Full disclosure: this is a mashup of NCS back catalogue, not a new track, so grade it accordingly. NoCopyrightSounds spent the last decade becoming the default soundtrack of every gaming montage and small-creator video on the internet, and this greatest-hits blend is basically a victory lap through the melodies that scored a generation of Minecraft edits. If you spent any time on YouTube between 2015 and now, at least three of these will trip a memory you didn’t know you’d stored. It’s well-stitched, the transitions are smooth, and it’s a genuinely nostalgic listen if that era means anything to you. As an actual piece of music, it’s more artifact than song. I don’t have a strong opinion on it as composition; that isn’t the register it lives in. But as a time capsule of a very specific corner of internet music culture, it’s kind of lovely, and I’m not too cool to admit it landed.
January
Chrome Daydream
Chrome stars, jelly hearts and holographic colour. A nod to the glossy, optimistic graphics of the early web.