[rayword45]

Day 616: Dungeon Rap: The Introduction by DJ Armok / DJ Bishop / Pillbox

Scrolling through the charts as you definitely already know and I expected this to be a meme. I'm surprised it's not! Or at least I think it's not. When I think of dungeon synth I think of those absolutely horrible Burzum albums he made while locked up for stabbing that dude like a kajillion times, but this only sounds kinda like that in a few tracks and never as cheesy! The super scuzzy, lo-fi production makes me think of Screw or shit in that vein but with some obvious differences (like the fact that I'm pretty sure this isn't slowed down on most if not all tracks). The recording quality does make it so songs kinda blend into each other, further amplified by the short running time of most of these tracks.

Are they rapping in English or Ukrainian or what? It's really hard for me to tell, so I'm going off beats and atmosphere alone. In both of those aspects, this is very consistent, though picking favorite tracks will be tough. Favorite of the beatmakers (or beatchoosers if these guys are just MCs, I don't know shit about this) is definitely DJ Armok, whose style reminds me of a more polished but still raw Old Tapes-era Boards of Canada in certain places, but neither of the other two strike me as a weakest link or anything. Why is the Bandcamp digital tracklist different from the ones on YouTube and the physical? I fucking hate when bands do that. (EDIT: apparently THEY'RE ALIASES HAHAHAHA I'M AN IDIOT. Well, I definitely like more Armok songs than anything)

Some good chill-out music, occasionally with an oddly (but welcomed) sinister vibe yet never loses its fun trippy headspace, definitely want to return to this. Clearly I like shit that just numbs me out.

Oh wait they're definitely rapping in English.

Best Track: Don't Let This Be Your Death Wish or Murder
Rating: 7.5/10