive, which this isn’t.

 

Daily Hat Track: October 12: track 1 (GUNSHIP – When You Grow Up, Your Heart Dies)

 

The title alone makes me a bit existential what with my dispassionate disposition towards the world of adulthood. But the song itself is a bit more uplifting than it might initially appear.

 

Also it has a sax so yes.

 

Daily Hat Track: October 12 Track 2 (Nana the Shrimp & DZA – Speedball)

 

Seeing as the song’s name is Speedball, it understandably fast paced despite not having an exceptionally high BPM. Though there is a switch up in the middle that allows for an interesting lightly accelerate tempo change

 

Daily Hat Track: October 13 track 1 (Nobody Beats the Drum – Natural Thing)

 

This song sounds more technological than natural so I’m not fully certain how well the title and vocals fit. But the song is a nice multileveled trip nonetheless.

 

Daily Hat Track: October 13 track 2 (Mahamudra – Shadows of Courage)

 

This song depicting a strangely ominous mixture of desperation and victory was hiding deep in the shadows of my musical memory.

 

It resurfaced recently.

 

And I’m so glad it did.

 

Daily Hat Track: October 14 track 1 (Le Matos – La Mer Des Possibilités)

 

Le Matos is one of many synthwave names I enjoy. I’ve chosen this song in particular to share due to its arpwork and the fact that the title translates to “The Sea of Possibilities.” A sea that I should look on with hope

 

Daily Hat Track: October 14 track 2 (Varien – Teva833)

 

I’ve established before that Varien is one of my favorite artists. The man has massive spectrum of moods that his song can adhere. And when it comes to the darker trippy stuff from him this song is certainly top notch.

 

Daily Hat Track: October 15 track 1 (Matduke – Shivers)

 

Another classic MC hard dance track (I shared Neilio’s Captivating earlier this month). But I prefer Matduke. And this is my favorite Matduke as it has the most satisfying variety of the early days of MC hard dance.

 

Daily Hat Track: October 15 track 2 (Rezonate & Ashley Apollodor – Rebirth)

 

My favorites from Rezonate are songs with a chill introspective perspective. This is the most uplifting of the bunch with extra focus on embracing positivity rather than letting go of negativity (there’s a difference).

 

Daily Hat Track: October 16 track 2 (Moby – Lift Me Up)

 

I heard Sesto Sento’s remix first (even though I was already familiar with Moby via Natural Blues and Why Does my Heart Feel So Bad).

 

This song is a much happier alternative to those two and it’s just as beautiful.

 

Daily Hat Track: October 17 track 1 (Tut Tut Child – Talking of Axes)

 

Talking of Axes is clearly appreciated by me as a song involving both rock elements and some good electronic basslines. And that’s not even mentioning the syncopation.

 

Daily Hat Track: October 17 track 2 (Juno Reactor – Pistolero)

 

Pretty obvious that the ever present guitar is the absolute star of the show in this one. Really sells the western vibe this song seems to aim for (everything else about the song is great too, but guitar is what I love).

 

Daily Hat Track: October 18 track 1 (INTERCOM – Truth and Malice)

 

My favorite nonInfected Mushroom song to make it on a MC Rocket League comp.

 

It transitions perfectly between beautiful stringed sections and groovy basslines sections seemlessly, likely thanks to the vocal chops.

 

Daily Hat Track: October 18 track 2 (Phaxe – Angels of Destruction (Neelix Remix)

 

I will likely eventually share every combination of Neelix and Caroline Harrison eventually as they sound so gorgeous together.

 

While this is no Makeup, it’s still up there among my favorites from the two.

 

Daily Hat Track: October 19 track 2 (Jilax & Durs – Conquer)

 

Continuing on a psytrance roll, I’m going to share a bit of a recently fresh psytrance track. There’s some nice dramatic near cinematic tension in places and whenever it’s building itself up, it does so nicely.

 

Daily Hat Track: October 20 track 1 (Grabbitz – Better with Time)

 

I’ll admit that I’ve lately felt stuck in that place where I’m seeing life as a boring movie, desperately hoping it all gets better with time.

 

Hence I enjoy this song.

 

Plus syncopation of course. That’s always loved.

 

Daily Hat Track: October 20 track 2 (Niteppl – Can’t Stop Now)

 

Seeing as I’d discovered  this song in my early Spotify days, this one feels like an inspirational classic to me. Sure the lyrics are a bit repetitive, but the funky vibe and piano bridge more than make up for it.

 

Daily Hat Track: October 21 track 1 (Absurd Minds – The Question)

 

Have I done a song yet on the nihilistic questioning of reality as we ponder the slow transition to dystopia that society is trending towards?

 

Well if not, here’s an example.

 

Daily Hat Track: October 21 track 2 (The Anix – Interferance)

 

A bit of an oddly creepy maybe edgily unhealthy love song from The Anix for this one.  Kind of like anything I’d expect off of FiXt. But there’s also just that hint of existential that keeps me coming back.

 

Daily Hat Track: October 22 track 1 (Altered Frequencies (Phutureprimitve edit))

 

I’ll be honest, I haven’t actually taken the time to listen to the original version of this one yet. But hey, I do know that Phutureprimitive’s edit has a great blend of sounds (including guitar) that hits the sweet spot

 

Daily Hat Track: October 22 track 2 (Daniel Deluxe – Darkness)

 

Darkness is unsurprisingly quite a dark song about eternal darkness. Go figure.

 

Thematically, I’d say it’s similar to Gunships’s Dark All Day, albeit this one doesn’t have a sax so it’s obviously the lesser of the two.

 

Daily Hat Track: October 23 track 1 (Neilio – Obsession)

 

Oh this song sounds nice and romantic at first…

 

At first…

 

Daily Hat Track: October 23 track 2 (Covox – Attack Vector)

 

I don’t know if I’ve ever really posted chiptune Hat Tracks that often. In the right hands some cool stuff can be made in the genre. Here’s one such song, albeit it’s the second half where the song really shines.

 

Daily Hat Track: October 24 track 1 (Lauren Bousfield – No Clocks No Mirrors (For Joey))

 

I’ve always loved Lauren’s fine line between the calm and the madness. And this song does a great job of bouncing back and forth in between the two extremes.

 

Daily Hat Track: October 24 track 2 (Tokyo Machine – TURBO)

 

This recent release is likely one of the only Tokyo Machine songs I truly enjoy. He just doesn’t fit my groove. I think I was in the right mood when first listened to this one as I was driving in the middle of the night.

