November 2024 new EDM

November NEW EDM: Skrillex, Jai Wolf, Disclosure, and more!

Singles

🗑 TRASH 🗑

🗑 11/29 = beastboi. - ROGUE

MID

11/29 = Loco Dice, Skrillex, Fireboy DML - Heavy Heart
11/29 = K-391, Syn Cole - Fantasia

GREAT

🔥 FIRE 🔥 


Albums/EPs 

10/31 = Flux Pavilion - Fluxiverse Vol. 2
 - Unfortunately reviewing a lot of edm involves listening to a lot of the mid commercial bass house in the scene and here's Flux Pavilion's 6-track EP with these halftime dubstep drops with the most bare progressions and awkward transitions ever. Just bar after bar these progressions and themes are so predictable and uninnovative, and it doesn't help that there's little melodic variety throughout this EP. 
 - "On Repeat" collaboration with Wooli has a very grand drop with really crunchy bass house and vocal and synth leads. That one is the only memorable track, though this track is desperately asking for a midsection. Instead it heads towards these really dense synth stacks that splatter in your face and although it would hit in a festival this track really needs a midsection either after drop 1 or the post drop. Instead it's just repetitive uninteresting vocal filler.
 - Also, "Acid Reflux" is admittedly really catchy especially with the buildup, drop, and octave jumps. There still could be a lot more work within the offdrops and transitions to really guide this melody better. The double/half time finishes in the 2nd drop are really clean and unique, this track was quite solid. "Point Of No Return" was also unique with again those crunchy bass house stabs that kinda get so mundane after listening to so much of the same thing. The vocals from GLNNA who I recognize from Duumu add a lot of flavor to this track, and I really liked the reggae influences and the vocal-led post-breakdowns it's some great melodic work to round out these drops. Really wish this track had a midsection too, it's too abrupt transitioning into that 2nd drop. 
Rating = 5.5/10
Favorite Tracks = "Acid Reflux"

11/1 = OBLVYN - Self Help
 - An 8-track indie-inspired electro house LP from OBVLYN. First things first I love this album aesthetic and just the instrumentation throughout the LP, it's very nostalgic, melodic, and colorful. This album is quite consistent in terms of structure, all of these drops are vocal-led with the same synth pad drop structure and pacing, what makes this album so great is the execution of the drops and the fills between the vocals on the drop, it's kinda like Sabai but with these colorbass influences. 
 - This album could use some more breakdowns, fakeouts, and overall variation to seek it away from the linearity throughout drop structures and buildups. The core progressions and melodies are really solid and honestly very enjoyable in this minimal form, but there is definitely a lot of room for expansion. A collab with another producer like Skybreak, a bass house artist, or a remix album (though im not sure how much interest it will garner as OBLVYN is a smaller artist) could be very interesting, as it's only vocal features on the album. I really liked the color bass stutter step on that 2nd drop of "Save Me", this album needs a lot more of that in terms of breakdowns. All of these 2nd verses is begging for expansion too, whether its backing vocals, ear candy, or just a higher energy in the production.
Rating = 7/10
Favorite Tracks = "Save Me", "Bloom", "Pouring Rain", "Everything", "selfhelp", "Feel Again"

11/1 = Darby - Party EP
 - We have a calm little drum&bass wub-action 4-track EP from Darby. This EP contains a lot of mid, repetitive club targets with mid vocals UNTIL we hit that 4th track "AUTOPILOT" with EMIA which cuaght my attention because I'm a big fan of EMIA's songwriting and vocals, especially her collabs with Duumu. 
 - And so this track "AUTOPILOT" absolutely SHATTERS this EP it's such a remedy of these melodic samples that fly around everywhere and the production and buildup is so clean. The vocals and backing vocals are so beautiful it absolutely blew my expectations out of the water, those verses are so catchy and those adlibs are so great it could even be louder and more on the foreground in my opinion. These drops are just so clean and I just love these progressions and those verses are NOT filler whatsoever it's such a satisfying track with a beautiful vocal performance from EMIA. Wow what an amazing track, I'm considering putting it in the top 10 tracks this year but not sure.
Rating = 6.5/10
Favorite Tracks = "AUTOPILOT"

11/15 = Emei - RABBITHOLE EP
 - After coming off a successful set of tracks in the Scatterbrain LP in 2023, Emei releases this upbeat electropop EP with an assortment of shorter tracks but also hit a lot of variation in genres, tempo, and progressions.
 - I especially love "SUGARCOAT" and that splurge of colorful synths along with the singles "RABBITHOLE" and "ALL THESE KIDS", especially "RABBITHOLE" which is pretty catchy, replayable, and I love the b-sections in the chorus and that outro on tempo change, along with that really subtle slowdown to transition into that 2nd verse that is some brilliant execution. "9 LIVES" and "THE PART" are pretty mid, but there's 3 really solid tracks from Emei as she continues to deliver these different kind of tracks with electronic influences.

