[rayword45]

Day 565: Digital Maestro by DM Ashura

This is another case where I've listened to this album before, but it's been over half a decade and I basically considered this lost media since the death of What.CD until I met the man himself at a rave he performed at and bought a copy, it was old overstock from 2007. Then I realized I have no CD drive anywhere in this house, so I asked the man himself for a digital copy and he gave me one. Nice guy, go support him by either going to a show he plays or taking his math class.

Immediately with the opening vocals of Psychosis and up until the end with that DDR Ultramix song, this hits me like a blast of nostalgia for the long past years of 2007-2008 when I first found this website and Stepmania. Long before I was depressed, long before I had to do fucking Master's projects in college, long before I gave a shit about school, long before I ever held a job, long before I got intoxicated on any substances, long before I realized I wasn't asexual, long before I had any legal scares (gee thanks high school, can't believe I got accused of bioterrorism for some fucking ghost peppers), long before personal drama between friends happened on a frequent basis, long before I developed serious social anxieties that I compensate for through unnecessary volume and extroversion, long before I basically became the fuck-up I am today. This brings me back to the days when I first found this website and Stepmania soon after, when shit like the simfile database and ITGFreak existed, when I was making terrible YouTube Poops to share with my friends on the school bus, when I had no phone or social media, when I thought smoking smarties was hilarious, when I thought swearing made you a badass, when being able to do simple maths made you feel smart and when the Wii was brand-spanking new, when I was using shitty survey websites like PrizeRebel to get my money (which in retrospect was horribly slow but hey, video games). I miss those days, life is sad now. At least my family has a dog now.

If an album invokes that kind of reaction in me, it's either fucking terrible, or it's great. I'm leaning towards the latter, because the last time I had a reaction like this was that fucking Shaggs album and to be quite honest I still don't understand that one. I also like the way this album feels somewhat cohesive, and besides the last two obviously-meant-to-be-bonus tracks, the sequencing feels pretty great, which, for an album that consists of 25% remixes, is impressive. I can see this being a great accompaniment to meditating in a dark room, sober or not.

ADDENDUM: Mental health is a fucking bitch, y'all. Fuck the United States health care system, but that's not to blame for my own problems, I just suck at doing things.

Best Track: Psychosis (Obelisk and Return Of Neon come quite close though)
Rating: 8.5/10 (In reality, it's probably not deserving of such a high rating and is quite the lengthy album, but fuck it sentimentality rules over all)