 

Daily Hat Track: October 25 track 1 (Vexare – The Clockmaker)

 

I will admit that I prefer that calms and the moments of the ticking clock more than the main drop, but there is somewhat of a classic feel to this one. Not super dirty like some dubstep but it still hits nice and hard.

 

Daily Hat Track: October 25 track 2 (Carpenter Brut – Roller Mobster)

 

Been listening to an above average amount of Carpenter Brut as of late, likely one of the greatest artists of all of synthwave. Choosing one song to highlight is nigh impossible so I just grabbed one of his most popular.

 

Daily Hat Track: October 26 track 1 (Muzzy – Spectrum)

 

Easily one of my favorites from Muzzy. It has it all: beauty, intensity, meaningful lyrics. It’s just a lovely song that few, if any can top (maybe the Wrong remix but that doesn’t take the beauty cake)

 

Daily Hat Track: October 26 track 2 (Muzzy & Droptek – Warhead)

 

Long as I’m on the topic of Muzzy, here’s one of his most badass tracks. A collaboration with Droptek that feels as if it’s in the same vein as Endgame. And I love Endgame. So I love this.

 

Daily Hat Track: October 27 track 1 (Infected Mushroom – Cities of the Future (extended remix)

 

The best remixes have the ability to improve upon the original while still keeping the heart of what made the original so great. This is a great example of such a remix of a song I’ve already fully reviewed.

 

Daily Hat Track: October 27 track 2 (Ace Ventura – Hello?)

 

Imagine. You’re driving through the night listening to music, some new, some old. One of your favorite song ends with a good 5 seconds or so of near silence and then out of no where you hear it:

 

“Hello? Anybody here?”

 

Daily Hat Track: October 28 track 1 (Krama – Master of Elements)

 

This song served as my introduction to Krama, one of the best artists of Spintwist (other than Neelix of course)

 

Oh and this apparently has a quote from Doctor Strange in it. Didn’t notice at first but there it is.

 

Daily Hat Track: October 28 track 2 (SCNDL & Timmy Trumpet – Bleed)

 

Meme

 

Daily Hat Track: October 29 track 1 (Sesto Sento – Zoombai Warriors Surfing on a Small Chapati Sound in the East of Parvati (Megamix))

 

This insane mashup is made up of several songs by 9 different psytrance artists, including one of my very favorites, Bliss. Absolutely amazing piece of work right here.

 

Daily Hat Track October 29 track 2 (Savant – Change)

 

Multigenre songs with tempo changing switchups are some of my favorites. So what of this song? A full constant switchups multigenre cluster of fantasticality, constantly accelerating until the very end before breaking down.

 

Daily Hat Track: October 30 track 1 (Ehrling – Thokoloshi)

 

Ehrling is always a pleasure. Probably because saxophone is always a pleasure. And Ehrling nearly always has a saxophone present. Like many of his songs I love the bouncy sax vibes the song has to offer.

 

Daily Hat Track October 30: track 2 (Wisp X & Xomu – Lumina)

 

Now the reason I’m particularly enjoying this song isn’t because it’s breaks (though syncopation is still expectedly awesome, but it’s because it had some gorgeous piano melodies at the forefront.

 

Daily Hat Track: October 31 track 1 (Direct & Mr Fijiwiji – LA2016)

 

Direct and Fijiwiji are always a great combo, but I’m honestly just here.for the vocal chops.

 

Daily Hat Track: October 31 track 2 (Savlonic – Computer Guy)

 

Sir Weebl, the main man behind Savlonic may be responsible for memes, but this one is so incredibly catchy that I’ve gotta throw back to it. And it’s slightly more serious than his more well known stuff.

Andy Hunter – Exodus (2002 Album)

Album links

Bandcamp: n/a

Soundcloud: n/a

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/0kfUvTWsUJnIkCDj1zkDLS?si=jXpT6Ns-TzSq_iRfYevbXg

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_nqiT5K2O0UP2K9BxQd-DuEB83N5sTdqyM

 

Introduction: What’s this a new artist? You may have thought I’d be reviewing the same three artists for all eternity seeing as that has been the pattern for the first couple months of this blog, but now that it’s March, perhaps I can venture a bit further into some other favorite artists of mine (this March line was more profound when the review was scheduled to be released on March 1 but oh well. Still the first review of March).

 

Andy Hunter… This is extremely nostalgic for me. Maybe a bit too nostalgic… You see, Andy Hunter was the very first. The very first artist that I heard that made me want to delve into electronic music. He was my number one artist for quite some time. However, seeing as I’m only now getting to him, I clearly consider him to have backslid a bit (Mind.in.a.box is currently winning, recently stole that spot from Infected Mushroom). Will I have some bias in this review? Well, music is incredibly subjective so I have some bias by default, but I will admit that these songs may have some emotional connection as I’ve been listening to this guy for nearly a decade now while most of my other favorite artists only reached my ears in the past five years or so. Regardless of my likely skewed ratings, I’m happy to share this piece of my childhood (early teens still counts as childhood yes?) with you.

 

However, before I get started, I do want to note one last thing about Andy Hunter. He is the rare occurrence of a Christian DJ/electronic artist. And because of this, a lot of his songs have subtle religious messages in them. There may be some who disagree, but having a Christian background, I can somewhat enjoy the messages I hear within these songs (though I am more prone to edgier music these days. I’ve grown to be somewhat of an agnostic to be honest). Really just wanted to give that context here and now before we got into any “lyrical analysis” (not much to speak of in this album when it comes to lyrics).

 

Andy Hunter – Go (7.5): Andy Hunter always does a fantastic job of introducing his albums. From Exodus to Glow (The Presence Project is a whole different animal so I’m ignoring that for now), each album/EP starts out with an energetic upbeat track to get the blood pumping. From there, the rest of the album ranges from mostly high energy songs, to the occasional more relaxing track.

 

Go is one of these opener songs (which was obvious from the get-go seeing as it’s the first song on the album but bear with me). The first couple minutes are admittedly calmer, but in a way, that only makes the rest of the song all the more energizing. Instead of throwing the listener directly into the energetic breakbeat tempo that makes up the majority of this track, the song begins with a simple heartbeat. And as that heartbeat plays onward, synchronizing your own heartbeat with the tempo, a stringed melody slowly builds along with some vocal synths as the song slowly builds up to its full potential

 

And then after a couple of record scratches and an echoing cry of the song’s title, that energetic breakbeat kicks in. Andy reintegrates those strings from the build-up into this more energetic portion and introduces some groovy basslines and computerized vocals (along with some other melodies and textures, but I find them to be less important compared to that bassline and the vocals so I’m only mentioning them in parentheses).

