mix: faster... faster...

"if you want to fly, you have to be ready to crash and burn. now let's GO! FULL BLAST!!"

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Happy birthday, Sonic the Hedgehog! If you need a boost of energy, this is the mix for you! I started this based on bgm_08 by Yoshimi Kudo (presumed), a track from the entirely embarrassing boobie shmup based on the Dragon Maid franchise.

I wanted to put a lot of tracks that show what you can do with different definitions of speed, not necessarily always high BPM. The energy level is high, and there's plenty of detail, with 16th and even 32nd notes portraying a dense grid. Though there is plenty of high BPM to enjoy as well, with the spectacular full version of "Aegleseeker" by Silentroom and Frums (which has the honor of the highest BPM of all the tracks here), "疾走あんさんぶる" by BeatMARIO, and "Backspin" by MEMODEMO, from which this mix takes its name. Also, sometimes you just a break for contrast, you know?

This mix is a combination of digital fusion, BMS and VGM (especially from shmups), subcultures that always exemplify the highest energy bops. I hope you enjoy!

mix: sublime experiences

on the outer edges of digital fusion lie dreamlike worlds, musical escher staircases, and overwhelming displays of power.

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Ever since I got back into minidiscs, I've been making mixtapes regularly, usually with a specific mood in mind. This is the latest of those tapes--touching upon the most epic moods that digital fusion can encompass.

The initial impetus to make this mix was Hunter van Brocklin's incredible, freeform EP, Elemental Chaos, of which "sylphid's majesty" opens this mix. Recently there have been quite a few releases that have an epic, overwhelming scope, and I thought that they would fit very well on a mixtape like this-like Promtastik's complex NES (VRC6) soundtrack for WoRMeR, Lindsay Lowend's expert renoise album "Tangerine", and tenby's Dreamcast-era-futuristic "sense data", all of which have tracks featured.

I also had to include something from both Shnabubula ("Camelopardalis") and Chimeratio ("Litter Labyrinth"), as in my mind they are both on the absolute cutting edge of the most progressive and explorative side of digital fusion.

Complementing this are tracks from the past 5 or so years that touch upon that deep, almost religious connection with music that I feel sometimes, whether that's by hitting hard (Shirobon's "Forest of Aphelion", Dream Position's "Williams Plus", Kikuo's "Cotton Candy"), or by tapping into a deep emotional well (Tancla's "Ceramic Ivy", tdstr's "staring out at the static pier", Emelia K.'s "Something Was and Something Is").

Finally, I want to give a special mention to the closing track, "7-5-6-3-3-4" by Devious, an expert user of a web composition tool called jummbox. I had no idea it was capable of things like this. So cool!

I hope you enjoy this mix, and if you like anything, I've provided links to all the releases that are available on bandcamp in the tracklist, so please send the artists some love!