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Listen here
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2021-12-28 => 2021-12-31
My biggest TOTY struggle was fought between the next two tracks.
Maywave - Legend is what you want a Trance track to be. It's build-up doesn't quite lead to what you would expect but once the breakdown harmonies kick in, this track goes up a few tiers. Pure, ungeneric, just genuine emotional melodies and layering: goosebumps are guaranteed here and it got THIS close to winning it for me this year... But in the end I had to make a choice... And that choice went to Highlandr's I Want You masterpiece. There was that night I went on a walk for ASOT's second hour when it was premiered in the guestmix. Armin had a strong first hour and the second hour was just incredible... I walked through a pretty bushy area with lots of trees as well. I recall sending a clip to my music friends as I was in total awe of that 2nd hour... And then this track came on... It was magical. It was, curiously, also the last true moment of... "wonder" or peace I recall experiencing because just a couple of weeks later my life went to heck and for months it was just stress, fear, suffering, loneliness etc. etc. I Want You is a beautiful progressive track but there is something about its main lead, as if it's suffering. It reminds me of Rank 1 - Opus 17's main synth in a way, that lead to almost "cries out" in its melody. It struck a chord with me. And ever since I got back on my feet I've felt like that lead was a premonition to what happened. I can't detach this track from my year. It IS my year. And as such Factor B presents Highlandr - I Want You is my Tune Of The Year 2021.
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Razormane Top 2021
ALI feat. AKLO - Lost In Paradise
Marcu Rares - Minute (Original Mix)
Ambassadeurs - Nocturnes (Original Mix)
16BL - Wounds (Original Mix)
Michael Cassette - Shadow's Movement (16BL's Extended Universal Disco Mix)
Roger Shah presents Jukebox '80s - A Spaceship Landing On A Magic Island (Original Mix)
Gianmarco Fabretti - Metroid (Original Mix)
Sunlounger - Hello Sunrise (Club Mix)
Scorz - That's Life (Original Mix)
Ferry Corsten & Ruben De Ronde - Bloodstream (Extended Mix)
York feat. Au;Ra - Golden Hour (Extended Mix)
Mauro Picotto + Ayko - Elisir Of Love (Extended Mix)
Armin van Buuren & Maor Levi - Divino (Extended Mix)
Armin van Buuren feat. SKOLES - Goodbye (Extended Mix)
Orkidea - The Evergreen (Extended Mix)
DT8 Project - Hold Me Till The End (Ferry Corsten Extended Remix)
Darren Tate - Grains (Original Mix)
Leon Bolier & AIKA - Northern Moon (Extended Mix)
Maywave - Legend (Original Mix)
TUNE OF THE YEAR 2021: Factor B presents Highlandr - I Want You (12'' Extended Mix)
GRUENHEIDE - Church Of Arpzilla pt. 1 (Extended Mix)
Marco V presents Vision 20/20 - HO/PE (Extended Mix)
Marco V presents Vision 20/20 - HU/NT (Extended Mix)
Jam El Mar - The Orange Flight (Original Mix)
Fergie - Alpha Centauri (Extended Mix)
Danny Avila - The Captain (Extended Mix)
Morbeck - Jim Carrey & The Universe
Armin van Buuren & Rank 1 - The Greater Light To Rule The Night (Extended Mix)
Key4050 - Just A Dream (Original Mix)
Craig Connelly - Don't Panic (Extended Mix)
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Honorable Mentions 2021
Armin van Buuren & AVIRA - Sirius (Extended Mix)
Armin van Buuren & Jorn van Deyenhoven - Lost In Space (Extended Mix)
Armin van Buuren & Push - In The Dark You Shine (Extended Mix)
Beatsole vs. Stefkoo & CEA - 2008 (Extended Mix)
Ferry Corsten - Lemme Take You (Extended Mix)
Grum - Running (Extended Club Mix)
Marco V presents Vision 20/20 - WA/VE (Extended Mix)
Marco V presents Vision 20/20 - PU/RE (Extended Mix)
Gundamea - The Upside Down (Extended Club Mix)
Leon Bolier & Estuera - Somnium (Extended Mix)
Protoculture - Deep Forest (Extended Mix)
Roger-M - Lost My Way (Jonas Steur InstruDub)
Roger Shah presents Jukebox '80s - Nightride (Original Mix)
Stoneface & Terminal - Moonscape (Extended Mix)
We Are Loud - Collide (Extended Mix)
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Mix Of The Year
Sequencer - The Muse | V | Chillwave Mix
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Game Of The Year
Metroid Dread (what else, really?)
