ACE TRACKS: December 2016

*Whew*

Was that ever the long-haul, seemingly dragging on with no end in sight. This final stretch felt nothing less than desperately crawling across a grueling marathon finish line, the path to the end littered with broken glass, coarse rock salt, and scattered baby diapers.

But enough about the previous calendar year – how’s about completing that massive alphabetical backlog, eh? I quipped back in… September? October?? Well, sometime at the start of it that it might take me until the end of the year to get through it all. I didn’t think it actually would, my steady rate of nearly a review per day scheduling me to have wrapped up sometime in early November at worst. Looking back though, I was incredibly optimistic, having ‘penned’ around seventy-five reviews out of the lot. Holy cow, excluding ‘U’, that’s the same amount as the entirety of the remaining letters in my regular queue (‘V’-‘Z’). No wonder it took so long. One thing’s for sure though, is I need myself a little break, a chance to recharge the brain for this final-final stretch after what’s been an exhausting past few months for a multitude of reasons. But before that, here’s the ACE TRACKS for the month of December, 2016.


Full track list here.

MISSING ALBUMS:
Various - Splash!
Cosmic Replicant - Soul Of The Universe
ZerO One - protOtype2

Percentage Of Hip-Hop: 0%
Percentage of Rock: 0%
Most “WTF?” Track: Not a thing.

Fairly standard playlist, what with only half the amount of albums covered this past month. A little ambient, dark ambient, ambient techno, and some d’n’b too. I’m surprised it even reached four and half hours long.

So yeah, no reviews for January, but should be back come February to take on the ‘U’ portion of my collection. The currently-building backlog will have to wait until after that, as I’d like to make some progress with my main objective in this insane project. In the meanwhile, if you’re just dropping in for a looksee, or happen to have stumbled upon this blog for the first time, by all means explore the 1,000+ reviews already here - that's plenty 'nuff reading to tide y'all over the next thirty days. As for me, it’s time to focus on another music project that’s finally making headway. What might that be, you ask? Well…

ACE TRACKS: November 2016

So that was a Hell of a month. I’m not even talking about the bit of ridiculousness that occurred just south of my Canadian border, though that was no sunshine park walk either, believe you me. Normally I don’t get sick this time of the year (unless you want to count having the SADS as being sick), thus it’s only natural that when I finally do, it’s one vicious attack on the ol’ immune system. Ah, probably needed an upgrade anyway, though I could have done without that post sinus infection – hurts th’ teef, y’know? That pales, however, compared to whatever it is that’s got my right ear all clogged up. What, did the Great Battle Of My Sinuses dump all the casualties down my Eustachian tube? Not fun having the feeling of water in my ear, being high in a plane, all the while suffering from tinnitus reserved for those most destructive nights out at shitty clubs. All this, and got the notice me rent's going up too. November 2016 was the 2016 of 2016 Months, I’ll tell you what. At least Captain StrangeMan provided a little respite from it all. And I reviewed enough material for a semi-decent ACE TRACKS list for November 2016.

Not to get too ‘woe is me’ up in here, but I have to admit feelings of sloggitude with this blog as of late. I’m forever committed to completion of this mad project though, so another month-long sabbatical is in order – it’s been over two years since the last one. I’ll finish off the current backlog (at least a half-month’s worth still!), then likely ride out January 2017 in true hibernating style, picking back up with the 'U's come February. Nothing but rest and relaxation. Except for work, that takes precedent. And another music project too, come to think of it.


Full track list here.


MISSING ALBUMS:
Kozo - Planned Penetration
Segue - Over The Mountains
Sounds From The Ground - The Maze
Randal Collier-Ford, Flowers For Bodysnatchers, Council Of Nine, God Body Disconnect - Locus Arcadia
Dopplereffekt - Linear Accelerator
Aveparthe - Landscapes Over The Sea

Percentage Of Hip-Hop: 6%
Percentage Of Rock: 6%
Most “WTF?” Track: Anything Fear Factory - their aggressiveness is quite out of place in such a relatively chill playlist.

A fair bit of downtempo and ambient music in this one, though that’s almost par for the course with most of my monthly playlists. At least this one’s finally getting a decent amount of tunes from the current year within – only took me the nigh entirety of our current trip around the sun.

ACE TRACKS: October 2016

I know I’ve said it a few times now, but I’m still gobsmacked in how much of a backlog I accrued over the summer. Granted, a fair chunk of it was purchased during the previous backlog trawl as well, making my current queue sort of a double-length one. If this one’s taking so long, by God the backlog I’m currently building must be all sorts of ginormous by now. Ah, no, not really. Kinda’ cut back on music buying for a while, in part because finances dictate as such. Besides, I’d like to make some actual progress with my regular alphabetical cue at some point before the year is out. Dammit though, so many cool new releases coming out. No, no… control, I must learn control. Ah, who am I kidding? Better spending spare money on this than booze, I guess. On that cheery note, here’s a nice little Playlist ace tunes covered for this past month of October in our dread year of 2016.


Full track list here.


