All Things: Bassline

Start: 24th March 2024
Finish: 28th March 2024
Duration of Playlist Set Up: 5 days
Number of Albums: 24
Number of Songs: 332
Length: 21 hours, 33 minutes

Short but fun. I love UK Bass, so I wasn’t surprised that I liked Bassline, too. Such a fun genre with interesting drops and melodies. I particularly enjoyed „Est. 2003“ by DJ Q which also happens to be the #1 Bassline album on RateYourMusic.

All Things: Chopped And Screwed

Start: 18th March 2024
Finish: 24th March 2024
Duration of Playlist Set Up: 7 days
Number of Albums: 100
Number of Songs: 1,479
Length: 112 hours, 4 minutes

Chopped And Screwed is such a weird yet boring genre. I’m not sure if I’ll revisit it. Check out the playlist to get an impression of the genre but don’t expect too many highlights.

All Things: G-Funk

Start: 1st December 2021
Finish: 18th March 2024
Duration of Playlist Set Up: 839 days
Number of Albums: 101
Number of EPs: 22
Number of Songs: 1,630
Length: 107 hours, 8 minutes

G-Funk was probably the most fun genre I have worked on to date. There were so many beloved records that I got to revisit, like Snoop Doog’s „Doggystyle“, which is probably one of my five favourite hip-hop records of all time. But I also discovered a lot of unknown treasures. „Steel On a Mission“ by Lil 1/2 Dead is an album I have fallen in love with over the last week. Not exactly an insider’s tip, but I also adored „Lethal Injection“ by Ice Cube, which I hadn’t given much attention to before.

Side note: I will stop including the top EPs in the upcoming genre playlists. After 40 playlists I realised that it’s just too much work for not much result, as most of the EPs are (unfortunately) not available on Spotify anyway.

All Things: Sunshine Pop

Start: 4th May 2022
Finish: 10th March 2024
Duration of Playlist Set Up: 677 days
Number of Albums: 100
Number of EPs: 24
Number of Songs: 1,584
Length: 75 hours, 1 minute

Sunshine pop or serial killer music as I like to call it. I hate the Beach Boys with a passion. And this kind of music was kind of what I was expecting when I set up the playlist for this genre. But it was so much more than the mindless surfer pop I was expecting. Some of the albums had heavy psychedelic influences which gave them a more complex twist. I was particularly surprised by a band called Thorinshield and their self-titled 1967 album. Given their name, I would have expected some psychedelic or progressive rock. Instead it was happy pop tunes without being too dull. Go check them out!

Records of the Year: 2022

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! The end of the year is coming – and with it music nerds, magazines and blogs alike drop their „Records of the Year“ lists. I personally listened to a lot of new music this year. Inspired by a couple of RateYourMusic users I focussed on new releases and discovered a whole bunch of sub-genres I hadn’t delved into that much before.

I believe my list features a few albums most people would consider for their list of 2022 – but a few hidden gems as well

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Records of the Year: 1986

The next 80s list is ready to be served! 1986 is – as of now – lacking a 5/5 record for me. There are tons of albums that I haven’t rated yet (Bronski Beat, Megadeth, Talk Talk, The Smiths…), so let’s see what the future holds. For this year that has been over for almost 40 years. Anyway..

I personally love the pop phase of Genesis and that’s why you’ll find „Invisible Touch“ at the top of my personal ranking of 1986. Pretty much every single track on this album is a hit. „Land of Confusion“, „Throwing It All Away“, „Tonight, Tonight, Tonight“ – what more is there to say?

„Living With Victoria Grey“ by Cleaners From Venus is a more or less hidden 80s gem. If you dig Jangle Pop, make sure to check that one out.

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Records of the Year: 1981

I have dozens of year lists piling up in my Google sheets folder and it’s time to sort out this mess.

Let’s dive into the 80s and kick it off with the wonderful year of 1981. My top 5 is pretty heavy which was surprising to me because I wouldn’t necessarily consider myself a heavy metal connaisseuse.

You will find „Faith“ by The Cure at the top because it is a masterpiece of an album. And here come the heavy boys. Iron Maiden isn’t even a band a particularly like but „Killers“ is so much fun! I believe even non-metal fans can enjoy this record a lot. Same goes for Black Sabbath and their 10th album „Mob Rules“. Sabbath have their ups and downs throughout their discography but I think 95% of their albums are at least worth listening to.

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