🍱 Delicacy of the Day

Leaving Laurel - and the storm started

Leaving Laurel has a curious story.

It was started by American’t artists Pierce Fulton and Gordon Huntley back in 2020.

Unfortunately, Pierce Fulton tragically died (an amazing artist to check out, truly a shame) in 2021.

From there, Gordon took over the project in a mission to honor the legacy of Pierce.

He’s done a pretty good job!

Most of the tracks have this beauty and organic sound to it.

This is the type of house that showcases the use of more “natural” instruments.

The melody is amazing and flows perfectly. It’s like “Organic progressive house”

A beautiful song to have in the background. If you sit and listen closely it can be a much better experience but it serves both purposes.

I highly recommend giving the discography a listen. It’s a project that is full of passion.

Njoy.

💭 Quick Drivel

I don’t have a Genre Graveyard™ for you today.

Instead, I want to talk about something else I noticed this year.

How TIRESOME a lot of the new stuff sounds.

It’s not that songs aren’t GOOD, they just… exist.

Of course, it could be because the layer of the genre I’m exposed to burnt out after years of pushing heavy.

Whatever creative boost happened in 2020-2021 is wearing off.

And now what remains is a responsibility to keep releasing because unless you are ruthlessly getting out there (or have already established yourself) the audience will move on without second thought.

It’s been a game of “Volume Negates Luck” ever since the average person got access to FL studio (free + crack) and the amount of releases exploded.

Of course, this is easy to say as a passive listener.

But I did try producing music at some point before realizing someone else is better suited for this.

That said, there is a clear difference between 2025 and 2026.

Last year had this air of excitement and passion. You could hear it in most of the songs and albums.

This year? It could be the increasingly bleak external factors, but something is getting people down.

And so, from the top of the Trashpile™I shall deliver a completely ignorant “State of Electronic Dance Music” for 2026.

This is by no means a comprehensive or “thoroughly researched” list. These are just the observations from a cultural hermit:

This by itself isn’t a “bad” thing.

IF IT WASN’T THAT EVERY SONG SOUNDS THE MF SAME.

Seriously, its as if someone is just copy pasting songs and releasing them into the wild.

People are (rightfully) scared of AI but gleefully ignore the insane levels of “I’m doing drugs tonight” music.

“Oh, that’s an overexaggeration, Hz. This list SUCKS.”

Tomorrow is Fridee. I DARE you to listen to the “all new dance” playlist and take a sip of water on every tech house song. Double drink if it has raunchy lyrics.

You’ll probably drink more water in that hour-long experiment than you do all year so far.

Look, last year I was AGONIZING over which albums to pick for the top 5.

This year I’m SEARCHING UNDER ROCKS to find 3.

I’ve written about this previously, and it isn’t about lack of effort. As the year comes to a close I’m listening to at least 5 new albums a week.

Most feel disjointed. Others have good ideas but lose the plot halfway through.

I have found only one (1) good front to back album.

It's a pretty bad state of affairs after the past 5 years giving endless innovation and sound.

Albums used to mean something, now it just feels like a pointless wait.

This one is harder to prove.

But is it me or is D&B stagnating?

Like yeah there’s been some “major” releases like the Kanine album.

But even that was like… meh.

Even Bensley, who is known for pushing the genre forward, came out with an album that sounds alright, but lacks that magic the previous ones had.

Hell, people were saying how 2024 2025 2026 was the year of drum and bass in America.

John Summit and his Tech House Crusade™ killed that REAL FAST.

Hardstyle? Haven’t heard anything come out of that cave for YEARS. And its not lack of searching, but whatever I found has been lackluster and not nearly as good as before.

Trap? lol, lmao.

Isoxo kept it alive for a couple of years. Juelz gave it a shot, but as it stands, it’s dead on the water.

Maybe I’m not European enough. Could be that the American influence skews me more to dancier, bass-heavier tracks.

BUT EVEN THAT HAS BEEN UNDERWHELMING.

I can name maybe 5 American’t artists that I look forward to, but even that is pushing it.

Of course, America is all about Bass music and such. That has been…

Even Australia (where some of the best music has been coming out of) is starting to slow down.

This is something I’ll write about later, but lyric heavy genres are getting an MK Ultra comeback.

Could be that albums from PinkPanteress, Charli XCX, and others have been the catalyst for this.

Never really expected this branch of electro house to come back this way.

Of course, it’s more “pop” than electro, and it’s taking full advantage of Nostalgia Year™but you can’t deny its a force to be reckoned with.

I’ve tried keeping track of how many songs come out on the Sloptify “brand new” playlist.

For the past couple of months it’s hovered around the 120-125 song mark.

It was 140-150 songs per Fridee last year.

Yes, this is already unsustainable. It’s already near impossible to give each new song the attention it deserves.

A reduction of new songs IS a good thing.

Of course, a big reason for this is that many artists have opted out of the Fridee rat race and release in other days of the week.

Regardless, it seems like the overall genre is going through a “winter” period.

I think it’s about time. It’s been going all gas no breaks for the past 6 years. It

Yes, this is a “complainer” email. Not the usual kind.

I still love this genre. Electronic music IS the best genre on earth and I will die on this pretentious hill.

Things rise and they fall before rising again stronger.

It is very curious to see it in real time.

Just know that we won’t give up on our mission to find you the best stuff out there.

Through golden and dark ages, you can count on your unmedicated host Hz to send you this senseless drive.

Until the wheels come off.

Hz

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