 

The bassline pretty much speaks for itself. It gets its own spotlight at the tail end of the build-up before the drums take over and they’re demoted to the background. I will admit that the bass isn’t flawless in this track. The main groove definitely works, but there are some points in the song where extra elements are added on that I don’t appreciate nearly as much. The part that stands out the most is that higher pitched note that sounds like it’s part of the bassline. It’s first introduced at 2:20 and it kind of feels out of place. The rest of the song fits quite well together, not perfectly, but not noticeably bothersome like the high-pitched bass note I just mentioned. The continuation of the strings as the song progresses is really what holds this all together (also the main groovy bass that isn’t an octave or two too high).

 

As for the vocals, they’re pretty simplistic. I don’t have much to discuss when it comes to any of the three lines, this song has to offer. There “Go,” the singular word that serves as a namedrop of the song’s title. There’s the line “Release Yourself,” which serves as the better half of the moment occurring at the 2:20 mark. Really not much to go off of there. And then there’s the chant “Born to Worship. Birth the Freedom,” which is the most cryptic of the three lines. Those first two looked pretty meaningless on their own, but this one deserves at least a bit of an extra look.

 

“Born to Worship, Birth the Freedom” can be translated to the sentiment of dedicating one’s life to worshipping God, finding freedom through doing so. Rather simple message and I can see some truth behind it as I know many who find peace through religion. I don’t believe that religion is fully perfect, and that it can be abused to hurt others (which I frown upon greatly), but if it brings peace, then I can’t help but respect that.

 

Overall, Go is a pretty good opener. It’s by no means perfect, definitely has some flaws, but it’s a good beginning to a good album.

 

Andy Hunter & Lyle Day – Wonders of You (8.25): So now that Go has established the breakbeat tempo that the first third of this album relies on, Wonders of You doesn’t bother itself with two-minute of build-up to reestablish itself. It does take about thirty seconds for that beat to fully establish itself, but compared to the two minutes of peace that began in Go, these thirty seconds have a lot more energy. Not saying that makes this intro better or worse. Just noting the difference.

 

One other thing to note as we move on from Go to Wonders of You is the transition. Exodus is an album that prides itself on flowing from one song to the next seamlessly. If it weren’t for the fact, that I knew this album so well (Been listening to it for a decade), I might not even notice as we transition from one song to the next. This transition is a bit less interesting than some of the later ones, as it relies on nothing but shared ambience. Still, I think it’s a noteworthy element to experiencing this album.

 

Enough about the first thirty seconds of the song! What about the other 7 minutes? I’d say that this tune is an improvement over the majority of Go (Go did have a beautiful start). The bassline is much smoother as it climbs up and down throughout the song. And unlike Go, which had some less pleasant accompaniments to that bassline. Every instrument in this song blends quite well with each other. And there are so many little tidbits in there, that it’s hard to point out the best ones. This might not be as highly rated as Walking or Redefined from previous Mind.in.a.box reviews, but I think that this song still deserves at least a short bullet point list of the best elements you can find in here.

  • Lyle Day jumping in there right at the 1-minute mark with an insanely energetic rap. More about the lyrics for this one later. He’s got some good wordplay between the words cross and fade in here.
  • Not ten seconds later, there’s a subtle little synth that sound like echoing water droplets.
  • And a minute after that at 2:10, we’ve got that quick little build-up that works as a transition to introduce the first short appearance of strings (which offer nice variety by the way). The same thing happens around the 3:40 mark and it’s just as good the second time around.
  • This simple five-note melody introduced at about 2:40 is the main melody of the song (odd how it appeared so late), Other than Lyle, this is the most memorable part of the song to me.
  • The way Lyle says “Fire” and “Desire” at 4:45 just stands out to me for some reason. That is all.
  • The outro is mostly there to transition into Radiate, but I do enjoy how it sounds as the key changes (plus that last synth introduced at the end has a great distorted vocal vibe to it, which now reminds me of Infected Mushroom oddly enough).

 

The true star of the show is definitely Lyle and his two verses. Bouncing right off of Go’s declaration that we are “born to worship,” Wonders of You is a rapid-fire unconventional worship song. This isn’t a hymn, that’s for sure. Lyle only spends about 40 seconds of the song rapping, but man does he jam pack those 40 seconds with praise. I’m not the biggest fan of rap but I used to abhor it. And yet, I’ve always enjoyed Lyle’s verses. Maybe I was just enjoying the album in its entirety, but I believe they still hold up even though the album has taken a couple steps down in my general taste.

 

Some last-minute notes on the lyrics, I do quite enjoy that wordplay between cross and fade in the first verse as well as the energy behind fire and desire in the second verse (but I already mentioned that). I found it interesting that some of the lyrics in that second verse, there’s some references to the events within the book of Exodus, the book likely behind the name of this album. God appeared as both a burning bush and a pillar of fire to Moses and the Israelites. And there was a lot of wandering in the desert for about 40 years. Small things, but I find them interesting.

 

Andy Hunter – Radiate (8.75): Now this is a much better seamless transition. Not relying on ambience this time. Instead, Radiate starts with the same exact beat that Wonders of You ended with and incorporates elements of the previous song within its introduction. That main five-note melody? You can still hear it for about thirty seconds before it fades out completely. How about vocals? Well, maybe I’m just going crazy, but I think I hear someone repeatedly saying “wonder” in that intro. Doesn’t sound exactly like the vocals in Wonders of You, but that could be because Wonders of You had some more distortion on that chorus.

 

But that’s just the transition, the first minute of the song. As the longest song on the album, we still have seven and a half to go. What does it have for us? Well there’s that trance drumbeat for starters. I think I’ve established well enough in my Infected Mushroom reviews that Trance has a great tempo, and while Andy Hunter is in no way psychedelic, there is a nice sliding feel between the snares on the second and fourth beats. Any BPM between 135 and 145 is an excellent drive. This song just barely reaches into the low end of that.

 

Anyways, enough rambling on and on about the little things (I sure do love going in depth this week). Perhaps I should talk about some highlights within this song. Radiate is one of those Journeys through Sound (initially and frequently mentioned in Infected Mushroom reviews). And because of that there is so many different moments I could look at within this song. I am going to have to leave a few out as I have noticed I am getting a bit lengthy here in this review. I need to tone it down a notch.

