#darkpyramid

DARKPYRAMID - New Humans

Dream Catalogue

The apocalypse has been looming for some time now; I think it’s best to embrace it and celebrate it with droning, macabre music. Like much of the music I’m naturally drawn to, today’s album brilliantly exposits an air of chaos and destruction. The scene is beautifully and horrifically set with the scene of a civilization lost; Poe’s Conquerer Worm play attuned to more Cyberpunk tastes. I really love how the album employs its soft, would-be-soothing sounds; within the story it tells the calm tone of the album is not at all comforting for it evokes not the calm of safety but that of repose. Horror-tinged music is so difficult to get right, more so when the composer goes off the beaten path to try something new; this album is an unequivocal triumph in this regard. We’ve heard an earlier work of this artist before; I’m happy to see their sound becoming stranger and darker over time. Allow the detritivores to consume your mortal husk as you enjoy Prelude To Destruction by DARKPYRAMID!

https://open.spotify.com/album/4LeezXqiam8hIqFEJM6s28?si=oQ4_Muv8SfyUrqAr3_tmUw

Listen to a mix featuring these albums here: HCMJ’s 2016 Year End Mix

Honorable Mentions: 

EXID - Street

Daniel Lanois / Rocco Deluca - Goodbye To Language 

Vektroid - RE•SET

Blank Banshee - MEGA

Foodman - Ez Minzoku

Hakobune - In Arboreal Whispering

Morris County Meteorological Team - WMCC Weather Channel

Svarte Greiner - Moss Garden

Radiohead - A Moon Shaped Pool

David Bowie - Black Star

20) Fulldeck Subhuman - Myst

Big, sparse, weird - softsynths with early-decade style synthwave builds, tiny smatterings of sample work. Strange melodies and a haphazard attitude throughout, Myst holds down wide synth drones while maintaining an endearing level of playfulness. Great cover art too.

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19) Rose - Exile

Notes of Akira Yamaoka, ambient drones broken up with tinkery lofi to hifi beats. A unique set of hypnotic tracks, the sci-fi hi-fi piano of “Hydration Cherub” and the Silent Hill loop and trips of the title track stand out.

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18) ALIS - Corporeal

Deep space synths, post-rave Fifth Element sci-fi vibes. “Replicas” resonates with the DARKPYRAMID brand of neo-cyberpunk, with a little space and light peering through the cracks between the breakdowns. Sabina Plamenova drones and pings - with her deep, breathy vocal work feeding the feeling of electronic space opera.

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17) Infinity Frequencies - Closer than ever

The Caretaker of vaporwave returns for another enigmatic collection of haunted loops. Between bits of pop and commercial phrases there are moments of true tape synth bliss, with tracks like “Unexplored regions” recalling early Dolphins Into The Future.

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16) DJ ALINA - MANIAX

Absolutely brutal collection of tracks. The synth work is tight, the beats slamming. Tracks like “STRIKE SPIN” and “AFTERGLOW” show her unique ability to weave interesting rhythmic ideas out of the ruins of ancient electronic dance genres, re-contextualized and given a new relevance.

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15) Piper Spray - Drugstore Phones

The Russian Federation’s most talented tape splicer returned with a double-vinyl release this year. After his bandcamp page vanished, I feared that the creator of my beloved Omnicrom Girls had hung up the moniker for good. Drugstore is a welcomed and cherished return to form, as labyrinthine and sprawling as ever - a dream to get lost in. 

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14) Tominaga - Echoes of Megaliths

Elegant experimental dance music from Japan. Opens with 7 minutes of amen breaking before exploring all sorts of electronic avenues. Avant garde piano chopping, vaportrail beatwaves, trappy hits over harp and guitar, chiptune aping over funk guitar. Sheer eclectic joy permeates the experience.

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13) t e l e p a t h - A

Vaporgod and alien life force t e l e p a t h stepped out of his dreamlike world of phased samples and Japanese TV girls to create this stunning synth album. Short circuiting Steve Roach-style ambient music with pulsating Phantasy Star Online vibes, with a surprising tech beat side B. An extremely promising “coming out” synth album for the sample-master.