MISSING ALBUMS:
Various - Hed Kandi: Deeper
Omni Trio - The Haunted Science
enCAPSULAte - Fetal Position
Shaded Explorer - Empatia
Cosmic Replicant - Landscapes Motion

Percentage Of Hip-Hop: 0%
Percentage Of Rock: 5%
Most “WTF?” Track: Floating Points - Peroration Six (seriously, that ending, tho’)

Fairly straight-forward collection of tunes here. Lots of deep vibes, chill vibes, jazzy vibes, groovy vibes, plus some euro dance and metal too. Unfortunately, a couple of the truly intriguing items I reviewed this past month aren’t practical for a Playlist such as this. I mean, how can I select just a few indexed pieces out of 70 Minutes Of Madness when Coldcut’s mastermix opus is best served as a whole. Same goes for a couple of those dark ambient, the sum integral to its whole. And why on Earth isn’t Omni Trio’s Haunted Science on Spotify? I know old Moving Shadow is essentially in streaming limbo these days, but poor form losing that gem to such nonsense.

ACE TRACKS: September 2016

While putting together this playlist, I was struck dumb with a peculiar feeling of time displacement. Like, I know it’s only been a month since I wrapped up the ‘T’s with Twoism and Twentythree, but it feels like such a lifetime ago. I seldom get that sense when doing monthly musical recaps, the albums from the first days of a month almost as fresh on my mind as those from the last. It doesn’t seem like I’ve made a ton of progress through my massive alphabetical backlog either, only halfway through this Dark Side Of The Moog trek. Yet I take a tally, and I’ve gone through nineteen albums already. Man, I’m gonna’ be at this backlog until the end of the year, aren’t I? Poor ‘U’s, waiting forever for their time to shine (shut-up, ‘V’s, no one cares about you; ‘W’ be cool tho’).

I’m trying to figure out what’s caused this discrepancy within my chronometer, how it feels as though extra time was added to this month of September. That whole ‘changing of the seasons’ thing may have something to do with it, weather going from balmy summer to crisp autumn creating a sense of temporal extension. Didn’t have that prior years though. There was a week-long ‘stay-cation’ in the middle of the month for yours truly, with more free time to do non-routine things that might have fabricated a feeling of accomplishing more than I actually did. Can’t really say consuming the near-entirty of the Post Atomic Horror Podcast backlog in my downtime is actually an accomplishment though (still, much entertainment was had!). It’s that darn American election, isn’t it, dragging on and on and on, taking the world along with it. Such a clickbaity, time-sink of an election, folks. Here, have some ACE TRACKS from the past month to ignore it for a while.


Full Track List here.


MISSING ALBUMS:
Various - Artificial Afterlife Compilation
Bill Laswell - Axiom Ambient: Lost In Translation
Neil Young - Blue Note Café

Percentage Of Hip-Hop: 2%
Percentage Of Rock: 2% (would be more if those Neil Young songs weren’t mostly blues – it’s different!)
Most “WTF?” Track: Anything from Jlin, depending on how prepared you are for this forward-thinking music of the FUUUTTUURREE!

Wee, reverse alphabetical order! Been a while since I did one of those. Music’s a fairly standard mix of the sort you’ve likely come to expect being covered from this blog now. Lots of ambient, dark ambient, dub, techno, and chill, with splashes of house, trance, synth-pop, hip-hop, rock, and whatever it is you want to call Jlin’s work. It’s a solid assortment of tunes, though spoilers, next month’s will feature some surprising doozies.

ACE TRACKS: August 2016

I miss nRelate so much. Why did it have to shutter its servers? Engageya was an alright substitute though, despite only ever crawling my blog a year’s past for related content. Unfortunately, I think that service has been compromised by scammers, as a strange link to A Trip In Trance 4 started cropping up in its recommendations. Bear in mind I had not yet gotten to that CD, the link referring to the original review from way back. I did click the link, and when Chrome gave me the trusty “This Website Will Fuck Your Shit Up!” warning, I backed out, and promptly removed the app. I tried contacting Engageya regarding the situation, but never got a reply. Hence, back to LinkWithin, a serviceable option, but hopelessly limited. Plus, why does it suddenly stop at January 2013 for suggestions, then pick up again December 2014? It’s got lots of weird gaps like that, but eh, better than nothing. Maybe one day a proper nRelate replacement will emerge. Maybe…

Speaking of milestones, I just passed the 1,000th release reviewed for this blog! Turbo Studio Sessions (Vol. 3) earned the honor, and I can’t think of a better pair of CDs to have done the deed with. Erm, even if it was just an uploaded older review of electroclash. If we’re to get proper-technical about this though, Turbo Studio Sessions (Vol. 3) wasn’t the 1,000th release reviewed on this blog at all, as there’s still all those original uploads from EMC’s initial launch. I seldom count those in any interesting stats, but if I did in this case, then Michael Mayer’s Touch would have been the real 1,000th. Oops, kinda’ missed that one. Okay, enough blather, here’s ACE TRACKS for the month of August 2016!


Full track list here.


MISSING ALBUMS:
Various - Turbo Studio Sessions (Vol. 3)
Various - Tunnel Trance Force Vol. 30
FPU - Traxxdata
Various - Transmissions From The Planet Dog
Various - Trancespotting II

Percentage Of Hip-Hop - 0%
Percentage Of Rock - 8%
Most “WTF?” Track - Any of Neil Young’s vocoder stuff. The sheer audacity of it all!

