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C418 [2], the German composer best known for creating the soundscapes of Minecraft, has stealth/surprise launched his first new album in nearly two years, titled 148 [3]. Included in the 19 tracks are original vocal works, Minecraft remixes that had only been heard at live shows and collaborations with some darlings of the indie game scene. In the works since 2011, C418 explains the surprise release as an effort to move ahead and to re-confirm that, yes, he’s still making music.
“It just has been plaguing me for too long. I think that you can’t be happy with anything if you’ve stared at it too close for too long. Which is why I decided to stealth release it without any announcement. I’ve had incredibly unproductive years recently, and a lot of it had to do with being burnt out and partly being somewhat depressed. This album didn’t really help my psyche either. By releasing this, right now, I hope I can get to a clean slate and start beginning work on new stuff. And, of course, maybe it stops making everyone worried that I stopped composing altogether.”
He goes on to describe the album as “highly energetic and full of house and Drum & Bass tunes”. Sampling it this morning I can say it’s definitely more upbeat than Minecraft and the collaborations between Disasterpeace, Baiyon, Big Giant Circles and Laura Shigihara add variety to the overall sound. 148 is available now from Bandcamp [4], iTunes [5], Spotify [6], Amazon [7], or Google Play. [8]