Review Summary: the future
32 seconds into
dariacore, you’ll understand the formula. faded vocals from "ricky bobby freestyle" (a track by ONE YEAR, a plugg artist dltzk/leroy has worked with before) slowly come into focus, the "
flooooooor" from "bodies" comes in (tastefully, somehow, as it does frequently throughout the project), and suddenly, there's a bass-boosted drop exploding with a power you haven't heard since skrillex's heyday. this continues on for the rest of the song, but not without exciting variation - the windows drive removal sound effect, other song samples, etc. this was the very first dariacore track, and, thank god, not the last. this song, and the rest of the ones on this stellar compilation, have inspired a movement among a small but promising and very active group of soundcloud producers, most of whom are teens or otherwise very young. this makes sense, as it generally takes youth to create something this fresh. there are hundreds of dariacore tracks out there, but somehow the vast majority all still sound new and exciting. and for my money, this first compilation is the peak so far.
equal parts girl talk, brostep, and vine compilation, this project (and genre - which needs promotion just as much as this collection) draws from all sorts of sources, like hyperpop, drum and bass, various memes, and
so much pop music. this is the sound of someone who adores music (who else would sample "boyfriend" like that) and has enormous talent pairing that with a sense of humor, a short attention span, and, above all, brilliant musicality. leroy, aka dltzk (who uses they/them pronouns) has proven their worth several times this year alone, but for my money, this is their high point. at times, it's almost too extreme, like if 100 gecs didn't care about the law or, especially, about spanning such a wide range of genres. on occasion, it's a little too much, like on "copyright strike my fucking nuts" which heavily utilizes "a thousand miles" interspersed with heavy drumming and a myriad of semi-random samples. i get that that's sometimes just how life feels, so it hits on occasion, but when it's right next to stuff like "bluuuueeeee," which expertly and subtly interlays halsey and drake/rihanna with an overwhelmingly powerful drop, it's hard not to feel slightly underwhelmed.
thankfully, those underwhelming moments are few and far between, and the rest are so so good that it's easy to forget. "turmoiled" and "go white enby go" stand out in particular: the former, a chaotic wall of crunchy synths with a heavy emo influence, almost like something that would have fit on their 2021 album under dltzk,
frailty, and the latter 1 minute and 16 seconds of one of the best beats I've heard this decade (that moment when it shifts pitch after the "oh my god-god-go-god" part - wow!) and probably my favorite song of the year. even the tracks that sample songs i don't like are amazing: "dessert" is miles better than the original. and despite being a compilation of soundcloud loosies seemingly randomly listed in the order of release date, there's a sequence here. the first track sounds like an introduction, and the last sounds like a conclusion, as the only track to really commit to an idea for an extended period of time, even finishing off with their frequent sample of "leroy! that was fucking garbage." and everything in the middle flows naturally from one crazy idea to the next. most importantly, to one extent or another, all these ideas somehow work. this is the epitome of taking risks and having it pay off. when the rest of music catches up with leroy, you’ll know where it came from.