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12) Arizona Dream - Glade

Another favorite Russian artist, Arizona Dream explores the wilds just outside the city limits of his home in Bryansk with lush, warm synths and field recordings. There’s a gentle touch to this album, tumbling melodies lost in the hiss of tape - a tranquil collection of landscape sketches.

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11) PowerPC ME - Kmart 1989-1992

When the tape dump of K-Mart’s in-store audio from the late 80′s and early 90′s hit, it was clearly a boon for the vaporwave sample hunters. Luckily PowerPC ME took on the task of sifting through the hours of material to compile what is essentially a haunted ballroom album. The low hum of tracks like “I've never been more happy in my entire life, I can't feel my legs anymore” would be right at home on an early Caretaker release.

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10) Dang Olsen Dream Tape - Zonk

Lo-fi psychlord Dang Olsen Dream Tape returned to Constellation Tatsu to follow up last year’s surprise hit, Just Roll. Zonk follows the same basic formula that made Just Roll so memorable - low key drum machines, tiny squeezebox synths and cheap-n-deep pads, the warm hiss of tape and the promise of something blissful in the distance. At home alongside the likes of x.y.r., Zonk goes deeper into the jungle and never looks back.

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09) Equip - I Dreamed Of A Palace In The Sky

While it’s not the first time someone has attempted the “ost for a non existent game,” Equip has taken the concept to the next level with this love-letter to mid-to-late 90′s JRPGs. Menu sounds, sound effects, gameplay interruptions - much more than an ‘ost,’ I Dreamed emulates the whole of the Cheeto-palmed late night RPG grinding experience, warmed by the glow of a CRT TV.

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08) The Caretaker - Everywhere at the end of time

Stage 1 - September 2016 Here we experience the first signs of memory loss. This stage is most like a beautiful daydream. The glory of old age and recollection. The last of the great days.

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07) 2814 - Rain Temple

After last year’s Birth of a New Day blew up the scene and propelled HKE and telepath to new levels of notoriety, the hype and buildup to Rain Temple was palpable. The payoff was deeply gratifying, as Rain Temple is the established 2814 aesthetic taken to a new extreme. It still manages to find new avenues of expression as it plays out in unique moments like “Transference,” exemplifying the careful planning and deliberate execution of the album.

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06) x.y.r. - waves t*pes vol.2

Russian Formanta-mini master Vladimir Karpov can do no wrong. A short extension to his ‘waves t*pes’ series, the enigmatic artist who has turned so many times to maritime themes now employs them as an allegory for existential exploration. Hoping to "inspire the listener to drift effortlessly through the coastal waters of the subconscious mind,” x.y.r. sends us on yet another placid journey.

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05) Perfume Advert - Foreverware

1080p regulars Aaron Turner and Tom Brown are known for their multi-layered, subtly enticing releases with foundations in electro house. Foreverware takes classic house tropes to new and exciting noir locals, bringing cyberpunk neon night drives with pulsating brilliance.

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04) DARKPYRAMID - Prelude To Destruction

I might just be a sucker for middle chapters, but between the two DARKPYRAMID releases this year Prelude To Destruction delivered the classic cyberpunk aura that made me initially fall in love with this producer (who took my album of the year in 2014). Less sci-fi noir than its predecessor, yet less dense than its sister album, New Humans, Prelude hits all the marks - from the Vangelis styling of “She Still Dreams” to the blissful underwater light of “Awake.”

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03) Dante Mars Ajeto! - Celebrating Digital Artifacts

#NUWRLD of a high order. Painfully emotive sample work in that post-whatever style that is very dear to me. Emotional displays of vulnerability and sensuality stretch out across this behemoth of an album, splintering and cracking, revealing the eponymous digital artifacts in a lite-brite rainbow of color. “A4 november.mp3″ still stops me in my tracks.

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02) Julien - FACE OF GOD

FACE OF GOD is a seamless, exhilarating experience. It’s fast, intricately detailed, smart and adventurous - constructed as if the whole thing was a recorded run-through of some amazing electronic set. “Memory Interface” quickly became one of my favorite tracks this year.

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01) NV - Binasu

And it was my favorite album of 2016!