2. Friendzone - DX

This is no secret that I love Friendzone; their music has shown up on here a few times now. I first discovered them when I just had to know who was behind my favorite track off of Main Attrakionz' 808's and Dark Grapes II which was, at the time, "Chutch." I had never heard beats so full of life, and it did not surprise me how well the tracks held up on their own (last year's Collection 1 is a favorite of mine that I am always returning to.) If I could describe Friendzone in one word, it would have to be giving. Not only is all of their music absolutely free, it also has more heart than a lot of singer/songwriters I know. Not only that, but these guys are seriously hard working, releasing it seems about two to three projects/albums a year. It was earlier this year that they released the third installment of their Kuchibiru Network series. It was naturally much more ambitious than its predecessors, plus it featured a ton of collaborators, .L.W.H., Keyboard Kid, Finally Boys (I am most anticipating what Finally Boys does next), to name a few. KN3 was a great release, and I still listen to it today. But the thing is, all this year they had been talking about releasing a proper debut album of all new music. By the time DX had been released in October, a handful of tracks from it had already been shared, but it didn't matter, I was already sold.

In an interview with the duo behind Friendzone, they talked about how, "If Collection 1 was body music, than DX has got to be head music." This rings so true, however I would say there is also much heart here as well. The music on DX is much more alive than than their previous releases. The instrumentation is much more diverse. The production is once again great. Friendzone continue to draw from such influences and inspiration as j-pop, console RPG's, and I even wanna say math rock tendencies sometimes. This makes for one of the most original and overlooked albums this year. With DX, Friendzone prove they are not merely beat makers but incredible song writers.