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Lena Raine - Celeste Original Soundtrack (Radical Dreamland, 2018)

I danced around this one on Bandcamp a little bit, saw it pop up in a few places and thought it wasn't for me, I'm kind of over the whole chiptune retro gaming fad...finally I just oculdn't ignore it and put it on the wishlist, and fuck me if it isn't absolutely incredible. I haven't played any new video games in years so I'm coming at this from a purely musical angle and video game soundtrack or not, this is just an absolute masterwork. It's so good - nostalgic but not cloying, emotional depth, beautiful, thrilling, melodious...who is Lena Raine? Where did she come from? Where did she learn how to make music like this? Listen to the 11-minute EPIC (used without a touch of irony) "Reach for the Summit" and you too will be convinced. Then listen to the other 100 odd minutes. Wondrous.

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Albums of the Year 2017 // New Releases

//40 Migos Culture (300 Entertainment) //39 Kyle Dixon & Michael Stein Stranger Things 2: A Netflix Original Series Soundtrack (Lakeshore) //38 Unsane Sterilize (Southern Lord) //37 Hans Zimmer & Benjamin Wallfisch Blade Runner 2049: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (Epic/ASG) //36 Ricardo Villalobos Empirical House ([a:rpi:r]) //35 Brockhampton Saturation II (Question Everything Inc./Empire) //34 Fire-Toolz Drip Mental (Hausu Mountain) //33 Clams Casino Instrumental Mixtape 4 (no label) //32 Yves Tumor Experiencing the Deposit of Faith (no label) //31 Lil Yachty Teenage Emotions (Virgin/EMI) //30 Thriftworks The Feather and the Sword (no label) //29 Paul White & Danny Brown Accelerator (R&S) //28 Keiji Haino, Jim O'Rourke & Oren Ambarchi This Dazzling, Genuine "Difference" Now Where Shall It Go? (Black Truffle) //27 Nazoranai Beginning to Fal...