 

Let’s have a little intermission with the lyrics before I continue on with my favorite elements of this song. Just switching things up a little. I shan’t be long here. Radiate appears to be focused on letting God into one’s self, his perfection permeating through the soul, shining brightly so that it shows throughout one’s life. And that’s all there is to say about that. The wording of it is a bit violent though. Radiation, Eradication. Burning. Very destructive words. Ah well on to the rest of the music

 

In addition to this song being a Journey through Sound, I also want to highlight another element I enjoy in several songs, Build-ups from Nothing. There are two points in the song where the beat completely drops out of the picture and all that remains is ambience and a simple melody. A calm in the middle of the storm if you will. But the silence doesn’t last forever. It can’t. But it wouldn’t do to suddenly interrupt this soothing calmness either. So instead, the song builds upon that calm beginning. Slowly but surely, the song returns to its past power. The two build-ups included with this song are rather similar to each other in form. Both start with that ambience. Both have a similar melody. Both introduce the sliding snares part way through (before introducing the kicks). The only real difference is that the first one has a piano at the beginning, meaning the electronic melody has to battle with the piano for the spotlight (piano obviously wins). However, the piano is absent from the second build-up allowing the other melody to have a chance in the spotlight (after getting creamed by that piano). Well, both build-ups are amazing (no pun intended considering the next song) and definitely stand as my favorite parts of the song.

 

Before I move onto the next song, I want to quickly highlight a few more little parts of the song that I feel deserve noting. First off, there’s that bass that introduces itself midway through the song after the second Build-up from Nothing. It definitely overtakes the song at that point, giving it a slightly harsher feel as it throbs along with the beat. Another thing that I enjoy in this song is the strings. They don’t reach the same levels as the beginning of Go, but they are quite good. They serve mostly as transitions into those Build-ups from Nothing (A lot of what I love about this song seems to center around those) and at the end of the song as we prepare for Amazing.

 

Andy Hunter & Christine Glass – Amazing (7.75): Amazing kind of breaks the seamless transition that this album has. There’s a moment of silence at the end of Radiate which means that it doesn’t matter what Amazing starts with. It has nothing to work with. Ah well. The introduction still does share some similarities with the conclusion of Radiate. Both feature a heavy amount of strings. Both are at a very similar BPM (though Amazing takes a little while to get started so that BPM isn’t immediately apparent). I guess that counts somewhat as a transition, but it’s the least interesting transition on the album if so.

 

Amazing has vocals though. Not slightly filtered vocals from Andy Hunter himself. No, these vocals come from Christine Glass. This song and the four after it make up what I’m going to call the female vocal half of the album. Each of them features a different female vocalist, though some are less integral to the song than others. For this song, Christine Glass is definitely integral. Her soft vocals are smooth as glass (pun definitely intended) and are definitely the most memorable part of the song. The strings come as a close second, but they blend in so well with Glass’s vocals that I almost think of them as an extension of that beauty. Whenever the strings are present, I have a tendency to ignore all the other instruments as they simply can’t compare. There’s a good bassline, and a couple little melodic touches (though the main melody is kind of eh). Overall, the music of this song works well enough. Maybe, a balance could be given so that other instruments mattered more, but there’s nothing in there that I outright dislike so that’s a plus (the next song won’t be as fortunate).

 

Lyrically, this song isn’t as religiously focused as some of the other tracks on the album. It do believe the intention was to be a song focusing on experiencing the majesty of God’s power, allowing us to experience things beyond our comprehension. But without the context of Andy Hunter’s tendency to write song’s religiously, it sounds more like a love song. I don’t mind either way, but as of this point in my life, I’m not really drawn to either option either.

 

Andy Hunter & Michelle Prentice – Show (4.5): As Amazing ends with a whisper, it leads into Show, one of the calmer songs on the album. It is also the worst song on the album. Sorry for the harsh words, but even the best albums have to have a song that takes that spot. Ah well, let’s go backwards and talk about the lyrics first, because they’re relatively simple and I really would rather conclude my thoughts on this song by discussing a certain instrument…

 

Show me glory. That’s it. That’s pretty much all the lyrics. There is a bridge in the middle of the song which has Michelle saying a couple of lines about Opening one’s eyes and heart to God as well. But I don’t have much to say about those either. There that’s all of that. Wouldn’t that be a shame if I ended this particular summary with this lame paragraph about lyrics. On to the music!

 

I’d say a good half of the instruments in this song are beautiful and relaxing. The slow tempo works well for the relaxing mood, not to mention some of the moments that focus a little more on ambience. As for vocals, most lyrics are said with a whisper. The female vocals in the background are a nice touch, both the clean unedited version and the more synthetic choir that is added in from time to time. The bridge is a sight bit strange, but I do feel like it makes a good centerpiece to the song. If only the rest of the song was like this…

 

The bassline doesn’t fit. It has a nice long rolling feel to it, and I would consider it to be one of the better parts of the song, but it doesn’t quite fit with the rest of the relaxing stuff. But that doesn’t compare to the screechy synth that is completely out of place. It first appears at 2:17 and I find it to be quite annoying. But the real nail in the coffin is just a tiny little beep. I’ve looked across countless versions of the song hoping the beep was just a glitch but no. It’s there and it ruins an otherwise decent song. Am I perhaps complaining a bit too much? Maybe. But this little beep breaks the song in a jarring manner. I find it to be a bother every time it interrupts the otherwise smooth experience and gives me a slight bit of a headache. If it were absent, this song might get a higher score, but this song is a disgrace to the rest of the album anyway.

 

Andy Hunter & Cathy Burton – Translucent (7.25): While Show could have been the most relaxing song on the album, it ended up flopping spectacularly as Andy Hunter’s worst. And so instead we have Translucent as the most relaxing song on the album. And it is a major improvement. Everything here is pure relaxation, no weird trippy divisive instruments and absolutely no annoying beeping. This song is truly a beauty to listen to. If Show’s main goal was to beg for glory to be shown, then Translucent does just that by taking the ambience from show and building it into a glorious introduction.

 

Much of the song is simply ambience fading in and out throughout the verses. It’s not exceptionally interesting, but Cathy’s vocals (which are the best vocals on the album) do well to prevent the lack of variety from becoming a bore (there’s not even any drums here). The chorus is a bit better with adding some stuff in there. There are some very subtle drums as well as a simple melody added in there and it thankfully works well with the relaxing vibe the rest of the song has, which is more than I can say for Show (which I apparently love to hate seeing how often I mention it). The only instrument that I could possibly consider unfitting is the more electronic synth used in the final chorus and the outro. But it’s used subtly and doesn’t interrupt the glorious feeling so much as it adds some variety and some transitioning into the next song. This whole track is a much better example of Andy Hunter’s chiller side (the side he’s devoted his time to in recent years with his Presence Project).