17 years. Bloody hell. It took 17 years. But it happened. Metroid is real. The story continues. I had intended to write a full-length review for the game but I underestimated how exhausted I was after half a year of total chaos and despair at times so I never got round to it. So let me get into it right here instead.
Metroid Dread is by no means the greatest Metroidvania or even Metroid title out there, I won't let the nostalgia and love for the franchise blind me to that. HOWEVER. I have never played a Metroid game before that one the one hand butchered me mercilessly throughout the course of my first 19-hour run and yet at the same time made me feel so Godly Badass to play as Samus as Dread has done. Flash Shift is so friggin amazing!! It makes battles breath-taking encounters!
Unlike certain nagging little crybaby game developers that have become a meme in this fanbase, I feel Dread is Just. Strict but Just. I never lost in this game because Dread was unfair. I lost because I was being lazy and trying to make it through with minimal effort. I got lost because I wasn't paying attention. Every mistake I made in Dread turned out to be MY fault, not the game's. Because everytime I DID pay attention, everytime I DID memorize a Boss' attack pattern, everytime I DID execute a counter attack properly, everytime I DID time my shinespark in the right way to reach a power-up, I prevailed. Each and every time. Nearly every boss had their fun with me until I improved through trial and error, resulting in me winning in the end. Sometimes through the skin of my teeth, sometimes in convincing fashion (especially during my second playthrough on Hard Mode). And that's how the game kept me coming back for more.
I've never felt such joy and freedom after obtaining the Morph Ball (which took insanely long in this game!) to go do some good old fashioned backtracking. Story and gameplay elements made this game a very strange experience in that I was at once playing a brand new Metroid whilst also playing (elements of) Zero Mission, Samus Returns, Super Metroid and Metroid Fusion all at the same time. Halfway throughout the game I had this especially, where the game changed into familiar territory whilst still being this brand new Dread, and not some remake of a past title. No other Metroid has ever achieved that sort of mindf*ck for me before. I was in my past and the present at the same time. It was bizarre... But it was also THRILLING. It felt SO good. Metroid Fusion and Zero Mission ruled my summers of 2003 and 2004. My sister and I (re)played those games to death. We acquired every power-up, completed both games several times and in all available modes. Those were the simple days man!! And for about a month, Dread let me drink from that Fountain Of Youth again, I could switch of and be completely absorbed into ZDR.
And the E.M.M.I.... Well... I am not sure that having discovered this year that I suffer from Hypertension (thanks for the genes Mom! :D) that those E.M.M.I. segments were good for my health. Heck, even on my second playthrough that Yellow bastardu sent my bloodpressure to heights it shouldn't be! But the E.M.M.I. ended living up to the game's title. They instilled Dread. I couldn't catch a break at times but even they were overcome. Dread knows when you've earned your dopamine reward and it injects it with quite the dose hehe.
This game was a delight. An absolute delight. Time and Time alone will prove whether Dread will live up to its initial hype or not but for me it was an experience I relished. I am very curious how a replay of the game a year or so from now will feel. Samus Returns has been a joy to return to each and every time, I can only hope it will be the same for Dread. And Samus... Samus has been a favorite character of mine for quite some time now but I think Dread managed to propel her even further among the list. In the Nintendo-verse not one single character holds a candle to Space Bae any longer as far as I'm concerned. But even beyond Nintendo, Samus now reigns as one of my favorite character of all time. Such a tragic character but my word, these levels of badassery should be forbidden. It was nothing but an honor to control the finest Bounty Hunter ever.