Easily the biggest August Playlist I’ve ever put together, though that’s not saying much. Most Augusts I take a two-week festival vacation, and one year I didn’t write anything at all. Despite still dealing with a bunch of TRANCE music, there’s at least some extra diversity compared to July’s playlist. A splash of rock, a sprinkle of jungle, a peppering of synth-pop, and a smash of psy. Oh, and The Hip. As coincidental as their inclusion is, I’m glad they get in here as well. It seems appropriate.

ACE TRACKS: July 2016

Everyone sick of TRANCE yet? Because I sure am… not? Whoa, how is this even possible? I’ve difficulty enduring a singular genre for even a week straight, much less any longer, yet here we are a complete July past, and I’ve nary felt a smidge of burnout on the genre. What gives? A significant factor is this how much of a nostalgic trip down my trancecracker years this has been, reliving those exploratory ‘90s when trance felt new, edgy, and mysterious. I can almost guarantee, were I to indulge modern trance for a similar length of time, I’d have gone squirrel-shit insane by now. One disc of Mike Shiver was plenty ‘nuff, thank you. Of course I’ve bias towards the years I was first having sex [citation needed].

Another factor was taking a break from it all, pacing the month out, filling the gaps with different music, and taking a mini-vacation to Seattle. Where I got to hear Nirvana all the time. And a bunch of Metallica on the car radio for one inexplicable Sunday, no matter which station I tuned into. Having Beastie Boys’ Sabotage stuck in my head for nearly a week didn’t hurt/help either (thanks, ST: Beyond!). Naturally, none of this shall appear on ACE TRACKS: July 2016 (The Total Trip Trance-Voyage Experience!).



Full track list here.

MISSING ALBUMS:
Various – Tranced Out And Dreaming
Various - Trance V.oice 2
Various - Trance 2001: A Trance Odyssey
Various - Trance Trippin’
Various - Trance To Planet X: Influence 3.3
Various - Trance Sessions
Various - Trance Psyberdelic
Various - Trance Mission: Leon Bolier & Mike Shiver
Various - Trance Europe 2.0
Various - Trance Divas 2
Various - Muzik Presents Trance Classics
Various - Trance Central – Return To The Classics Vol. 4: Jørn Stenzel
Chris Fortier - Trance America

Percentage Of Hip-Hop: 0%
Percentage Of Rock: 0%
Most “WTF?” Track: Kraftwelt - Confusion (wait, what’s this non-trance track doing in this all-trance playlist!?)

Holy cow, look at all those missing CDs. Trance isn’t that obscure on Spotify, is it? Not entirely, as I found many tracks on other releases scattered about the app, but at least a quarter of the tracks are missing regardless. What’s strange is how some Hypnotic CDs are on Spotify, a few even re-released with different cover art (lenticular gimmicks aren’t so nifty as a .gif). There was no clear logic in how Cleopatra went about selecting which to upload though, but that’s kinda’ par for the course with that label. Hey, at least they’re still in operation, which is more than can be said for so many other defunct prints of trance’s past.

ACE TRACKS: June 2016

Guess what! I’ve reached the ‘Tr’s of my epic, endless journey through music I own, so you know what that means: it’s time to kick off a Summer Of Trance! Okay, ‘summer’ is pushing it some, but at least a July’s worth, especially if we include items through ‘trans’. Finally though, all of my trancecracker glories and fails will come to light, everything I own that’s trance. Except for the releases that started with ‘Goa’ or ‘Psy’. And all those In Trance We Trust mixes too, I guess. Plus anything that had ‘trance’ in its title, just not the start, come to think of it. Hell, even some releases that didn’t have ‘trance’ at all, like A Day On Our Planet or Dreamland or Ideas From the Pond or Rendezvous In Outer Space. Fine, this upcoming bundle of trance is but a fraction of the total amount floating about my stores of CDs. Trust me though, after a month of this, you’ll be begging for variety. Gangsta rap, psychedelic rock, minimal derp-haus, anything! Or hey, whatever’s on this ACE TRACKS playlist for June 2016. Yes, nailed the segueway!



Full track list here.


MISSING ALBUMS:
Various - Toronto Mix Sessions: Kenny Glasgow
Various - Trade: Past Present Future

Percentage Of Hip-Hop: 2%
Percentage of Rock: 34%
Most “WTF?” Track: The Archies - Sugar, Sugar (how do I suddenly have diabetes after listening to this song!?? …but seriously, another Dronny Darko piece is the answer)

Not quite as eclectic as these past couple months, as I mostly spent June wrapping up backlog before carrying on with ‘T’ albums. Heavier on the folky, alternative, and indie rock than anything else, but also got into familiar territory again with trip-hop, d’n’b, techno, and Neil Young. Really not much else to say about this playlist, because TRANCE is coming, man! TRANCE!

