mix: black and red

i don't want to think, or feel. i just want to be blasted into oblivion.

full tracklist (expand to view)

I was working on a mix of my favorite tracks of 2022, inspired by HVB's mix (which can be found here, and is excellent). However, this January has really been a time for me thus far--with family stuff and personal health, mass layoffs, and now with multiple mass shootings in California in quick succession--and even besides all that, just an overall feeling of darkness coming over me. Sometimes when I feel that way, what I want more than anything is something that's loud and violent, to sandblast away any other impulses or feelings I might have, and completely overwhelm my synapses. That kinda music, in my mind, often evokes the colors black and red (I don't really have synaesthesia generally, but this connection is strongly there for me), and so this mix represents a selection of those kind of tracks, some new and some older.

WaxTerK, a fantastic composer from Japan that I've featured many times, put out a new collection of his darker works, and sets the tone for this mix with a dark driven breakbeat track. The way it flowed into Leaf Let's "the part where he frags you", from their soundtrack for frantic and fun arena shooter Splatter, was just too good to pass up!

katagiri's "Palace of Melancholia" was actually the driving factor behind this particular mix, because when I heard that track, I knew that was what I really needed in this moment, rather than a painstaking selection of best tracks from the previous year. An absolute blast of a track with so many beautiful details flying at a mile a minute. Incredible stuff by a very exciting and wild artist that I'm sure will be doing more great work in the future. Frums' "of Ambrosia" and Camellia's "Abyss of Frobenioid" scratch a similar itch.

A special mention goes to the track by People Need Goals, composed for the actual play podcast Oddity Roadshow (for which I also did one track). Thanks to that, I discovered their work and I've been really impressed by it--this track in particular is really special I thought! Oddity Roadshow itself is absolutely hilarious AND very creepy, and features my friends Shannon Strucci and Joel Ruiz, so I highly recommend checking it out if you're interested in that kinda thing. The first arc just finished and it was great. This track is for an upcoming villain in the second arc, so that's something to look forward to.

I've also included one of the classic tracks I go to when I'm in this kinda mood, the absolutely cathedral track "Slowly" by Infected Mushroom. The way this 9 minute track doesn't waste a second is really something to behold, an inspiration for sure.

I hope in these dark times, this playlist can give you relief of some kind, like it does for me. Thanks for tuning in. As usual you can find links to the releases in the tracklist, so support the artists if you find anything you like in here!