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Never done this before, but I figured it's time for yall to suffer my terrible music opinions.

I say this is a listening log, but it'll mostly be positive opinions. Everything listed in this series will be one of the two things:
* something that I'd rate at least a 3/5, or
* something that I dislike or don't care much for but want to recommend to other people, or want to see explored more.

Don't worry too much about the rating - it's just how much I like it, not an indicator of the objective quality of the music. Plus, I might change them in the future. For the commentary, some will be initial impressions that I expand from my listening notes, and others will come from multiple listens. Most of this is gonna be focused on Bandcamp releases, free downloads from Dizzylab or releases that are available for streaming. For those who don't have access to Youtube, I've noted any non-Touhou music I linked to so you can try finding it on another site. Some of the genre terms might be confusing, comment and I can try give a quick explanation.


It's important to note that my musical interests are different from most Touhou/doujin music fans, so expect releases with styles or aesthetics that are unusual in Touhou music. It's also important to note, however, that not everything on this page will be in that category! Maybe it's just me, but after adding tons of obscure releases on the wiki, there's this pressure to be be interested in everything that's different or "alternative" to the current scene. But, I'm not gonna force myself to listen to genres I dislike just because they're by an obscure artist. It's just not good for my mental health lol. If you're built different and you wanna write about every new or lesser known circle, you can go do that :p


For what it's worth, I tend to like more conceptual, sonically unique, cohesive, and/or "modern"-ish music. This is partly because of zoomer/90后 brain, partly cuz I don't like retro stuff in general, and partly because I dislike the tendency to think of stuff like orchestral music and epic metal as the peak of art. If you don't vibe well with this taste, well, now you know you won't get much out of this list. If that's is the case for you (or you dislike my iconoclastic approach to things), then bust out your favorite online translator and read [https://www.bilibili.com/read/cv17313902 these two] [https://www.bilibili.com/read/cv17358221 lists of] 2021 Touhou music recommendations by 农夫山泉XZ, who is probably China's busiest Touhou music nerd. The writing there are more developed and also cover a wide range of genres.


If you're curious about other music I liked or found interesting from 2021, [https://rateyourmusic.com/collection/Demobanker/strm_relyear/2021 here's an uncommented list]. If I own the release digitally it usually means it was available for free or name your price, not that I like it more than the wishlisted stuff.

----
[[用户Wiki:Demobanker/2020 music recommendations|2020 <--]] | 2021 | [[用户Wiki:Demobanker/2022 music recommendations|--> 2022]]

== The List ==
{{引用曲目列表|
|图片=中
|嵌套=
{{用户:Demobanker/模板/引用音乐相关信息|专辑=[[Wriggle Nightbug's Beetle Collection]]
|短评=
|评论=folktronica, breakbeat

Oh wow, I was suprised when the artist released [[ebisuloops]] during their 2021 release spree, but I didn't expect them to release a huge Touhou album.

As with Second Prayer (see below for my opinions on that album), I appreciate how obscured some of the originals can get. For the first two tracks I couldn't find what it is and assumed that this was an original album with a Touhou themed concept.

There's a lot of variety that you wouldn't expect from the genre tags. Sometimes the music is bright and pastoral and feels like warm sunlight. Other times it's more rhythmic, with multiple layers of instruments that feels disconnected. Sometimes there's processed vocal fragments, and sometimes there's chopped up and glitched acoustic instruments. '''Allomyrina dichotoma''' and '''Chrysochroa fulgidissima''' are dark sounding tracks that has the original tracks come in midway through, not really changed. It feels a bit thrown in, but the end result is surprisingly enjoyable to me. Well, the latter more than the former, anyways. If you like the artist's previous Touhou album [[containmentzone]], '''Harmonia axyridis''' is a good mix between that album's sound and this one's.

In essence, every track on here feels like its own vignette, with some fun rhythms and textures that give the music a surreal edge.

If you enjoyed this, I encourage you to check out their other releases from this year!

5/5
}}
{{用户:Demobanker/模板/引用音乐相关信息|专辑=[[Thalassophobia]]
|短评=
|评论=contemporary classical, solo piano

Atmospheric and impressionistic piano pieces with semi-cryptic arrangements (I thought '''scherzosamente''' was an Infinite Nightmare arrangement at first). Despite the album's title<ref>meaning "fear of the sea"</ref>, it's an overall peaceful album with some cathartic moments.

4.5/5
}}
{{用户:Demobanker/模板/引用音乐相关信息|专辑=[[蓬莱絵 ～ HŌRAI-E Soundscape]]
|短评=
|评论=uhhhh.... IDM<ref>Beat and texture focused electronic music made by producers who think they're too good for clubs. But if you find the most out there 2010s EDM danceable, you can dance to these too. No one uses the full term because it's pretentious.</s></ref>-adjacent EDM? Let's just say chill electronics.

Will write some blurb about this later.

BTW, I'm listening to the free 10 tracks version. I can't afford the CD version, for reasons I'll get into in the 2020 list.