ACE TRACKS: May 2016

CD collection’s gotten too big for mere towers, especially since they’re nigh impossible to find anymore. I thus had two options: buy a bulky shelving unit, or make one myself. Seeing as how I have all this unused wall space, why not go with the mounted option? Less cumbersome, easier to move (whenever I do), and provides plenty of flexibility in adding MAOR MUZIKS to the piles. Worked out pretty darn nice, I must says.

Incidentally, this isn't the full collection – I kept one revolving tower as a ‘showpiece item’ for labels and favorite artists, plus a couple others for miscellaneous use (all those PSX games!). Lord help me though, if my entire apartment turns into nothing but CD shelving. Makes things like Spotify seem so much more practical now. Speaking of, here’s ACE TRACKS of May 2016.


Full track list here.

MISSING ALBUMS:
Bone Thugs-N-Harmony - E.1999 Eternal
Mind Over MIDI - Deep Map

Percentage Of Hip-Hop: 8%
Percentage Of Rock: 30%
Most “WTF?” Track: Ted Nugent - Stranglehold (holy cow, this gun nutjob made such groovy space rock!?)

No surprise that rock music has a dominate showing two months in a row now, yet somehow just a smidge less compared to April’s assortment of tunes. I also got much deeper into dark ambient’s cold waters, though not everything I listened to made the cut here – some of it just doesn’t work in a curated playlist format. And if that sounds too bleak to enjoy, take heart in a bunch of peppy Madonna music. Funny enough, the alphabetical arrangement caused her songs to get frequently lumped in bunches throughout this seven hour long playlist. You can go for a stretch of, say, Pantera, Lorenzo Montana, Orb, and Dronny Darko, then BAM, bunch of Madge all at once. I’m sure she approves.

ACE TRACKS: April 2016

How we handlin’ all these diversions, then? Not too painful I hope, getting some fresh perspectives and insights into artists and genres so seldom touched upon here. And hey, it helps with diversification, broadening the blog’s appeal beyond the familiar, perhaps even luring in a few new, unexpected eyes in the process. That’s a good thing, right? Judging by the numbers, reviewing other people’s former collections has paid off. Who knew folks would be more interested in Bob Dylan records than Yet Another Psy Dub CD? Still, this backtrack’s got some distance to go, only just wrapping up the ‘C’s. Those ‘Tr’s are far away yet, friends, so very very far away. Patience, my lovelies. Here, have some ACE TRACKS from this past month of April!



Full track list here.


MISSING ALBUMS:
Claude Young - Celestial Bodies
Various - Time Warp Compilation 07: Loco Dice
B.G. The Prince Of Rap - The Time Is Now

Percentage Of Hip-Hop: 11%
Percentage of Rock: 32%
Most “WTF?” Track: Probably something from Alphaxone. Take your pick of mind-peeling creepiness digging its tendrils through your ear membranes.

This has to be the most diverse playlist I’ve put together yet. Well, not including The Ultimate Master List. Even doing a lazy alphabetical arrangement generated quite a few interesting contrasts throughout. Possibly the smallest percentage of electronic music too, in lieu of all that rock and folk material. And when I do get to the digital realms, it’s almost always ambient music. Even the techno guys (Claude Young) or ‘future garage’ guys (Synkro) go ambient here. Can’t say things are gonna’ be much different in the coming month either.

ACE TRACKS: March 2016

It feels so strange only doing this once a month now. Like, such a significant gap of alternate content on this blog, no longer breaking up the monotony of just reviews over and over again. Might have to come up with some other thing, but with the insane backlog I’m accumulating at present, I kinda’ want to keep trudging through first. At least finish off the last of these massive letters before venturing onto other ideas.

Speaking of, the first half of ‘T’ is almost finished, which means that big bundle of used CDs from another will finally be tackled. Including the music I was already gathering myself, we’re looking at a pile of nearly fifty releases. That’s a significant chunk of time this electronic music blog that’s gonna’ be spent talking about rock, folk, alternative rock, metal, dark ambient, pop, punk rock, and maybe a little techno too. I won’t blame if some check out until June, but surely few of y’all are just anxious to read my thoughts on bands like The White Stripes, The Cranberries, The Clash, and The U2s. Meanwhile, here’s the ACE TRACKS for this past month of March:


Full track list here.

MISSING ALBUMS:
Moodymann - Technologystolemyvinyle
Skin To Skin - Temenos
And, technically, a lot of cruddy compilations, but most of their tracks are on Spotify anyway.

Percentage Of Hip-Hop: 25%
Percentage Of Rock: 4%
Most “WTF?” Track: Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry - Crazy House (how could it not?)

Hey, diversity! Boy, it sure was nice to compile a playlist with more variety compared to the previous couple months. Not that I’m treading that far from my go-to fav’ genres like downtempo dub (Sounds From The Ground, Mick Chillage), ambient techno (Si Matthews, The Black Dog), trance-pants (Stephen J. Kroos, Legend B), and quirky outliers (Autistici, DJ Hell). But with house, funk, g-funk, Detroit techno, EBM, synthwave, and alternative metal all getting a look in, March turned out a decent, interesting month’s worth of music.

But just wait for what April has in store…!

