Release Date: 1 December 2023
Song Count: 13
Rating: 7.1/10
Description:
Staying firmly on the electronic music lane, today we have artist j1nabae's second album released slightly more than two years ago. CORRUPTED ANGEL FILES is a true encapsulation of what a lot of modern energetic rave and electronic music sounds like and presents itself as, with its art, branding and style generally taking on a very firmly "digital" and "online" sound and aesthetic - something the German music producer has shaped their discography around, being a member of a collective of artists who also create ambient drum & bass and jungle music, and in general fully leaning into what has become almost a stereotype in the extreme electronic music scene of "hard-hitting electronic beats with cover arts in an anime-like style".
The rhythms found within the tracks are punchy and effective, and are accompanied by layers of sampling and melodies made out of short snippets of many sorts of electronic sounds. Going in a similar direction to other artists either within or adjacent to the scene such as Skizmo and Golemm (whom I've reviewed on here before, and who is actually featured in one of the tracks in this album, "Move Ya Feet!"), the record finds itself taking heavy inspiration from its surroundings within the vast, floaty space of music to take all of these moving parts together and create a set of catchy and fun beats. Considering some of the tracks were made with collaboration from multiple more well-known names in the scene such as the aforementioned Golemm as well as the likes of strxwberrymilk, this should come as no surprise.
Though this does hit within my personal taste in less conventional electronic music and has multiple songs that try to reinvent the wheel by incorporating e.g. different styles of electronic music subtly into their rhythms, I didn't find myself super particularly impressed with this musical output overall, mainly because a lot of the tracks that don't outright have a different beat behind them don't have nearly enough in general about them that necessarily keeps much interest aflame. A good album overall, but certainly nothing I haven't heard before.