 

The lyrical content in this one is quite intimate. The whole concept is opening one’s self to God showing your entire soul and self to him as he washed away the sin that mucks up our life. The chorus is where this concept is most explored while the verses focus a little more on God’s incredible majesty and glory. And then there’s the bridge which mentions Angelic sounds filling the air. Speaking of Angelic sounds…

 

Andy Hunter & Alisa Girard – Angelic (8.5): That final synth I mentioned in the last song brings us into Angelic, our first nonlyrical song of this album. Plenty of gorgeous vocals from Alisa but not a single word is voiced. This song is a transition back into the more upbeat music that I prefer from Andy Hunter, at least for this album, but it is also the most beautiful song this album has to offer.

 

Angelic has two main focuses, the piano and the vocals. Sure, the other instruments in there have some presence too. You can’t have a good drive without a good drumbeat and the strings and ambience definitely do some solid background work to add to the beauty that the main stars of the show create, but those main stars are definitely the vocals and the piano. And how can I describe their beauty and why this is one of the best tracks on the album? I’ve pondered how to explain it for a good while now, but there isn’t a way to explain it other than tell you how gorgeous it is. It’s impossible to really go into detail because this track is a simple beauty.

 

Part of me feels like somewhat of a failure of a reviewer for being unable to review this lovely song, but really, it’s something you have to experience for yourself. Just know that it’s beautiful.

 

Andy Hunter & Tasia Tjornhom – Sandstorm Calling (8.5): Not to be confused with Darude – Sandstorm.

 

This song right here is an absolute classic. I understand that a lot of these songs are great classics to me even though Andy Hunter is a slight bit more obscure than some other electronic artists from the time. He was my childhood though and this was once my favorite song from him. My opinions have shifted slightly but this still remains to be one of the most nostalgic songs for me. Other than Tasia’s occasional vocal this song is fully instrumental, and to be perfectly honest, since Tasia only has a small note here and there (no lyrics), I could probably count her as an instrument herself if I felt like it, making this the most instrumental song on the album.

 

But this song doesn’t need vocals to be one of the greatest songs on the album. Right from the start the song transitions smoothly from angelic with a heart pounding drumbeat shared between the ending and beginning of the two songs respectively. And when I say heart pounding, I mean it literally. This drumbeat sounds like a combination of a heartbeat and some heavy breathing and it has the same effect as the drumbeat from Go at the beginning of the album, except this time that heart is pounding a little bit faster. Also, it comes back into play a couple more times in the song where Go’s heartbeat only really mattered for the intro.

 

The most prominent and memorable part of this song would have to be the horns that play the main melody. It’s not so prominent that it feels overused, but it is definitely the clear motif of the song if it has one. Besides the most obvious iterations of the melody shown at 1:27, 2:36 and 5:37, there are several subtler points where the melody is used. From fairly obvious parts such as the fractions of the melody played in the song’s introduction to slightly more hidden points such as the quieter melody underlying the song whenever we aren’t in full melody mode (or build-up from nothing mode but I’ll get to that). Everything else the song has to offer, the basslines, the strings and Tasia’s vocals, contribute to the mystical feeling this song presents to me. Nothing feels out of place. Everything works together.

 

My favorite part of the song, of course, has to be the build-up from nothing. After the second chorus of the motif melody we reach the midpoint of the song and as I’ve explained in previous songs with a Build-up from Nothing, everything drops out. The drumbeat, the melody, the bassline. All of it. Nothing remains. Well, almost nothing. Andy Hunter leaves a bit of ambience in there to work with as he refreshes the rest of instruments over time. There’s a few notes that sound like water droplets in the beginning which I love as they kind of remind me of a cave. In a way, it kind of helps me visualize the rest of the song with this short portion taking shelter from a cave in the middle of a tortuous sandstorm before the safehaven collapses. I have a vivid imagination when it comes to some of these songs, pretty sure I used to visualize a music video for this entire album when I was younger, this is the only part I remember though.

 

I got distracted. Let’s talk about these strings for a second. The way they’re introduced really is the heart of this build-up and the remainder of the song following it. They don’t gradually introduce themselves with a rising crescendo (unless you consider the ambience to be an introduction to the strings, though I’m pretty sure that ambience is made up of the sweeping notes of a bass (the actual stringed instrument, not just a general term for low notes). These higher strings begin at full volume along with some cinematic drumbeats to accompany them. As the stings build- growing more intense, eventually playing a quicker melody, other elements of the song are introduced and reintroduced. A new bassline joins in first followed by a return to that literally heat pounding drumbeat from the beginning. And all the while there is a slight nod to the main melody (albeit this iteration is played a bit lower so it sounds quite different in tone).

 

And after that build-up concludes itself, the song returns to its usual tempo and energy. This time highlighting those strings as the star of the show, once again letting them develop in a similar manner, starting off slowly and then shifting the notes around bit more rapidly as the song progresses. And with one last iteration of that motif melody chorus, we have a fantastic closure to a fantastic song.

 

And so, concludes the five female vocal songs of the album. Only two more to go.

 

Andy Hunter – Strange Dream (8.25): These last few songs on the album transition quite well between each other. Sandstorm Calling ends with a rising scream that drops right back into the breakbeat style we had at the beginning of the album. Strange Dream is a return to where we started and, living up to its name, it’s definitely one of the stranger songs on the album. Unlike the last couple of songs, this song returns to having lyrics, but if there’s a message behind them I can’t seem to figure it out at all. There’s a dream. It’s strange and funny. Only way I can think of this working biblically is one of the many stories of dream interpretations. Only problem is… none of these appear in Exodus so I really can’t tell you how that connects. Maybe Andy over here just had a strange and funny dream one time and felt inspired to build a song around the concept.

 

What’s the dream about? Well there’s so few lyrics, I’m afraid I can’t tell you. It’s strange and funny, I can tell you that much, but the rest of the vocals don’t give much information to work with (if any information at all). As soon as the song begins, you’ve got two lines: “You wasted basics for that, dude” and “Down, sit down, See you down.” What do they mean? Who knows! My guess is that our man Andy here has a subconscious self-criticism of how he continues to waste the basic elements of his life on… something… Also, he forces himself to sit down to try and ponder this self-criticism he has. Am I looking too deep into this and almost certainly misinterpreting any meaning Andy has for us (if anything)? Yeah. Pretty sure I am. Am I self-projecting? I don’t know possibly. Self-criticism seems to be a problem of mine, but I didn’t actually put much thought into this theory. I sort of just vomited out the first existential possibility that came to my head when looking at these either cryptic or random lyrics. Maybe my subconscious is the one we need to look into…

 

Ok, well regardless, of how vaguely I try to analyze these lyrics, the penultimate song of Exodus does have some pretty good music on it. After the introduction is done about a minute in, the song returns to four on four, which I find to be a bit disappointing (Syncopation is such a pleasure of mine). Still, the conventional drumbeat doesn’t interfere with the rest of the song. There’s some great bass design throughout, be it the harsh funky notes in the intro, the nearly arpeggiated pattern that plays for most of the song or the cleaner lower synth that joins in around the three-minute mark (though to be fair this could count as a melody).