ACE TRACKS: February 2016

Oh my God, did February ever suck. Okay, there was that kick-ass Deadpool movie in there, plus d’em Golden State Warriors continue to astound in ways I never thought possible with NBA caliber basketball before, but in terms of getting significant work done with this blog, ugh what a slog. Never before have I been afflicted with flu aches/dizzying fever/curse of Cthulu symptoms like that, and I pray I never do again. That said, I did accomplish a couple things, one of which being an obvious fresh coat of template-paint here, hopefully making things a little easier on the eyes now. Also, I’ve added a couple Pages to the side-bar, one to keep all past and future ACE TRACKS playlists in an easy-access point, plus a FAQ for anyone still not up to speed on what this blog’s all about.

My main goal though (and thus far failure), is organize that gargantuan cloud of labels into something resembling a glossary or table of contents. Give folks easier navigation through the insurmountable back-catalog of reviews that’s accumulated, y’know? I’ve yet to find an easy fix for this though, and I’ve been told nothing short of a complete, ground-up redesign would accomplish what I want. *sigh* Am I gonna’ have to learn to actual code now, and not rely on templates? How was I to know things would get so big?


Full track list here.

MISSING ALBUMS:
Various - Summer
Various - Simulus
Ciaran Byrne - Nine Lives Causeway
Various - Montreal Mix Sessions Vol. 5 - Tiga: Mixed Emotions

Percentage Of Hip-Hop: 0%
Percentage of Rock: 0%
Most “WTF?” Track: Nothing at all.

Hope y’all dig the Psychonavigation Records love-in here, as that’s practically the entirety of this playlist. Even the few albums outside the Dublin print mostly fall within a similar style of music. Thank God for Tiga bringing a tiny bit of variety here, but I thank God for Tiga about many things regardless. I'm kinda’ surprised this playlist’s as long as it is too – felt like I got through barely anything this past month, but at least this bulk of alphabetical backlog is finally caught up with. Finally get to move onto a brand new letter, with fresh genres and fresh labels! …including two more Psychonavigation CDs, and a Carpe Sonum CD within the first week.

*sigh* Y’know, I think I'm actually starting to look forward to that eventual review of Live's Throwing Copper.

ACE TRACKS: October 2012

Hey hey! Another milestone reached! Or achievement accomplished. Or task completed. Or obsession sated. Whatever the case, this marks the end of all these backtrack ACE TRACKS playlists. I mean, wow, October 2012. Such a long time ago now, isn’t it. I still feel like I only recently started doing this, yet here we are, nearing the end of Obama’s second term as President of Everything Forever – when I was writing these reviews, there was still some actual debate over Romney’s chances!

I had no idea whether this endeavor would sustain itself either, a lot of those October writings rather shaky to my eyes. Nor did I have any clue if I’d get any sort of significant audience for my musings, especially when I was so freely drifting away from what most would consider an electronic music blog right out the gate. I was mostly making up my format as I went along, and didn’t really find my groove until late in the month. I honestly feel the Asian Dub Foundation review marked my proper starting point, if nothing else because it’s always easier to rip into music than just discuss it. Or more fun to write and read, anyway.


Full track list here.

MISSING ALBUMS:
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Beat The Devil’s Tattoo
Octagen - Collected Works Vol. 2
Globular - Colours of The Brainform
Frankie Bones - Computer Controlled 2: Live In California

Percentage Of Hip-Hop: 11%
Percentage Of Rock: 6%
Most “WTF?” Track: Nine Inch Nails - Closer To God (not that it’s shocking by any stretch, but it’s definitely abrasive compared to the rest)

Remember when it seemed like Bone Thugs-N-Harmony was a rap obsession of mine? Eh, probably not, since I’ve no idea how many readers here were even around for those early days of this blog. How about when I’d go from reputable electro to cheesy euro dance to prog rock and with a dash of house thrown in? Geez, was that first month ever all over the place. Still, with how settled a lot of my music purchases have turned these last few months, I kinda’ miss that spontaneity, that unpredictability of just what I might review next (trance? Ambient? Pants?). Maybe it’s time for another used shop haul…

ACE TRACKS: January 2016

*sniff, sniff* What’s this I smell in the air? Is that… free CDs? Why, some friends are moving soon, and are looking to offload a little excess packaging. Most definitely I’ll be willing to take some of them for you, give them a new, comforting home. How many do you have? Thirty, eh? Mostly alternative rock… some old and new folk stuff… a little soundtrack fodder… ooh, a few key albums that I really should have in my collection. Yeah, sure, I’ll take the lot. I’m already plenty encroached within my apartment, what’s another mini-pile of discs at this point? I feel like I’m forgetting something here though, something that’ll impact my routine in the near future. Wait a second… oh, oh no! Dear God, why do I keep doing this to myself!?

Anyhow, here’s the ACE TRACKS playlist for January 2016.


Full track list here.

MISSING ALBUMS:
AuroraX - Evolutionary Journey
Dr. Octagon - Dr. Octagonecologyst
Various - Fall
ASC - Fervent Dream
Dao Da Noize - Kalam
Banco de Gaia - Last Train To Lhasa (20th Anniversary Edition)

Percentage Of Hip-Hop: 5%
Percentage of Rock: 0%
Most “WTF?” Track: Anything Dr. Octagon. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll hurl.