4.5/5
}}
{{用户:Demobanker/模板/引用音乐相关信息|专辑=[[Holmgang Ov Gensokyo ［Remastered］]]
|短评=
|评论=various metal styles, mostly in the progressive metal area

As with the unremastered version, I love the two Suika tracks, '''Torrent of Power''' and '''Broken Moon'''. Joining my favorites is one new to the remaster, '''Pulse in Ruin''', a thall<ref>A development of djent with a focus on complex and shifting rhythms, dissonant melodies and spacious atmospheres</ref> track that feels like the soundtrack to a battle in a hi-tech forest ruin.

4/5
(For reference, the unremastered version gets a 3.5/5)
}}
{{用户:Demobanker/模板/引用音乐相关信息|专辑=[[異聞見聞録 上]]
|短评=
|评论=breakcore, some footwork, some other forms of EDM
🇯🇵 

(written in 2025)

I like to think of this and the companion album to be a spiritual sequel to [[蟲と東方と毒殺ミルク]]. Where the Wriggle album is representative of 2000s IDM/breakcore for people who really loves [https://www.discogs.com/label/185-Planet-Mu Planet Mu records] (plus some other genres), these two albums are a distillation of 2010s Japanese doujin/netlabel breakcore scene (plus some other genres). What's different here, though, is a vast increase in contributors and a change in the music scene - the few contributors to 蟲と東方と毒殺ミルク are mostly known for their Touhou works, while the artist here are best understood by looking at their Discogs page and seeing just how much non-Touhou work they've done.

For fans of hypercut breaks, pencil's '''天網壊界''', 96-glass' '''Dreamkoremassiv280''' and インターネットウミウシ's '''53 Minutes Hypselodoris''' does so with different additional musical flavors; Fleul de Lapin's '''2 minutes club activities''' is a fun piece of chipbreak to start things off; 不覚にもムエタイ's '''マジックアワー''' takes on a traditional Japanese sound<ref>I'd be remiss if I didn't recommend the artist's sentimental and hazy EP [https://theworstlabel.bandcamp.com/album/--4 その話にはまだ続きがあって] (2016), which shows their sense of atmosphere much better than the clean breaks here.</ref>; パチュリーの乳を盛るな's '''盛るな''' goes off the rails quickly with disorienting audio effects; lastly, for people tuned into the underground EDM genre footwork that escaped its Chicago origins in the 2010s, kju:8's sound design-heavy '''Microsecond at the atmosphere''' and 音楽大好きな孫's brosteppy '''FootCoreの未来宇宙''' make for a good showcase of how varied this genre can be and just how compatible it is with breakcore's rhythmically dense framework. Though in my opinion 音楽大好きな孫 isn't bringing their best here - their flip of a [https://soundcloud.com/alfred_english/flux-pavilion-bass-cannon-alfred-english-deconstruction humorous flip] of a brostep tune [https://dochakuso.net/release/dcks-0084.html on Japan's premier footcore compilation] from 2019 is more insane.

As for diversions into other genres, the gritty hip hop beats on ハナカミリュウ's '''NCR''' is surprisingly enjoyable, and 大場's sentimental breakbeaty IDM '''won't reach that anymore''' is beautiful. The only major drag is SANY-ON's '''Matriarch''', which is boring hardcore techno with a bit of psytrance thrown in to make it sound slightly more interesting.

4/5
}}
{{用户:Demobanker/模板/引用音乐相关信息|专辑=[[TAHWA 3]]
|短评=
|评论=various modern EDM genres

So yeah, one way to get me to care about relatively "normal" EDM styles like house or hardstyle is to make it super brash and in your face. '''Qirmizi''' and '''IBARAKI''' are great examples of that, with varied, maximalist arrangements and ear-candy production.

Talking about the circle's Tahwa series wouldn't be complete without mentioning the middle eastern influences. But, my unfamiliarity with the topic beyond a surface, aesthetic level means I can't say much. At the very least, the incorporation of middle eastern melodies and instrumentation (talking about the strings on '''Al-Iksir''' here) make the release more interesting than other modern EDM collab albums.

4/5
}}
{{用户:Demobanker/模板/引用音乐相关信息|专辑=[[無我の有]]
|短评=
|评论=post-rock (somewhat experimental, with drill and bass and shoegaze parts)

Oh there's actually noise on this. It's not particularly harsh and basically goes in the background once the guitar comes in, but I didn't expect M@cosAKi to do that on an album. 

Putting that aside, it's a nice distillation of マッコ屋's sound. A lot of it is post-rock, but there are a lot of variety to keep things interesting. The first half is more delicate, with manipulated vocals reminiscent of [[ヤヤネヒロコ]]'s voice, though more fragile. The trumpet on '''忘却のマグ・メル''' is a lovely addition. '''ゼロの本懐''' is a track I'd call prismbreak<ref>

A term I came up with to describe a specific sound in atmospheric breakcore/drill and bass that emphasizes a pristine, ethereal-bright atmosphere that's cleaner sounding compared to modern atmospheric drum and bass. It sounds light, with more emphasis on treble than bass, but doesn't shy away from noise and chaotic drum sequencing. It often features crystalline metallophone instruments and tends to have climax-based track structures similar to crescendocore post-rock. Examples (okay, these are the only examples I know) are Riajuu's [https://soundcloud.com/riajuu/sets/eh-1 Eh?], and most of Stellabee's [http://dochakuso.web.fc2.com/release/dcks-0091.html saishu-kai] (so, not tracks 1, 2, or 5). I'll also mention Go-qualia's glitch album [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_lXnBMn1qXOx_Yyt_27pvx6Ba7xb1mHoV8 Puella Magi] because that's the comparison I use when talking about these two albums.