 

This song divides itself into two different vibes. There’s the upbeat vibe that takes up the majority of the song and a couple of calmer breaks at each third-way mark in the song. I’ve already talked extensively about the former when it comes to the basslines as that’s the most prominent focus there. There is a synth that I haven’t mentioned that has a nice swing to it and plays the main melodies of the upbeat four on four areas of the song. Plus, there’s a couple of points in the song where an extra instrument is layered on top of the arpeggiated bass to give it a much-welcomed accent.

 

The latter of these two vibes is the calm between the storms (not sandstorms, that was the last song). The song takes two short breaks to strip away the kicks and basslines from the song, creating a more relaxing environment focusing more extensively on melody and strings.  There’s a chilling main melody in here that gives me extra nostalgic vibes for some reason (even more nostalgic than the usual Andy Hunter and I honestly don’t even remember it somehow so there’s definitely something fishy going on in my subconscious music memory). Regardless, I enjoy these two portions of the song the best. I wouldn’t say they’re build-ups from nothing, but at the end of each one “Strange and funny dream,” tends to get me a smile. I especially get a kick out of the “straaaaaaaange andfunnydream” at the end of the first calmer portion. As strange (and funny) as they are, these vocals are definitely the selling point on this song.

 

Andy Hunter – Intercessional (7.25): Final transition of the album smoothly leads us into Intercessional with a bassline not all that different from the main one in Strange Dream. It’s a bit higher in pitch, but the rhythm is quite similar (though I think I prefer Strange Dream’s). However, this bassline is only important half of the time in this song as Andy continuously switches back and forth between the already mentioned bassline and a second rhythmic bassline introduced about a minute in, which I find to be a bit smoother. I prefer the latter of these to be honest. That smoother vibe is definitely better in my opinion.

 

As for the rest of the song, I’m not all that impressed. It’s still a good song but compared to all of the other stuff we’ve seen in this album. The singular melody that this song seems to have isn’t especially interesting except for the ending of it’s first iteration where we spend a small few seconds with that syncopated drumbeat. Some of the best few seconds of the song, though the rest of the melody just doesn’t carry the song very well.

 

After those few seconds of breakbeat, the song does reach a calm as it prepares for a small build-up from nothing. There’s a decent choir introduced in there (which is used throughout the remainder if the song which is a welcome bit of variety), and the breakbeat drums do continue as the song builds up. Some good subtle touches here and there make the build-up work quite well It’s nowhere near as remarkable as the build-ups in Go, Radiate and Sandstorm Calling, but beating those songs is a tall order anyway.

 

As for the lyrics, there’s not really much deep to go into. The song is called intercessional. An intercessional is a prayer. The song is about prayer. The song is about an intercessional. It’s all pretty self-explanatory.

 

Overall, this is a pretty weak closer for the album. The song is good and all, but it doesn’t reach the same heights as many of the other songs on the album.

 

Conclusion: that review was a lot longer than I’d expected it to be. A good half of the songs had full on essays of things to talk about which might be a bit excessive (even my Mind.in.a.box reviews are shorter than this and they have more songs plus a whole narrative to deal with). Regardless, I definitely enjoyed immersing myself into the intricacies of Andy Hunter’s early works. The album does have some flaws (take a look at Show, his worst song), but overall, it’s been a great nostalgic experience working on this review. As much as I had to say in the body of this review, this conclusion is pretty short. I guess I already summed it all up.

 

Final Score: (7.75/10)

Daily Hat Track Roundup: February 2019

It was here that Tuesday Newsday ended, but we don’t talk about that. This is just the February Daily Hat Track roundup post. Nothing more.

 

Daily Hat Track: February 1 (King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard – Cyboogie): Cyboogie walks a surprisingly thin line between a fun groovy vibe an oddly ominous vibe slinking along I’m the background.

 

Daily Hat Track: February 2 (Kick Bong – This Charming Violin (TPOT remix): End of a long unfortunately unproductive day. So today I’ll just mention the song having a food vibe and some beautiful violins and female vocals. It truly is quite a lovely track.

 

Daily Hat Track: February 3 (Ashbury Heights – Spiders): Remember the all too edgy Ashbury Heights album from a couple weeks ago? Here’s a song that’s a step in the right direction of edge. Actually the track that introduced me to the duo (with revolving door of female vocalists).

 

Daily Hat Track: February 4 (Myndflame – Club Thrall): I didn’t get far into my Discovery Weekly due to download troubles but this song in particular had a good drive and variety to it. That’s about all I have to say about it at the moment though.

 

Daily Hat Track: February 5 (Electric Universe, Hilmar & Chico – Rockers and Rollers): The moment I see an Electric Universe song I think psytrance. The moment I see the song title referencing rock n roll I think kick-ass guitar sections. This song delivers on both counts and I love it.

 

Daily Hat Track; February 6 (Bliss & Alex Berserker – Warriors Guitar Mix): A couple days ago I shared a psytrance song with some rocking guitars. Well, today I’m sharing THE psytrance song with rocking guitars. This eleven minute experience is well with your time.

 

Daily Hat Track: February 7 (Infected Mushroom i-wish (Acoustic Live Remix)): Each time, I listen to this acoustic version of I Wish, I like it more and more. It used to be my least favorite from IM21 pt 1, but now it’s second favorite right behind Bliss’ remix of Bust a Move (which is unbeatable).

 

Daily Hat Track: February 8 (Mind.in.a.box – Amnesia): Today I’m just going to throw back the song that introduced me to my current favorite artist. Really pulled me into the computerized vocals and the existential themes. Probably one of my best musical discoveries of all time.

 

Daily Hat Track: February 9 (Infected Mushroom – Dancing with Kadafi): I’ve shared a lot of long songs as of late, but I consider this one to be the epitome of journeys through sound. It’s an absolute classic.

 

Daily Hat Track: February 10 (The Anix – TECHUNTER): Only just finished up Friday’s Release Radar and this nearly cinematic technological wonder was one of the last ones in the playlist. It’s also the best one in the playlist.

 

Daily Hat Track February 11 (Eisfabrik – Walking Towards the Sun): Actually got all the way through my Discovery Weekly in one day (which is rare). And this was bothering the grooviest and most inspiring of the bunch. It’s not often that you find such good futurepop with an uplifting vibe.