11/15 = Jai Wolf - The Red Eye Home
 - We have Jai Wolf big name here coming in with a rather forgettable 10-track LP. Containing a lot of future bass stutter step, a lot of these tracks are just so filler and just go by like that. However there are some interesting cuts like a bright house track in "Tennis Skirt" and some of the vocal-led tracks. I kinda listened to half this album with 1 earbud in so maybe I just need a second listen but either way a lot of this album is kinda like recent San Holo but more linear which is not good, some of the vocals were alright they werent bad to be real.
Rating = 5/10
Favorite Tracks = "Tennis Skirt", "(I Dread The Day He Takes You To) Paris"

11/15 = Vylet Pony - Monarch of Monsters
 - Vylet Pony returns for a 2nd album this year just more than 4 months after releasing Girls Who Are Wizards which I gave a 9/10 tying for 1st place in 2024 albums with very good company in Porter's Smile :D
 - So this album has a lot of potential, but it represents a shift in Vylet Pony's direction into this more vocal-based rock metal sphere. Long story short this album is pretty bad, and theres some super long songs including a 22 minute track that I just had to skip like bro im not listening to a podcast wtf
 - One of the singles, "Pest" was super promising, it's this really emotional 6/8 track with some really sweet transitions and verses and grand finale bringing everything together. Aside from that track this album is pretty bad and hard to listen to more than once.
Rating = 4.5/10
Favorite Tracks = "Pest"


11/27 = Just A Gent - The Answer Is
 - Here is Just A Gent who is like primarily this digitalized future bass glitch hop garage producer and his latest album of 21 tracks: The Answer Is. This album is all over the place sonically. It's just so unpredictable and nothing really clicks together in the end theres not much intention behind these movements which itself are fine especially those future bass syncopation sections but its just so randomly inserted. I also think these tracks could deeply benefit with some vocal chop sections (like in "Changes") or some melodic runs to add some more melody and flavor it just fits in so well and I feel like that's what this album is missing. The mixing is also weird sometimes but that may be on purpose. 
Rating = 5/10
Favorite Tracks = "Invisible", "Senseless", "A World Of My Own"



BONUS ALBUM (from August):

8/15 = Post Malone - F-1 Trillion
 - I've been getting into some mainstream country and country pop lately thanks to the Cheat Codes country album last year that I've been replaying. On the same timing, Post Malone releases an 18-track Country album and this is some great work and this is a huge artist here, I might have to check out the Beyonce album after listening to this maybe.
 - So as someone who doesn't know much of the ins and outs of country and just listens because I like the progressions, guitars, and melodies, here's my perspective on F-1 Trillion. This 18-track album features 15 features which I love, Post Malone really stacks up the features and gets a lot of ppl on that I recognize such as Chris Stapleton, Blake Shelton, Dolly Parton, Tim McGraw, Morgan Wallen. Post Malone has a rather unique smooth voice and it really stands out in these country settings and especially when you duet him with other artists. 
 - This is just some great work with just very elaborate progressions and instrumentations, theres lots of these swings throughout the tracks and different kinds of movements that I really like in country, a lot of the stale country comes from the same formula of instrumentation and structure and lackluster vocals, and Post Malone deliberately strays from these elements. This can be exemplified in "Have The Heart" with Dolly Parton as there's just these big movements that oscillate between instrumentation and those vocals. You can hear that classic steel guitar in all the fills and sweeps too and it's just so good it adds so much flavor to country, and Dolly's entrance on that 2nd verse is SO GREAT it's so fire. Similar thing can be said about the Hank Williams Jr. collab, that 2nd verse entrance is MUSIC TO MY EARS everytime I listen to it!! 
 - There's also noticeably very little space within the instrumentations, theres more sustains and decaying, a lot of other country tracks I listen to like Linsay Eli, Adam Doleac, Mackenzie Porter have more recurring sections and repetition along with more spacey vocals, though it is kind of blurry.
 - Also within these 18 tracks all encompassing one genre it's very easy for all the tracks to sound the same but no, a lot of these songs have separate identites and themes that I can point to. There's faster-paced cuts, more vocal-heavy cuts, and also just lots of different instrumentation throughout the album that adds a lot of variance and contrast. 
Rating = 8/10
Favorite Tracks = "Have The Heart (Feat. Dolly Parton)", "Finer Things (Feat. Hank Williams Jr.)", "Pour Me A Drink (Feat. Blake Shelton)", "Missin' You Like This (Feat. Luke Combs", "Guy For That (Feat. Luke Combs)", "Nosedive (Feat. Lainey Wilson)", "Losers (Feat. Jelly Roll)"