Way heavy on the ambient, atmospheric, and chill music, this one. And what does come with a beat is almost exclusively the domain of the psy scene. There’s a few sidetracks along the way – Perturbator, Dr. Octagon, Liquid Stranger kinda’ – but all these label splurges has left me a playlist of primarily similar-sounding tunes. Thank goodness for Psychonavigation Records’ freewheeling genre hopping, eh?

As such, this may just be the most cohesive sounding ‘alphabetical arrangement’ playlist I’ve done thus far. Or the most boring, if you crave dynamic mixtapes.

ACE TRACKS: November 2012

We’re nearly at the end of these back-tracking ACE TRACKS Playlists. It’s weird realizing that the music I was playing and reviews I was writing was done over three years ago now, enough time that I’m actually having faded recollection of the month. Like, as though it was a distant part of my past, not unlike my TranceCritic writing days. The music I was covering seems so innocent too, still going through my old collection of trusty favorites and stand-bys, having no clue of the splurging I’d undertake that’d bloat out my library to the four digit realm. About a dozen CDs have since been added within this block alone, and that’s just narrowly missing out that Pete Namlook tribute box set. Back then I had no idea labels like Silent Season, Altar, or Psychonavigation even existed! That November also marked the point I realized I could keep writing at a near-daily clip, though with a signficant chunk being some of my all-time favorite albums, it’s not surprising I was feeling the mojo then. It’s also a big ol’ ACE TRACKS Playlist, so let’s get to ‘er.


Full track list here.

MISSING ALBUMS:
Pete Namlook - The Definitive Ambient Collection: Volume 2
Deep Forest - Deep Forest
Dillinja - Cybotron
Djen Ajakan Shean - Crows Heading For Point Break
Roc Raida - Crossfaderz: A Turntablist’s Throwdown!!
Quadrophonia - Cozmic Jam

Percentage Of Hip-Hop: 12%
Percentage Of Rock: 19%
Most “WTF?” Track: Fear Factory - Pisschrist (that title, tho’!)

Full albums from Future Sound Of London, Pink Floyd, and Spicelab are a must. A bunch of Fear Factory, a pile of progressive trance, a little techno, psy, and world beat thrown in for good measure. Oh, and that last little bit of Bone Thugs working its way in too. Man, did I ever look like the Bone Thugs fanboy in those early months. Little did anyone know my hip-hop allegiance lay with the Wu-Tang Clan (plus whatever Del was up to). All in all, this is a fun, varied month’s worth of music, another reason why I likely sped through those CDs so fast. Couldn’t wait to hear the next one again!

ACE TRACKS: December 2015

Holy cow! That’s the letter ‘S’ now done. Over. Finished. I first started on this chunk of my music collection all the way back in May! True, there was a couple weeks of downtime in that period, plus nearly three weeks worth of alphabetical backtrack at the midway point, but damn, I never would have predicted taking to the very end of 2015 to get through it all. And it felt I was brute-forcing my way just to do it too. Know what’s even more insane though? No, not the backtrack queue that’s developed since the last one, though fair warning we’re looking at a month-plus before getting through all that. ‘T’ is almost as big a beast as ‘S’, only about thirty albums less. So, though I doubt I’ll still be plowing through that letter come summer, get ready for another long letter haul in this New Year. Meanwhile, here’s the Ace Tracks that took us to the end of ‘S’ this past month of December.


Full track list here.

MISSING ALBUMS:
Koichi Sugiyama - Symphonic Suite “Dragon Quest” Complete CD-Box
Koichi Sugiyama - Symphonic Suite “Dragon Quest VIII”
Kon Kan - Syntonic
A Positive Life - Synaesthetic
Various - DJ-Kicks: Claude Young

Percentage Of Hip-Hop: 7%
Percentage Of Rock: 0%
Most “WTF?” Track: Nothing comes to mind. Yes, not even the Aphex Twin tracks.

Oh, hey, none of those symphonic suites are on Spotify, what a surprise. Maybe on the Japanese version of the streaming service they are? Not that many folks reading this blog will likely care, but hey, thanks for letting me get my gaming dork indulgence on for a week there. If you must hear this music (!!), I did make a continuous mix of several pieces from these assorted CDs. It’s out there, on the internet, somewhere. Exciting.

What you get with this playlist, however, is a lot of techno. Like, I’m actually shocked by how much techno there is. Aphex Twin obviously, but even names you’d never expect get in on that action too. I guess it’s only fitting that after a month of the smallest percentage of electronic music reviews, the subsequent playlist would have the heaviest amount of traditional stuff.

ACE TRACKS: December 2012

Fair warning: for the next week, I’m embarking on a quest. One where I know few, if any of you, are willing to endure with me. This was a long time coming, a project that started out even before my days at TranceCritic, though never saw completion. In fact, it was a trial run of sorts, getting the handle on writing music reviews on the internet, though in this case for an already accepting audience. It is also, by far, the geekiest thing I will write about, as this upcoming 7-disc box set is, by far, the geekiest thing I have in my music collection. With barely a smidge of electronic music within, I don’t blame you if y’all check out after the first review. And fair enough if so – have a holiday from this blog, return after Boxing Day. However, if by chance you area fan of this gaming series (!!), then think of the coming week as a big ol’ holiday present.