Space Bae saved the universe once more, as well as 2021. Welcome back, Samus. <3
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(Classic) Non-Trance Jams Of The Year
London Symphony Orchestra - The Final Countdown
Alizee - La Isla Bonita
RAH Band - Clouds Across The Moon
Valensia - Gaia
ABBA - Money, Money, Money
OMC - How Bizarre
Stan Ridgway - Calling Out To Carol
Alizee - J'en Ai Marre
Max Graham vs. Yes - Owner Of A Lonely Heart
Beckie Bell - Steppin' Out Tonight (Original Extended Version 1991)
Ginuwine - Pony
Michael McDonald - Sweet Freedom
Sister Sledge - All American Girls (12'' Version)
Earth, Wind and Fire - Let's Groove
Frankie Goes To Hollywood - Relax (7'' Mix)
TOTO - Hold The Line
Jonas Brother - Only Human
Dua Lipa feat. DaBaby - Levitating
Santana feat. Michelle Branch - The Game Of Love
Wham! - Everything She Wants
Simply Red - It's Only Love
Coldplay - Higher Power
Opus - Live Is Life
E-Type - Campione 2000 (Radio Version)
Ryan Paris - Dolce Vita (Extended Version)
A little bit of recognition for the non-Trance music jams (...eeeh with the exception of Campione) that played their part in keeping me sane throughout May. I knew some of these from way back, some were brand new to me but each and every one of them served as a great background tune while I was in my drawing-frenzy.
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To conclude...
2021 is the year that pushed me beyond my mental limits and things could have gotten a lot uglier than they did in the end. Regardless, I still stand. I am getting serious therapy this time around and unlike the previous shrink, my current therapist doesn't belittle my problems nor my feelings, which is also a BIG first for me in regards to a lot of things since plenty of people over the years have had that tendency, regardless whether that was their intention or not. I feel heard for once and together we are working on rewiring this damaged mind and hurt soul.
Curiously, it's the worst years that for some reason tend to have the very best music for me (with the exception of 2014... But let's blame that on the Trouse-infection of Trance at the time). And 2021, for all its darkness and negativity has to be one of the best years in music for me since the Golden Age of 2005-2008. I know I know, I've said that before. 2016, 2018 and 2019 were remarkably good years of music in which I got blessed with some incredible tracks but 2021 manages to sneak a tier beyond their amazing levels. I guess nostalgia is doing its thing again. Also, for the first time since 2010 I've followed ASOT on foot again. Nearly every Thursday night this year I tuned in whilst chatting and laughing it up with the guys, just like the good old more simple days of my adolescence. Not just that, for some reason, this year pretty much all my heroes from those glorious 2005-2008 days decided to either collaborate or at least release one or two badass tracks. Heck, Armin went on and produced some super-addicting collabs with some of his gifted peers. One thing I particularly like about this Top 30 is that it's by far the most Trance-based one in well over a decade!! That should be trivial because good music = good music regardless of genre or nametag but for me it shows that this crapdemic also has a positive side-effect. With barely any festivals throughout the year, producers actually bother to tell stories again in their melodies, their arrangements, their overall compositions. And it shows. Sure, this list hardly contains any groundbreaking achievements but the melodies and structures are SO damn well executed, enjoyable and memorable. It warms my heart to see my favorite genre shine with such beauty and confidence. Make no mistake, Trance music is the best non-human friend you'll ever have. It is the case for me! :D And we all want our dearest friends to be in good health, don't we?
What a year it's been... When you are being ripped out of your old personal life and gradually inserted into something new, it's nice to have things like this incomparable music to fall back on. That, alongside the unprecedented release of Metroid Dread, me finding my own place to live and call home and the endless support of my close ones have ensured that the depths of 2021 were not the end of me. If anything, 2021 might turn out to be a new beginning instead. It's true what they say, things can't possibly get worse than rock-bottom and in general the first two years after "crisis years" have always tended to be pretty enjoyable ones. For once however, I will aim to extended that run beyond just two. It's BLOODY hard and scary even yes, but it's also possible. For the first time ever, I actually believe that it is possible. Heh.
Alright, time to wrap this up. I am going to raise a glass. And I am going to wish myself that Golden Hour, I've bloody earned it. As for all of you, stay safe folks. And a Better New Year to all of us.
- Papa Razor
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