</ref> and has a nice sax section. Afterwards, the atmosphere gets more oppressive as the following track '''プラスチック・イド''' brings a more prominent bass to the mix. '''孤独の果て、ポホヨラより''' is the noisy track I was talking about at the beginning. My usual complaints for the circle about the cheap guitar VSTs still apply, but it's somewhat resolved on '''Að kwergí''' which had some okay sounding guitars. It also helps that that track and '''エルゴスム''' uses those guitars mostly as hazy, shoegaze sounding texture. (but someone should buy M@coSAKi better guitar VSTs anyways.) The album ends on '''無我の縁覚''', another prismbreak track. The chopped acoustic guitar and soft unclear vocals here brings to mind [https://archive.org/details/SRmp3_233 Sonic Deadhorse]'s<ref>links to album Everybody Can Beat a Deadhorse</ref> blend of indie post-rock and drill and bass and [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_nxSnyGkYfCRfdVTWwNianvD-TiJf3Jyj4 Ed Harrison]'s<ref>links to the Neotokyo OST</ref> cinematic post-rock and IDM-influenced style of drum and bass.
}}
{{用户:Demobanker/模板/引用音乐相关信息|专辑=[[First Demo Single]]
|短评=
|评论=progressive metalcore/post-hardcore with J-screamo and djentcore influences


Powerful, hooky, and hella uplifting. The dynamic, J-screamo-backed songwriting helps the music get past my reservation towards mainstream metalcore and post-hardcore. The arrangement is done by the songwriter and one of the guitarists of the Japanese prog metalcore/post-hardcore band Eversolitude, which I highly recommend checking out.
}}
{{用户:Demobanker/模板/引用音乐相关信息|专辑=[[Chiquita Drug on Force]]
|短评=
|评论=djent/progressive metal with progressive metalcore influences

(written in 2023)

Solid modern instrumental djent album with good variety in the arrangements. As you can expect from the Periphery references and the electronic parts, the writing here is heavily indebeted to that band's style of music. Part of that band appeal comes from its mix of prog metal/metalcore songwriting and hooky vocal melodies, and in an instrumental album the guitar writing has to compensate for the lack of vocals. ラウ does rely on references to structure the tracks, but the end result feels distinct from a plain mashup or reference. It also helps that the writing is dynamic and groovy, which I love in technical music. With all tracks being less than 3:10 long, though, I feel like they could be expanded some more, especially the electronic bits. Prog metalcore writing does tend to be short and compressed compred to prog metal, but that isn't the case with Periphery.

Standout tracks are the jazzy '''もうドアには入れない　～ Trap Game''' and '''イザナギオブジェクト　～ Epoch''', which takes [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTGVVBteYsE an IDM interlude] as its base and turns it into a powerful closing track using some simple and emotive riffs.
}}
{{用户:Demobanker/模板/引用音乐相关信息|专辑=[[異聞見聞録 下]]
|短评=
|评论=breakcore, hardcore EDM (some)
🇯🇵 

(written in 2025)

I don't have much new to say about this one. it has some focus on gabber-like forms of hardcore (Frenchcore, speedcore, pumpcore) which typically isn't a thing I listen to breakcore for (speedcore being the one exception)<ref>my stance is that gabber kicks can enhance the intensity and feeling of speed in breakcore, but it only works if you stagger them in syncopated rhythms and not just placed in straight 4/4 patterns. or just do speedcore</ref>. DJKurara's '''Law Of The Concrete Jungle''' is a hightlight of the album because its break/speedcore combo is riotous and manic like nothing else.

＊-Teris' piano artcore '''54TOR1''' is beautiful, but I wish they put more emphasis on the piano like their album [https://askorasuka.bandcamp.com/album/concrete-flower Concrete Flower] (2022). Still, it's done so well that I consider it another album highlight. Supire's '''This Kaeru Is Lost''' touches on the sound-design heavy hardcore of their excellent [https://nhspire.bandcamp.com/album/howling-ep Howling EP] (2020), but in this case that EP is just so good that I don't think it compares. It's not bad by any means, it's that I was expecting something more outstanding.

3.5/5
}}
{{用户:Demobanker/模板/引用音乐相关信息|专辑=[[Gensokyo 199X： a 90's Touhou Album]]
|短评=
|评论=90s electronic music, mostly breakbeat-y EDM

With releases like this, it's important to know that it's not literally gonna cover the whole spectrum of 90s music genres in it's runtime unless it's like, 30 hours long. Even if you limit it to EDM, that's still a lot to cover<ref>Unless you're Yuzo Koshiro and Motohiro Kawashima making music for the Sega Saturn multiplayer arena combat game Vatlva, in which case you do a pretty good job at covering 90s EDM.</ref><ref>Speaking of 90s retro and gaming, more people in the Touhou fandom gotta take influence from Sega Saturn, DOS, PS1 or 90s PC gaming. All the NES/Game Boy/PC98 nostalgia's getting boring.</ref>. It comes down to what the artist choose to put in, and here it's stuff I like. 