Okay, enough of that. Let’s get to some ACE TRACKS of three got’dang years past. Holy cow, there was still only one Hobbit movie when I was listening to these!


Full track list here.

MISSING ALBUMS:
Various - Disco Dub House: Mixed By Carl Michaels
Various - Dimensions In Ambience 2
Technical Itch - Diagnostics
BKS - Dreamcatcher
Ornament - Bleu
Felix Da Housecat - Devin Dazzle & The Neon Fever


Percentage of Hip-Hop: 14%
Percentage Of Rock: 29% (if you want to include The Downward Spiral as rock)
Most “WTF?” Track: Charles Manier - Bang Bang Lover (Dance Mix) (what the Hell is he saying!??)

Bloody stupid album version of Absolutely Fabulous cutting off at the peak of the track. Seriously, who does that? So stupid, and I’m so sorry y’all must suffer hearing it that way too, no full version available on Spotify. Also, way too many cool albums missing as well, but so it goes with the older stuff.

What we do get for Decemeber 2012 is a lot of ambient dub (shock!), a little tech-house smash, a filling of ‘electronica’ mint (Underworld! Daft Punk!), a dash of dream trance cheese, and bunch of Snoop Dogg with Trent Reznor at the end. Straight forward enough, with a few fun sequences thrown in there. *whew* Almost finished the ACE TRACKS backlog too. Savor these times, friends.

ACE TRACKS: November 2015

Well, that was a fun little trip through music seldom covered here. It was fun, wasn’t it? Well, whatever the case, you are rest assured I won’t be doing something like that again, at least as my music collection currently stands. Oh, there will definitely still be the odd quirky, week-long venture into the unexpected, but nothing that entails so much country and rock ‘best of’ CDs. Who even buys such things anymore? It’s all about the online stream, mass torrent dump, or collector’s box sets these days. Anyhow, since I’ve done a technical alphabetical backtrack in my reviewing queue, I’ll be going through another little string of releases before resuming my endless sojourn through ‘S’. Nothing much, just a few DJ-Kicks mixes I picked up on the cheap. The rest of my backlog will have to wait for after revisiting System 7’s debut, which should come around before the year’s out. I hope.

Until then, here’s the ACE TRACKS I’ve enjoyed this past November.



Full track list here.

MISSING ALBUMS:
David Bickley - Still Rivers At Night
Purl - Stillpoint
Jesper Dahlbäck - Stockholm Mix Sessions & 2

Percentage Of Hip-Hop: 0%
Percentage Of Rock (and country): 23%
Most “WTF?” Track: Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show - Freakin’ At The Freaker’s Ball (should be an anthem at every fet-life event)

Reviewing so much different non-electronic music probably doesn’t do any favors for a blog called Electronic Music Critic. On the other hand, it does make putting these playlists together more fun, finding out what unexpected music makes for remarkable bedfellows. Why obviously moody drone ambient must follow (Don’t Fear) The Reaper!

A shame some of the more obscure ambient didn’t make the Spotify cut, but there’s a decent enough assortment of tunes throughout this to keep one engaged, plus a big ol' chunk of ambient at the end. You can’t beat a combination of Faithless, M.I.K.E., Sub Focus, and Loverboy for your instant earworm love. And hey, a little dub techno thrown in don’t hurt either, eh?

ACE TRACKS: January 2013

The time: a long ago past, in the previous decade of our 21st Century. The item: a grocery store displayer showcasing a pile of ‘greatest hits’ CDs from a remarkable assortment of artists I knew of but almost certainly would never buy. Names like George Jones, Roy Orbison, Kris Kristofferson, Quiet Riot, Joe Cocker, and Bangles. There were a few acts that did interest me though, and at a crisp $5 a pop for ten songs, saw no harm in indulging some. These were part of a Sony Music series called Collections.

What I hadn’t realized was they were re-issued Columbia discs, originally titled Super Hits. Windows Media Player knew though, ripping them to my harddrive as such. I never got around to adjusting them until now, and a good thing too. If they’d been in their correct alphabetical order, I’d be committed to reviewing a week’s worth of non-electronic music in that first month of this blog’s rebirth, undoubtedly chasing away those dozen or so stray eyes that had wandered here. Now, three years on, such occasional genre dalliances on my part is expected, so no harm in talking about these Collections CDs. Which acts did I buy? Stay tuned, folks!

Okay, that out of the way, here’s some of the best music I reviewed way back in January 2013.


Full track list here.

MISSING ALBUMS:
Various - Elemental Chill Vol. 2: Earth
Various - Elemental Chill Vol. 4: Water
N-Trance - Electronic Pleasure
Various - The Electro Compendium
Various - Earth Dance
Laurent Garnier - Early Works

Percentage Of Hip-Hop: 3% (that’s only including tracks with actual rapping in it tho’)
Percentage Of Rock: 3%
Most “WTF?” Track: The Sonic Voyagers - Endless Missions, Pt. 2 (what are those cut up voices saying?)