 

Daily Hat Track: February 12 (Mind.in.a.box – Redefined): I have no words right now or too many words. Either way, I’d forgotten how great this song is (definitely one of my all time favorites). Music and lyrics are dense with power and meaning and you should listen to it right now

 

Daily Hat Track: February 13 (Infected Mushroom – Frog Machine): Does this track make anyone else envision a giant monstrous frog throwing it’s little normal frog coworkers into a fiery furnace before usurping it’s boss that happens to be a corpse of bones lying in the corner? Just me? Ok.

 

Daily Hat Track : February 14 (Infected Mushroom – In Front of Me): Not much to say about this one. It’s just resonating a bit too much with me right now. Every line is filled with relatable existential anguish.

 

Daily Hat Track: February 15 (Worakls – Cloches): Worakls and his Hungry Music fellows are always a treat to listen to. Therefore this is one of my favorites of this week’s Release Radar.

 

Daily Hat Track: February 16 (Infected Mushroom – Return to the Suace): Here’s another song that makes me visualize a music video except this one makes less sense because it’s a sea voyage adventure involving a sea serpent and a time distortion device. My imagination is vividly random.

 

Daily Hat Track: February 17 (Infected Mushroom – Demons of Pain): I usually tend to listen to the remix from the Return to the Sauce album, but my love doe the existential original still holds today. I may have been listening to too much Infected Mushroom lately though.

 

Daily Hat Track: February 18 (Kick Bong (Progress in Happiness Remix)): Here’s a funky groove of happiness from Kick Bong for yesterday’s Daily Hat Track. Sleep schedule adjustment is making me forgetful.

 

Daily Hat Track: February 19 (Scatman John – U-turn): Didn’t really listen to Scatman when he was alive, but I have been enjoying his music for quite a few years nonetheless. This one about healing one’s soul with a new beginning is the most applicable to my life at the moment.

 

Daily Hat Track: February 20 (OVERWERK – Reign): I’ll admit I’m really only into this one for the bassline. It has a good groove overall, but the bassline is what makes it.

 

Daily Hat Track: February 21 (Infected Mushroom – Saeed): I already knew this was my favorite Infected Mushroom song, but after relistening to it today. It’s even better than I remember. Every moment in this track, be it lyrical or musical, is incredibly powerful.

 

Daily Hat Track: February 22 (Electric Universe – Dragonfly): Psytrance songs named after winged insects are good ok? What else is there to say?

 

Daily Hat Track: February 23 (Andy Hunter – Go): Andy Hunter was my first electronic artist. Go was his first song. If you’re guessing I have some nostalgia attached to this song, you couldn’t be more right.

 

Daily Hat Track: February 24 (Liquid Soul – Hypnotic Energy (Pitch Bend Remix): As I was scouring through this week’s Release Radar in search or tracks worthy of mentioning for Newsday Tuesday this fresh psytrance track proved to be the most worthy.

 

Daily Hat Track: February 25 (The Luna Sequence – Veil Walled Garden): Today’s Discover Weekly reminded me how awesome The Luna Sequence is at blending electronic and rock elements. All of her stuff definitely has an energetic vibe to it.

 

Daily Hat Track: February 26 (Andy Hunter – Sandstorm Calling): An Andy Hunter classic. One of the two nonlyrical songs on the Exodus album. Definitely feel some nostalgia listening to this.

 

Daily Hat Track: February 27 (Ayria – Feed Her to the Wolves): Isn’t it great when you discover an oddly catchy song during lunch and have to spend the rest your workday trying not to sing of how you had a woman eaten alive wolves and then displayed her body to intimidate your enemies?

 

Daily Hat Track: February 28 (Carpenter Brut – Paradise Warfare): Carpenter Brut is great but Carpenter Brut with a saxophone? Mmmmmmm

 

Remember to follow Twitter for a new Hat Trac every day and to take a look at the Daily Hat Track Playlist linked below.

 

https://open.spotify.com/user/beretbeats/playlist/4CIZYAQAzctqYqFG89HIv2?si=hzGhZDDaRV6bgotZiPxheA

 

One last thing. I wanted to apologize for missing the review last Friday. As I’d mentioned on twitter I ended up having to take the week off due to health issues but I’ll be putting extra effort into keeping on track for these reviews from now on (Getting rid of Tuesday Newsday should help

Daily Hat Track Roundup: January 2019

I’ve been posting these every day on Twitter for the past month so if you’re not following me yet, there’s a direct link in the menu if you simply scroll up. Or you could click on this one right here. Either will do. The wording of these short micro reviews may work better in a daily setting so this whole collection might seem a little disjointed but I’ll work on that tone a bit better as time progresses. Oh and at the bottom of this post I also have linked a playlist of all the 2019 Daily Hat Tracks so you can listen through that if you’d like.

 

https://twitter.com/BeretBeats

 

If you’ve already been following me for the past month, then this isn’t going to be much new content for you, but it’s a nice recap of what I’ve been listening to as of late.

 

Daily Hat Track: January 1 (Donbor – Backward): Discovered Donbor today. Fantastic discovery. I’m a bit mixed on some of his albums, but this album in particular and this song in particular is outstanding. Love the guitar in the beginning and everything else that follows

 

Daily Hat Track: January 2 (DROELOE – Looking Back (Manu Dia remix)): This remix stole the spot for today’s track minutes ago. Loved the original lyrics about the internal struggles of adulthood and this remix with music box vibes and the other melodies that greatly improved upon DROLOE’s style.

 

Daily Hat Track: January 3 (Durs – Redemption): Couldn’t hold myself back from posting psytrance for too long, now could I? This one’s got some exceptional basslines to keep me in the groove. Had a lit of fun with it on loop this evening.

 

Daily Hat Track: January 4 (Moby – Like a Motherless Child (Broken Places Remix)): Spotify’s Release Radar made sure to deliver this captivating remix to me. Broken Places does a better job of matching the emotion of the song’s lyrics than Moby himself. At least, that’s my preference.

 

Daily Hat Track: January 5 (Andy Hunter & Christine Glass – Amazing): Didn’t really discover much new music today, but that’s not gonna stop me from posting something. How about a classic? Andy Hunter was my biggest introduction to EDM and this is my current favorite song of his hailing from 2002.

 

Daily Hat Track: January 6 (The Avener & Ane Brun – To Let Myself Go): Beautiful tracks with a good drive are one of my weaknesses. Here’s a recent discovery of mine from that category. Listen carefully to every single element and instrument as you listen to this one. Because each one is a small part of a masterpiece.