Will add more details in the future.
}}
{{用户:Demobanker/模板/引用音乐相关信息|专辑=[[Ａｎａｇｌｙｗａｖｅ 東方青赤波]]
|短评=
|评论=vaporwave, didgeriwave<ref>the circle's term for their own take on vaporwave, which involves a didgeridoo</ref>, chopped and screwed <ref>A remixing technique in hip hop developed by producer [[wikipedia:Chopped and screwed|DJ Screw]] that involves slowing down music and using various DJ techniques to create a fractured, "chopped-up" sound.</ref>

It's a trip alright. There's a lot of imagery that comes to mind when I'm listening. The one I'm drawn to the most starts with television static dragging you into an 80s RPG, and ends with you finding yourself in a movie theater watching a slow but thrilling sci-fi movie. All of this is obscured behind a vaporwave haze.

will expand this later cuz i got a lot to say about it
}}
{{用户:Demobanker/模板/引用音乐相关信息|专辑=[[ＰＥＲＰＥＴＵＡＬ永久の]]
|短评=
|评论=vaporwave


stuff coming! eventually
}}
{{用户:Demobanker/模板/引用音乐相关信息|专辑=[[東方神海宮 ～ Submarine Dragon.]]
|短评=
|评论=
ZUNstyle (imaginary game soundtrack, but do check out the Youtube version as it includes story and character art)

🇺🇸 

(listened in 2025)

Using LoLK's spacey, synthy futuristic sound palette in an aquatic setting is certainly an interesting choice, but Melody Harmonia makes it work well. Because of this consistency in sound, when '''The Oarfish Princess's Underseas Recital''' starts off with taiko and vocal effects, it really conveys the fact that you're up against a totally different opponent, one in touch with an ancient history. The final boss' theme, '''Tamatebako of Mount Hourai ～ His Memento''', pushes that further by bringing in Chinese and Japanese folk instruments. There's lots of nice melodies in the album, with '''Hearse of the Thousand Tides''', '''Alrescha Sunken Beneath the Waves''', '''Deep-Sea Underground Metropolis''', and '''Izanagi Misanthropy''' being standout tracks for me.

I'm disappointed that the Bandcamp download doesn't contain a booklet with the story and character backgrounds, because those are legit well done. The character artstyle is more cartoony than you'd expect from this type of release, but it does stand out for me in a good way. It also gives room to experiment with character designs, as something like Kamiike's long-necked turtlelike body would feel very out of place in a traditional Touhou-styled game.
}}
{{用户:Demobanker/模板/引用音乐相关信息|专辑=[[Faithless Planet]]
|短评=
|评论=melodic death metal

Solid melodeath with prog influences. It's pretty amazing how much Yumi's playing and arrangement skills have improved. My personal favorite is the technical and erratic '''The Hell Jester''' with its sudden speed shifts. Having three different vocalists do their own take on the title track is also pretty dope.

(I will write something more detailed later)

}}
{{用户:Demobanker/模板/引用音乐相关信息|专辑=[[Terra Incognita]]
|短评=
|评论=psytrance (with tech house influences?), downtempo


Dark and psychedelic electronics that starts off minimalistic, then builds in density with synth arpeggios and hypnotic metallophone loops. All of this builds up to the sudden samba section on '''Phantasm''' which feels out of place but also fits the surreal feel. The last three tracks from the title track onward are slower but still keep the dense layering of sounds, and gives me urban survival horror game (specifically the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series) vibes.
}}
{{用户:Demobanker/模板/引用音乐相关信息|专辑=[[Touhou Color Bass I]]
|短评=
|评论=color bass, melodic/future riddim, cinematic music


Cinematic bass music is pretty good. I'll add some more words about this eventually but here's the bottom line: this, along with Rolling Contact's [[Cyberwack|midtempo album]], are some of the most cutting-edge and focused Touhou bass music to come out this year. I hope these two albums can encourage EDM arrangers to be more adventurous with what they do!
}}
{{用户:Demobanker/模板/引用音乐相关信息|专辑=[[（ （ （低） ） ）]]
|短评=
|评论=broken transmission<ref>a subgenre of vaporwave that evokes the feel of listening to distorted broadcasts...</ref>, weatherwave<ref>...from a weather channel!</ref>


<s>wow the 2hu vapor scene do be popping, so much that I don't know if I can keep up with the releases. but I'll try lol</s>

I think it's worth noting that most tracks have a similar structure. The first half is the ambience you expect from vaporwave, but on the second half you start getting these microscopic sounding beats.
}}
{{用户:Demobanker/模板/引用音乐相关信息|专辑=[[Three Fairies of Light]]
|短评=
|评论=utopian virtual


What I imagine as the music to a 90s children's point and click computer game featuring the titular three fairies. It's fairly subdued (with some exciting parts, of course), and there's a variety of soundscape sketches presented on each track.