Oh god, thank my stars that The Electro Compendium isn’t on Spotify. I don’t think anyone could handle a playlist with that much electro. Bummed about the lack of Laurent though, all those tasty early techno, acid, and trance singles out of reach. Well, if you just really on this player for your music options anyway. Also, what’s up with so much ‘90s euro dance being rare on these streaming services? I see ample amounts of karaoke options, but none of the originals. For a genre that did big business back in the day, you’d think some label would scoop of the rights to all those hits.

Not much else to say about this playlist. With a significant chunk of January missing, it’s made for a relatively short outing. I guess music along the lines of DJ Shadow’s downbeat hip-hop has the most presence, but generally it’s a varied collection of music folks should come expect of these things by now: trance, house, ambient, acid, and gypsy music.

ACE TRACKS: October 2015

An extra hour of sleep this past night? Pft, I totally wasted that the night before, where I slept for about eleven hours. I didn’t think I was that tired, but then again, I have noticed the fatiguing signs. The shorter daylight hours, leading me to rely more on ultra-caffeine to plow through, leading to nights with less deep sleep, and the cycle continues. I don’t recall having these problems before. Was it because I was a steady Rock Star drinker for twelve years? I had to quit those suckers earlier this year because of compounding chest pains. Heck, I ‘relapsed’ this past month to get through those rough mornings, and started feeling those pains again. Why? Why must this aging process limit societal crutches? Dear Lord, don’t let the same thing happen to music! Maybe I needed happier music this past October, but there be Beach Boys in th’ar. Here, take a listen.


Full track list here.

MISSING ALBUMS:
Sven Väth ‎– In The Mix: The Sound Of The Ninth Season
Various - The Sound Of Zero and One
Olien - Sounded Paratronic
Overdream - Soundprints
Peter Benisch - Soundtrack Saga
Various - Space Jazz
Der Dritte Raum - Spaceglider
Distant System - Spiral Empire
Jerry Goldsmith - Star Trek: The Motion Picture
James Horner - Star Trek: The Search For Spock

Percentage of Hip-Hop: 8%
Percentage Of Rock: 35% (it’s all Beach Boys)
Most “WTF?” Track: Horsemilk - They Milk Horses Don’t They? (that title alone …oh yeah, and Olien)

Ugh, so much great music, so much not on Spotify. I mean, this past month had me going through a number of albums I’ve endlessly namedropped over the years, and I can’t even share audio clips of them now. Well, unless y’all followed my advice and already copped yourselves some Benisch, Olien, and D. System.

That still leaves a bunch of cool music from other though: Thievery Corporation, AstroPilot, OutKast, and the aforementioned Beach Boys. If you’re feeling the SADS, maybe they’ll help add a little sunshine in your day. Yeah, that’s dorky, but so were they, so win-win, I say.

ACE TRACKS: February 2013

And I’m finally done getting through albums starting with some form of “sound” at the start of its title. Who’d have thought so many musicians would associated their music with sounds, eh? And yet, even after going through a dozen of them, that’s still but a blip in the behemoth that is all of ‘S’ – we’re a long ways before getting out of this letter, my friends.

Speaking of lengthy runs of letters, anyone remember ‘E’? Man, that was a beast too, eating up nearly two month’s worth of reviews way back when. I also feel February 2013 was something of a turning point for this blog. It marked the half-year point, plus the 100th review too (what am I at now, 750?), convincing myself I could keep going at the clip I was without serious fatigue or disinterest creeping in. More importantly though, it got a lot of big albums from Very Important Artists into the archives, including BT, Prodigy, Underworld, Moby, and Madonna. Also, remarkably, this month was the first point of entry for two names that would come to fill many a month with their releases: Neil Young and Wu-Tang Clan. Wouldn’t surprise me if folks thought I got all my rock and hip-hop fixes from Pink Floyd and Bone Thugs-N-Harmony prior to that.


Full track list here.

MISSING ALBUMS:
Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere
Various - Evolution Of New Sounds
Various - Euro Dance Pool, Volume 1
Various - Euro Dance Pool, Volume 2
BT - ECSM
Erol Alkan - One Louder

Percentage Of Hip-Hop: 33%
Percentage Of Rock: 5%
Most “WTF?” Track: Busta Rhymes featuring Mystikal - Iz They Wildin Wit Us & Getting Rowdy Wit Us (because like Hell you’ll keep up with the words they spittin’)

BT’s ECSM is not on Spotify. How is BT’s ECSM not on Spotify? Every other BT album is on Spotify. Okay, neither is that drone ambient neo-classical album Nuovo Morceau Subrosa, but that always struck me as a pure pet project, not intended for major commercial release. Then again, neither is This Binary Universe, another arty album but far better regarded than nearly anything Mr. Transeau’s done in fifteen years. So his super-serious music doesn’t get on Spotify, is that it? Still doesn’t explain ECSM’s absence though. Get with the program, Perfecto!

Not much else to say about this Playlist. As the opening number of tracks indicate, it’s a very ‘90s assortment of tunes, but then the ‘90s has an embarrassment of riches when it comes to electronic music. Yes, including the overplayed tunes that you just can’t get out of your head, even while transcending to outta’ space. (can you find another place?)