 

Daily Hat Track: January 7 (Comaduster – Far From Any Road): This ominous entrancing track definitely caught my attention today. The tone of the song has nice unsettling feel to it. And the lyrics are even more unsettling so if you’re into that (I am) then make sure to give it a listen!

 

Daily Hat Track: January 8 (Ashbury Heights – November Corrosion): Embrace the break of day with yesterday still in motion

 

This song is actually about pulling an all nighter due to existential crisis. I’m posting it now because I forgotten to post a track last night so yesterday is still now.

 

Daily Hat Track: January 9 (Ecepta & Azaleh – Shadow Truths): It’s way too late for me to still be up so here’s a chill vibes Daily Hat Track that I heard today. Let us all read and rest in the shadows.

 

Daily Hat Track: January 10 (Ehrling – Groove): The main reason I live Ehrling’s stuff is the saxophone. The saxophone is likely one of my favorite instruments in existence. If you’re unaware of my love for the saxophone, then your ignorance of my saxophone loving shall soon fade away.

 

Daily Hat Track: January 11 (Torul – Ausverkauft – Frozen Plasma remix): My favorite track from today’s Release Radar is the great Futurepop synthwave combo that is this Frozen Plasma remix. Haven’t delved into the lyrics quite yet but the vibe is great regardless.

 

Daily Hat Track: January 12 (Infected Mushroom – Bust a Move): Classic Infected Mushroom song and totally not a hint at what album I’m reviewing next.

 

Daily Hat Track: January 13 (Lemon Jelly – 64 aka Go): This song is a journey in two ways. Firstly, the theme is about embarking on a lengthy journey so that’s that. Secondly, the variety within the song (especially the guitar at the end) makes it a journey through sound.

 

BONUS THREAD (worth the read I promise): https://twitter.com/BeretBeats/status/1084941640366804993

 

Daily Hat Track: January 14 (Justice – Planisphere): I’m not certain why Spotify decided to put a nearly eighteen minute song in my Discovery Weekly, but it was still well worth the time to listen to every last bit of it.

 

Daily Hat Track: January 15 (The Other Colors & Marie Mööre – Pretty Day (Remix): Today’s weird enough already so let’s add some more weird to it with this trippy edgy track with the cutest lady singing about how pretty death is as everything around her descends into madness.

 

Daily Hat Track: January 16 (Eddie Bitar & Psycrain – Vertical Poetry): Who wants more psytrance? I’m always wanting more psytrance. Eddie Bitar is a recent discovery of mine. His collabs with Psycrain are his best and this is the best of those so this is the best Eddie Bitar.

 

Daily Hat Track: January 17 (Bjørn Torske – Clean Air): Yeah, I know it’s the 18th but this is the track I meant to post yesterday and I’m sorry for being so late on it. But I ain’t gonna get stressed I’m gonna take a step back and breathe the clean air that is this beautiful track.

 

Daily Hat Track January 18 (Sean Tyas – Chrome): This week’s Release Radar was mostly a flop. This is the only one that really stands out to me. It may just be trance with pseudo-inspiring lyrics at the beginning but it’s good trance with pseudo-inspiring lyrics at the beginning

 

Daily Hat Track: January 19 (Sesto Sento – Louder): It’s getting louder and louder and louder and louder. It’s getting LoUdEr and LoUdEr and LoUdeR and LoUdEr. It’s getting LOUDER and LOUDER and LOUDER and LOUDER

 

Daily Hat Track: January 20 (Ehrling – Tequila): Is it cheating to do to Ehrling tracks in one month? Because this one has an even more energetic upbeat melody (plus more sax, always more sax, the EP is called Sax Art and it is flawless).

 

Daily Hat Track: January 21 (Ghost – He is (HEALTH remix): Today’s track has a slight bit of edge and despair to it. An emotion that might ward off some listeners but I’m definitely into it. Though as you may see this Friday, I have limits to how much edge I can take…

 

Daily Hat Track: January 22 (Henry Saiz & Band – Downfall (Overture): Great song about finding beauty within the inevitable chaos of this world while also focusing on the similarities and differences between what we dream of and what we see in reality. Plus the music is just plain ol’ good

 

Daily Hat Track: January 23 (Ashbury Heights – Penance): Finishing up Friday’s review so I haven’t listened to much else. Here’s a sneak peak of the edgiest review yet! Not the best song on the album because I’m leaving the best for later but there’s some good existentialism in here.

 

Daily Hat Track: January 24 (Etherwood – In Stillness):  What a beautiful album opener. Such a gorgeous track about slowing down in life to finally find peace.

 

Daily Hat Track: January 25 (Neelix – Mosquito (Interactive Noise remix): It got really late this Friday. Here’s a new remix of one of Neelix’s more creative songs with synths made of mosquitoes. It’s not quite as good as the original (this one is less subtle and not as majestic) but both are worth checking out.

 

Daily Hat Track: January 26 (Yanni, Marc Russell, David Scheuer & Tinatin Japordize – What You Get): Today’s track comes from a brand new discovery of mine, Yanni. Dude has a massive discography but I’ve only just brushed the surface with these genius piano melodies and the surrounding almost cosmic environment.

 

Daily Hat Track: January 27 (Royalston – Oscilla): DnB songs are always good. Take this Royalston track for example. The melodies in the middle of the song really have a soothing feel to them, but the variety the rest of the track offers is pretty great too.

 

Daily Hat Track: January 28 (The Anix – Mask): It can be quite easy to hide behind a mask. I sometimes wonder if I’m hiding under a mask even from myself (nonsense I know). Well, The Anix tackles masks in this song. If we wear a mask, what truly hides behind in the shadows?

 

Daily Hat Track: January 29 (Sesto Sento – Musik Make U Feel (Live mix)): So basically I listened to a bunch of music that would be fun to party to. Except I was working at the time so not really a party. But feel that musik. This and Louder are great tracks for getting in that partyin mood

 

Daily Hat Track: January 30 (Mind.in.a.box – The Dream): I go a little bit overboard with this guy’s stuff when reviewing. The story is real dense here so here’s a sneak peak at tomorrow’s review. Fittingly I chose the song, The Dream from the album Dreamweb.

 

Daily Hat Track: January 31 (Pendulum – Propane Nightmares): Sorry if today’s tracks seem a bit lazier. I’m trying to do my best to match the tone of each day (if that makes sense). I listened to a lot of Pendulum today and while this track isn’t a new discovery, it definitely is a classic.

 

https://open.spotify.com/user/beretbeats/playlist/4CIZYAQAzctqYqFG89HIv2?si=0ZHfkQeIQw6QhRE6vUVEmg