}}
{{用户:Demobanker/模板/引用音乐相关信息|专辑=[[MOON BASE MALL]]
|短评=
|评论=mallsoft<ref>a subgenre of vaporwave that crafts an atmosphere of being in a mall, and usually samples easy listening or background music</ref>

Reminds me that I need to listen to more vaporwave lol

3.5/5
}}
{{用户:Demobanker/模板/引用音乐相关信息|专辑=[[Lunar War Chronicles Vol. 1]]
|短评=
|评论=doom metal with slight post-metal<ref>a style of metal that focuses on atmosphere and texture over riff and melody writing, technical playing and soloing. Can cross over with the atmospheric side of black, doom or sludge metal, but those aren't subgenres of each other.</ref> influences

Admittedly, as someone who loves extreme metal, I don't listen to doom metal much. I used to dislike the genre because of it being slow but not as emotionally satisfying as post-metal, and even now it's not a genre I'd pick first when going through my backlog of metal albums. Which is terrible, because I have a huge backlog of doom releases that sound interesting, and if you picked out something from that list I can explain why it's enticing to me.

As usual for the genre, the guitar tone is powerful and creates a crushing atmosphere. The acoustic guitar that starts the album gives mellow post-metal vibes, but the doom riffs quickly come in to make thing tense. The rest of '''Near Side''' keeps on building that intensity with the addition of organs, with some acoustic parts thrown in to ease the tension. Even then, when the sample of the phone conversation with Apollo 11 astronauts comes in, it sounds outright ominous. In contrast, '''Far Side''' was more relaxed, with the acoustic guitar having a more prominent role. Even the spoken word sample was buried by the acoustic guitar.

3.5/5
}}
{{用户:Demobanker/模板/引用音乐相关信息|专辑=[[Haavemaa]]
|短评=
|评论=folk, acoustic rock/pop

Love the atmosphere and interplay between instruments on this. The simple arrangements feels a lot dense and meditative thanks to the percussion, especially with the droning sounds on the title track.

The two vocaloid tracks are also nice. A bit melancholic, but not outright sad. IA's voice is a bit lo-fi, which I'm gonna consider a subtle atmospheric touch.

3.5/5
}}
{{用户:Demobanker/模板/引用音乐相关信息|专辑=[[Eastern Retrograde Memories]]
|短评=
|评论=chiptune dance music

I've seen the artist's name on some Battle of the Bits<ref>an online collective of chiptune musicians that hosts various competitions and compilations</ref> albums, though I never got to listen to any of them.

The music's in that area of dense, warm, melodic, mostly four-on-the-floor type of chip dance that I associate with artists like [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQl0xg-NmSk 12insomnia]<ref>Links to the track Gravity Blast</ref> or [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHpJgzzXljQ USK]<ref>Links to the track As Vivid As Possible</ref>. The tracks are joyful and the speed changes on some of the tracks shake things up a bit. '''Underground Anomaly''' in particular is the jammiest track on the album, and a great closer to boot.

The one thing that I think is kinda disappointing is that it's all Game Boy chiptune even though the artist has made some Commodore 64 stuff. I can't recall there being much Touhou chiptune using that chip, so it would be a nice surprise for people who are interested in less used chip types.

My tastes in chip EDM is more towards stuff with fun beatwork or colorful/interesting textures, so I hope the people reading this can take it as a high recommendation.

3.5/5
}}
{{用户:Demobanker/模板/引用音乐相关信息|专辑=[[Second Prayer]]
|短评=
|评论=electronic, folk, maybe some house influences?

When I came across the artist's [[Irrational|first album]] while searching for fanworks on DeviantArt, I liked it because of the variety of arrangements and somewhat offbeat styles on display. This album is also varied on the electronic side, and goes into folky territories in the second half. The house-influenced rhythms turns me off a bit because it imposes a monotonic dance beat onto some pretty interesting compositions, and I think they could be expanded even more without the constant beat. (Alternatively, the beats could be made more complex or irregular, which contrasts better with the other instruments. It's unintuitive, I know.)

I had trouble figuring out the arrangements, but that's a good thing for the album! Part of the trouble comes from the fact that I don't care much for PC-98 arrangements, but it's also because the changes are a bit cryptic. There are also parts where there's two melodies playing at once, but one of them is subtle and hard to notice even if you pay attention. Sometimes Esme reveals the original track at the end, but that isn't representative of the whole track. If you're trying to figure out what the originals are, you're gonna feel like you missed a lot of stuff. But that's okay, because all of the cryptic arrangements and subtle references make the music feel richer. The album feels like it's telling a story, and focusing on finding the originals only distracts from enjoying some interesting music!

3.5/5
}}
{{用户:Demobanker/模板/引用音乐相关信息|专辑=[[Touhou Boot]]
|短评=
|评论=EDM, instrumental hip hop

Discovered them because of their minimalistic IDM album [https://soundcloud.com/nardius12/sets/gloom Gloom].

