Garlic

Good day to any folks reading this! I go by GarlicBiscuit(s) across all social media, but you can simply call me Garlic. Music has been a lifelong sanctuary for me as a medium, one that has run in more or less our entire family. Being exposed to instruments like toy trumpets at the age of 3, alongside violins, pianos, and acoustic guitars later on certainly attuned my ears to a small taste of the magic held by those sound waves. Through the 2010s, my preferences carved humble beginnings with videogame soundtracks and various remixes of videogame songs, usually under my favorite genre of platformers. The latter was where I formed my love for metal-centric music via GaMetal's nostalgic contributions, later being bolstered by the excellent character themes in Guilty Gear: Strive. My preferences lean towards atmospheric richness, variety, and deeper emotional resonance, with personal cornerstone OSTs including cases like Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, Sonic Unleashed, and Celeste.

The existence of my Album of the Year account does not primarily hinge on this part of my journey, however. Across these years of discovering and really beginning to form a strong musical identity, I was also introduced more formally (or informally?) to the electronic space through Just Shapes & Beats. Besides being a fantastic game in its own right, I was obsessed with the songs featured, always making sure the appropriate playlist was in my vicinity for leisure time. Something about them spoke to me in ways that the rest of my library did not inherently specialize with. I would have been plenty content continuing to enjoy the JS&B soundtrack as a one-off deal.

Fast forward to late 2021, and my rhythm game fascinations reemerged via the Friday Night Funkin craze that plastered that year. Once again, I was presented a bounty of cool music to tag alongside equally cool mods, both of which I really vibed with. I watched many of these mods being showcased by an FFXIV streamer named woops, and there was a specific mod he played that caught my eye more than others: Vs. Camellia. I believe it's the first one I saw featuring an outside-world person instead of a preexisting fictional character, and what woops was saying about loving his music intrigued me. Only upon hearing the first chart did I immediately know I stumbled on an artist unlike anyone else. I was left so enamored that I eventually checked out U.U.F.O. from him (the album that happened to drop a bit before the upload date of that mod showcase), and everything past that is history. I would not be where I am now if this never happened, and that is a reality I do not wish to imagine.

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I treat my reviews like comprehensive journal entries, snapshots in my musical journey that can still serve a solid representation of long-standing thoughts regarding what I care about. There is a lot of music I listen to that I will not bother rating or reviewing, as what I rate and review is intended to be works that are personally meaningful. If I feel indifferent about it, I won't pay it much mind. Much of what I cover is in my own Foobar2000 library, and most of that carries varying degrees of positive experiences. Negatively rated releases in there are few and far between, so most reviews of that flavor will surround stuff outside my collection. In general, a lot of my reviews should lean positive in nature because that's what I want to express my passion and unending appreciation for the most. Even then, you have to acknowledge what you feel isn't ideal with certain pieces to best grasp what makes the standouts soar ever higher.

Any reviews I share are largely subjective and should not be treated as anything more than what I hear and feel. I previously had a small extent of exposure to music theory because of middle and high-school choir involvement, but any of that familiarity is long gone and of unknown relevance to what I enjoy. I wouldn't be surprised if there is music with more complicated compositional techniques that I have not cared for, alongside music with more simplistic choices that land wonderfully. If anything, lacking such a reference point may very well make it easier for me to decide on what music is worth appreciating in the long run since it feels more personalized and less technical. Nonetheless, I can easily understand the appeal.

With this in mind, I aim to craft reviews that end up in a comprehensive and more-or-less stable state. Their length can be anywhere from reasonably succinct to proper essays depending on how much is swirling around in my already active head. The essay-sized ones will more often coincide with releases I rate quite highly. I'm not here to make unnecessary jokes, post low-effort reviews that lack sufficient detail and/or read as engagement farming, or use flowery, hype-based language. Even if not too objective, what I share should ideally allow readers to understand what I look for and care about with different music. If that can even allow them opportunities to steadily refine their preferences and broaden their tastes like I regularly try, that's great.

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As far as my general rating system goes, I will give personally relevant releases an initial rating based off my own criteria. This criterion is what makes many of my number ratings very specific. The numbers are subject to change before I post their respective reviews, but said changes usually don't end up more than +-5 points. I've found that how much I do or do not enjoy specific music very much remains that way over long periods of time, so whatever ratings I end up with are pretty much final.

Anything I rate positively can always have a chance of becoming even better with time, but the opposite end doesn't really get worse. Whether the negative end will change in the future, I'm not certain. With that, here are my rating boundaries. This account prioritizes EP, LP, and OST ratings and reviews over singles.

30-55/100

This is about the lowest I would realistically imagine myself settling on for ratings. These releases might not even be ones I consider bad, but they still have serious problems that make them difficult to recommend. At best, these may have a couple songs here and there that are worth returning to, but there will be just as many or more that I have little interest in revisiting often. This range usually encompasses the most disappointing music for me since they almost always have a wealth of potential, but end up squandered for some number of reasons.

56-69/100

These releases start approaching territory where I can consider them decent or even good, but the big problems that can plague my lower ratings still bleed into here to an extent. These are more of a mixed bag in terms of how often I revisit them, with some being fairly often and others being essentially never. This range is a weird middle ground that I'm probably the least irritated by, and the chance of these being in my library might be the lowest of any category. Not especially great or especially offensive.

70-83/100

Overall good albums/EPs/OSTs, maybe even bordering on great for the other end of the range. Like with the previous range, my chances of revisiting releases on the lower half here might be mixed, but anything starting to get into the 80s introduces music that I will happily revisit often. Problems like suboptimal mixing and mastering, lack of an adequately fleshed out atmosphere (for electronic albums), and a small handful of less desirable tracks can still pop up, but they tend to be less distracting/intrusive.

84-93/100

This range is likely where a lot of my AOTY ratings and reviews will live. We're now in the territory of releases that I find are really great to fantastic, ones where my chances of revisiting and continuing to appreciate them are exponentially higher. At worst, there tend to only be small problems holding them back from subjective perfection. Even then, they're usually nitpicks that I can get past if it means loving everything else.

94-99/100

About as close to perfect as I can get without being entirely there. These might as well be 100s, but with how I rate releases, they'll have the tiniest dings attached to them. By this point, said dings are so small that they can be easily ignored.

100/100

Despite their plentiful nature, this category covers music that I feel is a core part of my long-term musical identity. These releases don't even have to be perfect to earn that accolade because of the leeway that some of my criteria allow. Many of these actually end up with ratings a bit over 100. With that said, these albums, EPs, and soundtracks are perfect to me, and any imperfections left on the table are ones that they wear on their sleeves with pride. They're the ones I can fall back on to always have a reminder of what makes music so special.

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One last note in case it's helpful: anything related to comments or shoutboxes are turned off for my AOTY account. I prefer to post reviews and leave it at that if it means avoiding forum-related activity. If you would like to chat about any of the music I cover, especially EDM, then my discord is the same name. I would be happy to engage as long as you're respectful, open-minded, and level-headed. It's probably ideal to follow me on AOTY first so I know that it corresponds to any friend requests I receive going forward.

That is all. Enjoy the music!