Conclusion

 
We kick off November with already another huge Monstercat release with Crankdat + Juicy J on "Open The Pit" and this track is really fire I love the dense leads and Juicy J's vocal fills. I also love that beat switch on the outro I just like it when artists take risks like that even though it was a very minor and quick beat switch. I also love the music video. This year on Monstercat we've seen Alan Walker, Joe Jonas, Julia Michaels, Steve Aoki, Virtual Riot, Rezz, Crankdat, Juicy J, DIESEL. What a stacked lineup, Monstercat literally stole so many Disciple artists this year and widened their gap for top EDM label. Love to see it.

Then on 11/22 it's worth shouting out Cheat Codes featuring salem ilese on "TYSM" which is a neat catchy electropop track. Solid track that may do well streaming wise and I love the call and response in the chorus. Also we have SLANDER collabing with Fairlane on "Heaven Feels Like" which kinda puts SLANDER on the radar for me cuz its a nice vocal progression with some cool variation through the drops and also just has a really vulnerable focus on the raw melody and vocals, similar to "a better world" and i really love these stylistic choices from SLANDER it's pretty unique.

Outside of that it was a fairly uneventful month in comparisons, and ill talk more about that later. No huge album release from any of the big artists unless u consider that jai wolf one to be huge. Those 2 jeonghyeon singles are ABSOLUTE FIRE like this guy never misses with the future bounce it's just so euphoric and progressive in those drops and I love that fake out. Jeonghyeon really embraced it on "firestarter" its a solid track.


Updated Rankings

No new entries so I'll highlight the updates I make. Now's a good time to mention HOW MANY HORRIBLE TRACKS I HAD TO LISTEN TO THIS MONTH you can notice we set a WORLD RECORD for most "TRASH" category songs with 11 total. Reaching double figures is crazy it's literally on average like 2-4 songs lmao. You can say thanks to those mainstream artists of Timmy Trumpet, Dimitri Vegas, Nicky Romero, David Guetta, Dion Timmer, Major Laser, and even Armin Van Buuren for cooking up the most generic commercial slap house or techno. Wasted so much time listening to those tracks I'm pretty sure I skipped them like 1 minute in for a lot of them lmao.

I said last month I need to wait until putting it above Teminite and after November I've made up my mind I really love the thought of having PIKASONIC's "Factory" as my 2024 song of the year, it will likely stay like that through December. Like I said it's just such a versatile track that executes such a beautiful progression, I really like having this song at the #1 slot.

I also moved Knock2's "feel U luv Me" up just a calm little one slot once again, and it could go up even more but its gonna be hard to beat Zedd and Porter so it might not. Im ngl I got a bit excited and moved it all the way to the #6 spot but I realized that Zedd's "Descensus" is just flatout a better track kinda. I also was tempted to put "Hold My Hand" up there too as that intro and progression and drop and countermelodies are so incredible man that track has really grew on me I just love that intro so much its so vulnerable and it is so representative of electronic music and synthesizers its such a beauty man i love synths so much synths are literally my life.

Top 5 albums as of end of October:
  1. 7/26 = Smile :D - Porter Robinson
  2. 7/11 = Girls Who Are Wizards - Vylet Pony
  3. 8/30 = Telos - Zedd
  4. 10/11 = brat and it's completely different but also still brat - Charli xcx
  5. 10/18 = Stealing Fire - Virtual Riot
And nothing has changed so the updated version is October's version. None of the EP's and LP's released this month comes even close to the top 5 of these past 10 months. You have to cook up some spectacular work at this point which Vylet Pony had a chance to but that album was a mess unfortunately.

Now visualized:



And that caps off our last month before we hit the last month of the year. Imma celebrate early here cuz we really made it we've done 11 posts this year and just one more left. And the last one's boutta be a banger imma put up so many year-end statistics and rankings and everything and its during winter break iMMA LOCK IN FOR THAT YEAR-END POST!!!! LETSGOOOOOOO


Lyric(s) of the Post: 





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