There's a variety of music on here, but most of them have a somewhat stripped-back and subtle production, which goes well with the dark cover art. For more active music, there's the trap track '''Black Hole Crisis''' and dnb track '''Yuanhun'''. On the opposite side, there's '''Desire Drive''' which is close to the style on Gloom, and the ambient track '''Gods Loved''' that features some warm fuzzy static. Nice mood music for late night times.

3.5/5
}}
{{用户:Demobanker/模板/引用音乐相关信息|专辑=[[ebisuloops]]
|短评=
|评论=electronic ambient (track 2 could be described as early glitch hop? idk)

I was so excited about Wriggle Nightbug's Beetle Collection that I didn't pay much attention to this, but this is still pretty nice. As the title says, this is structured around loops, with different layers being layered as the track goes on.

'''side a''' is textural, a beatless track with lots of different synth loops being mixed together. Some synths actually sound synthy while others sound closer to acoustic instruments. In contrast, '''side b''' is more rhythmic, starting off with one rhythm loop played under a bunch of early synth sounds. A second rhythm loop joins in after a bit, and halfway through a noisy and stretched break loop joins the party. Near the end, straightforward 4/4 claps gets added in the mix. Throughout all that, the same synth loops keep on playing.

Overall, it's a neat little experiment in loops and atmosphere about Touhou fans' favorite stone stacker.
}}
{{用户:Demobanker/模板/引用音乐相关信息|专辑=[[Shattered]]
|短评=
|评论=post-hardcore, melodic djent

It's a first impression but this is incredible. '''Dragon-Eating Deathloop''' is a poppy and super fun take on Momoyo's theme. '''Monster''' is hella cathartic and emotive, and '''鈴蘭 ~Proof that Love Was Never Real~''' is a hard-hitting closer.

2023 edit: as generous as I am with ratings, having 3 songs that I like on revisits out of 12 tracks (10 excluding the intro and interlude) is too little for a 5/5. First impressions, can't always trust them.

3/5
}}
{{用户:Demobanker/模板/引用音乐相关信息|专辑=[[輝針残酷物語]]
|短评=
|评论=goregrind, hardcore punk

Otakugrind had some pretty interesting releases in 2021. Anna Pest's [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLX2Ayavl04G4Au3Gp-NhewDY0DkvoZiD2 Dark Arms Reach Skyward With Bone White Fingers] pushed the technical side of the genre in a more progressive direction with an Evangelion themed album. Sugar Wounds' [https://sugarwounds.bandcamp.com/album/calico-dreams Calico Dreams], meanwhile, infused grind with the emotionalism of screamo & blackgaze and makes it strange with surreal-sounding synths.

But this is Touhou, don't you know! We can't have new things! Best we can have is have these bunch of fucks decide to go back to Touhou after a long hiatus !!!!!!! (okay I'm done complaining)

As usual, the exciting thing about this circle isn't how they fuck up the original melodies. Despite the extremeness of the music, the arrangements are very straightforward, which you can understand by focusing on the guitars. What is exciting here is the utter manic energy of the music. '''血塗られた湖畔から''' shocks you with its speedy programmed drum blasts that leaves space for rhythmic twists. After that, the arrangement turn to normal hardcore punk fare, but here's where the Kim and Agai's vocal gymnastics draws all the attention. The vocals aren't all that harsh - they're fast. They can get as frantic as one of those "fastest rapper ever?????" videos that gets viral once in a while. The other standout track is '''丑三つ時に鼓は誘う''', where the taiko drumming brings a layer of rhythmic energy to the pounding midtempo guitar.

If all these sound too scary for you, don't worry, because there are a few parts on here that has synths that's sure to remind you of good ol' 00s epic digital rock arrangements. The distorted synths on '''俺の不浄なお祓い棒''', though, will probably alienate you, but don't worry, because there's also a piano.

oh right and the lyrics are very sexual and gory. '''俺の不浄なお祓い棒''' even starts with sex sounds. you're on your own for that one

3/5
}}
{{用户:Demobanker/模板/引用音乐相关信息|专辑=[[Touhou Speed Bootleg]]
|短评=
|评论=lolicore, speedcore

welp, the first 2021 Touhou release I listened to is a "low effort" speedcore remix EP of denpa songs. pretty much the opposite of the Norowareta Night album I started 2020 with

With that said, it's a solid and straightforward EP for its style, with intense beats and a purposely blown-out and noisy production style. If you like this, I recommend checking out [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHi1eCJN5KQ yumeHolic]<ref>Links to the album Twisted Morals</ref>'s albums. They're one of the rare lolicore producers I like who has a similar sound.

3/5
}}
{{用户:Demobanker/模板/引用音乐相关信息|专辑=[[touhou speed 2]]
|短评=
|评论=breakcore

A short collection of playful breakcore tunes. The tracks are basically rough piss takes but that's part of what makes the genre fun.

Guess I'll also recommend the artist's recent album, [https://archive.org/details/lf143mp3 shut in core]. It's half breakcore and half lolicore, with the breakcore side in an atmospheric and depressive style.

