He's done it. Going back to heavier percussion and commiting to dissonance has made this a truly subversive slushwave album and is Desert Sand's best album in a long while. The opening track, Bluebells, now holds the title of his most ambitious track. It's a 40 minute odyssey that could be an album all on its own. It's full of beautiful harmonization, dark ambient and crystal synths. It's such a treat to get the pre-slush version of that track with a bandcamp purchase. ... read more

I love short albums RAHHHHH!!!
It's pretty much fun incarnate. It's such a wonderful mix of ideas and production styles. The retro digital effects that were in some track brought those track's feeling way higher. I know what you are Pharrell Williams. Some of these are gonna be my favourites of the year.
This ain't no glass house.

Fav track: Ring Ring Ring

This is another release that I found while out one day going to different shops. The cover art caught my attention so I gave it a go, for 2 dollars I can't refuse. This is a great little Canadian disco album. The first and last track are definitely the strongest. The subtle vocals are like butter and the panned guitars are really satisfying and keep you on your toes with their progression.
Vive le Canada!

Fav track: Morricone (A Man And His Harmonica) (Once Upon A Time In The West)

A banger retro soundtrack that has had its catalogue of songs grow with each re-release. It's Sega Genesis funk with Arcade polish.

Fav track: Driver's MegaMix Vol.1

Smooth as silk and ahead of its time synths.

Fav track: こぬか雨

A dark and noisy telling of a home invasion and revenge. A well produced dark ambient EP with clear progression. The synth in the opener feels like an extended grungy version of the Earthbound UFO town screen. I can only assume that the calm ambient reprieve at the end of the 5th track is when the revenge is complete, relief but uncertainty going into the final track.
The only problem I have with this album is that I don't see the tracks staying fresh in my mind for long.

From what I've listened to from the first disk + Une vie à t'aimer, I have to say I'm sufficiently underwhelmed. I'm not going to rate this because I haven't heard all of it and I'm not really interested in listening to all of it due to its length, but I'm super open to specific song recommendations from this to see the best it can offer.
Une vie à t'aimer is the most played song other than Lumière and I feel like its production is ... read more

Aw man, such amazing highs! When 3 and 4 are out together they're definitely the best music in the game. Chapter 3 on its own doesn't have nearly as many highs as chapter 2, but Black Knife is probably the best boss theme in the game so far. I love the subtle choir behind the entire track.
Chapter 4 is majestic. It's just kept getting better and better. When The Second Sanctuary came on I was really taken aback. That's probably my new favourite area theme. All of the ambient ... read more

I don't think it could possibly get any better than this.
I've been in love with this song ever since I heard it. It holds the sound of completely unadulterated freedom.

Nubby I need you to eat the lentil. You have to trust me, it'll be worth it. We'll get a pregnancy test, you have to believe me. I know we have a mushroom right now, but you have to trust the process. I have a feeling that we're going to get a good item. Please, we have one life left, PLEASE!

Dude, are you serious...? I spend literal years listening to singles, seeing steady improvement and this is where it all ends?
It's full of poor mixing, feels cobbled together. I guess the one good thing about it is that it was great foreshadowing, huh?

THE dark ambient collection of all time. Some tracks are the most eloquent ambient melodies ever and other tracks are just miserable and I wouldn't have it any other way. To Burble & Pine might be one of the greatest ambient pieces ever composed. I received a reply to a YouTube comment I made from the man himself. It was as vague as you'd expect from the mind who made this. I still think about that from time to time.

You can feel just how much came from this, from so many others. The Love theme in particular got me really good. The breaths you can barely hear in between the notes made it feel so personal.

First review in a while and it's for a Kirby soundtrack. I've been listening to this soundtrack a lot while I work my job so I've had a lot of time to absorb and think about it. This is probably the most unique sounding Kirby soundtrack, like a sort of chip-tune fusion. This soundtrack's mixing is nuanced with it's use of bass. If you're listening with YouTube quality or lossy quality in general it sounds "off", like something is missing. When it's ... read more

I need more Pop with these kinds of instrumentals, ugh

How do you even begin with a game like this?... Shogo Sakai is a composer that I hold in very high regard. I love everything he's done. All his work on the Kirby spin-offs, Smash Bros Melee and the Kirby Cafe. He's always felt like Hal Lab's trick up their sleeve. Whenever he comes out to make music for them it's always better than anybody else. I love that he's taken on a successor in Megumi Ohara and her music is damn good too. He's keeping his style of music ... read more

Saw that this was shadow dropped and I knew I had to listen to this immediately! I was so sure that we had seen all that Desert Sand had to offer for this year, one collab album and some physical releases, as well as SLUSHWAVE 2024, but then he goes and drops another collab today and it's really good!
This album had many more new successful ideas when it comes to the sound. There's this moment where the vocals harmonize in a really unique way that I thought completely stood out from ... read more

A chronic case of 7 out of 10
It's good, but I forgot what most of the tracks sounded like as soon as they ended. Butterflies is the exception though. That song was uncharacteristically good compared to the rest of the album. I suggest you just listen to Ooh Rap I Ya instead if you had to choose though.
Pills! PILLS! I need Pillls!!! I need them NOW!! I nEEd AAAAAA

Without a doubt, one of the best YouTuber music projects of all time and it's a Christmas album to boot. Great production and impressive vocals from Schlanta Clause. So many content creators get production so wrong that I'm glad it's great here. This is a wonderful early Christmas gift.
I still wont forget what he did in 1999 though. The fact the he got away with that was crazy.

I love Christmas. I love this show. I don't care, get real.