3/5
}}
{{用户:Demobanker/模板/引用音乐相关信息|专辑=[[The Legendary Flamenco Dancer]]
|短评=
|评论=ZUNstyle

(listened to in 2024)

Meat and potatoes ZUNstyle with tracks that adapt existing Touhou melodies and are comparable to the rockier side of MoF and Magical Astronomy. Despite the album title, the album doesn't feature any flamenco outside of the title track, '''La Leyenda del Dorado''' and '''The Last Dance ~ Between the Final Hours''' which is kinda disappointing because those are definitely the standout tracks.

3/5
}}
{{用户:Demobanker/模板/引用音乐相关信息|专辑=[[Bullet Patterns]]
|短评=
|评论=instrumental hip hop

I don't think those are all Touhou remixes (if they are, they're very esoteric) but the beats are pretty nice.

3/5
}}
{{用户:Demobanker/模板/引用音乐相关信息|专辑=[[CYBER 2HU PS1 AMIGA MUSIC]]
|短评=
|评论=hardcore breaks, tracker music

I actually have a lot to say about this! But I need some time to get it down in words. In the meantime, listen to some [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsFk9631QvQ Kaizo Slumber]<ref>Kaizo Demos, Vol.1: My Friend Torimoti</ref> and [http://maltinerecords.cs8.biz/167.html DV-i]<ref>Research + Development</ref>since you're probably here for similar recommendations.

Unfortunately, I'm having trouble putting down my thoughts on this well. I had a self-imposed challenge to get this out before September since it'll contextualize my view on the upcoming 90s Touhou album. The main point is that this EP combines three aspects of the ongoing 90s nostalgia that also happens to be the rare parts of that era I like: the aesthetics of 5th generation of video games, the futurism of that era of drum and bass, and how tracker music connects to both. Execution wise I would have liked more variety, but it's still a fun and groovy release that I like.

'''February 2022 Update''': Even though this and Gensokyo 199X are heavily influenced by 90s EDM, I think it's interesting to point out their different approaches. 199X feels like it's trying to bring you back to the 90s. There's a point made to be period accurate, but it's not a historical exercise and is okay with adding modern touches that fit the mood. This EP? It's more specific about its genre and musical influences for sure, but it's also more outwardly modern. I'd place it adjacent to this [https://rateyourmusic.com/list/_aleph/amen-breaks-anime-and-bitcrushers-outsider-jungle-y2k-dystopia-neorave_cyberbreakcore-hexdrave_cyberjungle-crusheddnb_brhexdbeat/ upcoming and still-doesn't-have-a-concensus-name scene] in drum and bass. You can even see the influences in the collaged cover art.

(recommended)
}}
{{用户:Demobanker/模板/引用音乐相关信息|专辑=[[Eyes On You Remix Compilation]]
|短评=
|评论=EDM, mostly house and trance

I'm putting this here only to talk about Tenyu's remix. It's a great mix of the original with the classic tracker music tune UnreaL <nowiki>][</nowiki><ref>Also known as "Second Reality II", if you have Future Crew's archival compilation album [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWfjeSEP00Rl36XZaWm5dkpmdTZQk4EEs Metropolis].</ref>. There's one synth on the original Eyes On You that has a warm, tracker music-ish texture, and using that to lead in to the UnreaL part is a galaxy brain move.

So yeah, more tracker music rep in Touhou please!

(recommended)
}}
{{用户:Demobanker/模板/引用音乐相关信息|专辑=[[In Decline]]
|短评=
|评论=garage rock

(Note: I said this was post-punk before because I'm not familiar with the garage rock term, and this sounded somewhat like the few indie-ish post-punk I heard. But the garakuta review for this said it's garage rock and I don't disagree after listening to some examples. I haven't changed the rest of the comments.)

At first the music felt too much like a type of basic, "rock-for-the-sake-of-rock" music that I call regular rock. The quiet and deadpan vocals, and the overall lethargic and repetitive sound, though, pretty much told me that no, the arranger is going for something different. I guess this is post-punk? Not very familiar with that genre, but the post-punk albums I've heard doesn't get as rock-y as this.

'''Paradise''' and '''Voyages''' are more synthpoppy which I kinda liked. '''Ill Omen''' is pretty interesting cuz of the tom drum usage on a track that's basically the guy singing over an acoustic guitar in the same quiet, deadpan vocals, but that could be cuz I listened to a bunch of footwork recently lol

In the end, the music still feels very regular rock-ish for my tastes, most notably with the solos (no, really, '''Ill Omen''' didn't need that end solo so it could be considered rock or whatever, it already has a unique sound!), but it's also not squarely in that territory so I do feel like putting it on this list. Plus, a friend who likes post-punk said it slapped hard so how could I not.

(recommended)
}}
{{用户:Demobanker/模板/引用音乐相关信息|专辑=[[Chocolate Hearts and Stag Beetles]]
|短评=
|评论=hexD<ref>bitcrushed electronic music with a similar sound to low bitrate music (48kbps mp3, for example), with influences from hip hop and edm styles. often based on processing samples in ways common to related "internet" genres, namely vaporwave and nightcore. other people can explain it better lol</ref>, cloud rap

This >>>>>>>>>> 贰砖 >>>>>>>>>> the nonexistent Tamaonsen album from this year.


Jokes aside: Even though I love this album, I'm putting it at the end because it's not related to Touhou except for two tracks. The lyrics are abstract enough that it probably makes no sense if you translate it into another language, and most of it is about how hexd is boring (according to the artist).

But let's face it, Touhou hip hop has been pretty much lacking since forever, and I'm sure people want there to be more high-profile circles than Tamaonsen making things. Of the circles that have some existing popularity, 异象聚合 is solid but could be more adventurous, and Moon-Tone is probably gonna do another lo-fi hip hop album over actually exciting local hip hop genres like grime or afroswing. HexD might be overplayed and at a creative dead end, but maybe you can make something more interesting out of that?


'''September 19 update!''' I wanna mention two other Touhou vocal hip hop albums by up-and-coming circles. 灯音華's [[FIRST ENCOUNTER]] is EDM-based pop rap with more of a focus on rapping and might be interesting to Tamaonsen fans. 地狱超甜's [[东方之星]] is Chinese hip hop/trap with horrorcore<ref>hip hop with dark, horror-themed lyrics</ref> elements. It doesn't bypass my dislike of autotune rap as this album does, but it is the most promising one I've tried so far<ref>There are also artists who do rap rock/metal throwbacks and lo-fi hip hop, but I don't find them interesting to talk about. Sorry!</ref><ref>BTW, if you like 东方之星, you should check out the Chinese hip hop artist [https://soundcloud.com/bloodzboi4life Bloodz Boi] a.k.a. 血男孩. While I don't like their music much, dude's pretty much an underground legend, and I think the circle does take some influences from him. Also, for some baffling reasons I have a higher lastfm compatibility with him than with most Touhou music fans I encounter so that's another reason for the recommendation. (Though I doubt most Touhou music fans will be interested in this page anyways...)</ref><ref>Also check out [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZ3d0nTO6Pw 秃子2z] if you like [https://rateyourmusic.com/genre/uk-drill/ UK drill] and [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ap4nPiOt9_Y FANVY] for [https://rateyourmusic.com/genre/rage/ rage].</ref>.

something/5
}}
{{用户:Demobanker/模板/引用音乐相关信息|专辑=[[Stencilmarks of Gunnhild's Tengus]]
|评论=experimental hip hop


yes there's only one remix on here no i don't care, the beats are baller. thx dede

}}
{{用户:Demobanker/模板/引用音乐相关信息|专辑=[[Kuso AKA Kx $ 0 the Mixtape： "God of Darkness, breathing clouds in the fantasy landscape, etc."]]
|评论=trap, experimental hip hop, cloud rap (with hexd influences and some footwork instrumentals)


mfw gensokyo rap is real. but also this is pretty interesting to talk about, as it relates to my like of futuristic sounding music.

where Touhou Color Bass I and Cyberwack is futuristic in the clean, hi-fi shiny tech sense (even if it doesn't sound like it due to noisy bass music influences), this is futuristic in the raw, lo-fi sense. But even though it's lo-fi, it's not dark or industrial. The music feels light and floaty, and '''hi-tech in her chalice (red t*nt music)''' even has a pretty melody going along with it. I've seen people talk about feeling imagery of floating in cyberspace with similar sounding music, and while I don't agree with them, it's a compelling vision of the type of utopian net futurism that people long for.
}}
}}

== post-2021 retrospective ==
I'm not running this log like an end-of-year best of list by music publications - I don't cut the year off at October or November, and I don't consider it finalized once the next year hits. So expect new releases to be added in the future. I do want to write some stuff about my experiences this year, as some kind of closure. In the spirit of not cutting the year early, I'm not going to add it until 2022. TBH a lot of this I've thought about for the past few months, but who knows. The year isn't over yet and there's still a chance for something to come by and make me rethink things.

whoops it's may and I still haven't written this yet. lmao

wow it's july now and I still have not done much with my draft

----

It's September 2024 and I'm still sitting on this draft. Honestly I don't care about finishing it anymore, here's the summary:
* The writing here are mostly first impressions. Because this is a recommendations list (and not actually a listening log), I think it's better to have many recs with a short writeup than having a few recs with multi-paragraph reviews that I might not even finish. But I also didn't want to just list out albums without explaining what I like about it. Even then, I left a few entries which were basically "writing something longer about this, check back later!". I put those in their own sections on later lists to make it more clean.
* It took about half an hour to an hour to write a paragraph, and that's with editing. But that will improve as I practice writing more.
* There are a lot of non-Touhou music linked on the list cuz I find it fun to make connections in the ever-expanding list of things I listen to. As a bonus, I get to make more recommendations in the hopes that you can find something cool.
* There weren't any ZUNstyle releases on here cuz it's mostly not my thing but I still try to check things out.
* I'm still thinking about that time the developer and composer of Ultrakill posted [https://twitter.com/HakitaDev/status/1430616523387908102 a fumo meme set to avant-garde metal]. And then posting vinyl pics with his Tewi fumo.

== notes go here ==