2022 has been a crazy year for some, and a quiet year for others. For me, I’d consider it as both. 2022 was the craziest year for all of the music going around, but it was the quietest in that it is the year I have released the least amount of music. (Wait a minute... that sounds way too familiar...)

Anyways, while the number of tracks have been going down significantly for me by the year, the amount of EP/LP work(s) have been going WAY up. Also, more will be explained why my quantity has gone way down further down this post.

Topic One: Top JK Tracks of 2022

This year will be the same as last year, with an overall top 15 of what I think are my best projects.

15. meowave

To be fair, this isn't the most interesting project to start off with, until I say that all of the synths were made with just MeowSynth without resampling. This was a fun experiment to do, and I could do something like this again in the future.

14. Betelgeuse VIP (from Year 21 EP)

While I still believe that the melodic flow of the original is better, the second drop in this VIP takes the cake. It takes my uncommon hardpsy style and cranks it to 11.

13. Acid Trip

It isn't the first time that I put a filler song as one of my best projects of the year, and this is no exception.

12. Journey of a Traveler (AIM 2022)

Probably the only non-electronic song on this list, and that is quite sad to say considering my absence with the exclusively cinematic area of music. Regardless, as usual, this is a story-based track that was inspired by an art by @Vortex-Supernova and this was a lot of fun to do.

11. Pentachoron VIP (from Year 21 EP)

Yeah... This VIP is WAY better than its original counterpart. The mixing is leagues better, the sub is actually mixed properly, and the orchestral-esque break section is much better than the original could ever be. Out of all of the VIPs in my birthday EP, I can safely say that Pentachoron VIP was my personal best of the bunch.

10. RISK

It feels weird to put my most basic project in over 3 years as my 10th best project of 2022. However, it seems that the name of the song tells it all. The whole song was literally a risk. I had to make a song in under 24 hours, with as few tracks as possible. 

9. Deathflore - BLAME ~ Kysertron Remix

I know it seems stupid to put a remix in the top 10, but this remix that I did was quite the treat. While it was not the winning remix, a lot of the remix judges loved the idea that my remix had.

8. Life After the Outbreak (from Recovery and Control)

This song is basically the spiritual successor to the introductory track of Imminent Outbreak, Viral Origin. However, comparing these two songs together, this song is the better song by a long shot. It has a fuller atmosphere, fuller drops, and even a better double drop (this song does not have a second drop though, which was intentional).

7. genre_selection

Even though it isn't my best, my 500th song was a very good project nonetheless. It was my first full-flavor project, and also my project to mark halfway to a thousand (if that ever happens). While half of the project is basically a homage to my past projects, song 500 was basically a big project in itself that manage to show off some of what I can pull off if given enough time.

6. A Force to Be Reckoned With (from Recovery and Control)

I feel kinda bummed to even put this as #6, as it is the spiritual successor to the epilogue track of Imminent Outbreak, which I said was my best project of 2020. However, it isn't a bad project either. This project was filled with a lot of sound design overhauls from it's predecessor, and it did result in a lot of improvement.

5. Big Boss

This was my first tearout song, and it was quite the first attempt at that. The atmosphere is also slightly different than what I usually do, and it sticks out as a very unique track overall.

4. Simple Dance (from Kysertron, Part 2: The Transformation)

Despite being seen by some as a bit basic, I thought this was a good attempt at complextro. The fun groove/beat on top of the different basslines going on in the drops provide for a very fun song altogether.

3. One Hyperactive Tance Party (From Hi Tance Vol. 2)

What else can I say about this? This is literally just "outside the comfort zone" Kysertron. DnB combined with hardstyle and close to 7 minutes of high-energy power. There is nothing much else to say about that.

2. 503 FORBIDDEN (from REDACTED)

This song takes a whole new spin to my midtempo/cyberpunk design (as seen from Roll it Back and Roll it Back Again) and turns it towards the more "dystopian" vibe that the cyberpunk genre is usually based on. This does also imply my capabilities of the midtempo genre will also cover a much larger area than what I usually do (to be honest, I don't usually do midtempo much at all compared to house or dubstep). I really loved how this resulted in the way it did, and I hope to do it again in the near future.

1. One with the A.I. (from Kysertron, Part 2: The Transformation)

It was a close top 3, but when when I was comparing the top 3 songs, the top choice was a landslide. Honestly, this might be the best project I have done in a long time. Not only does it combine some of my techniques from dubstep with some deathstep-esque styles, it also provides a whole new turn in my design, which also adds to the fact that it stands out from the rest of my projects of the year. If I compare my top 1 songs from both 2020 and 2021, I would still think that this song has better experimentation, better imagery (tough to compare with Kysertron: The Origin), better transitioning, and a better middle section. I even showed this to some of my friends who leaned more into the harsher ends of dubstep/deathstep, and a lot of them absolutely loved it. It is possibly one of the most unique projects I have ever done since joining Newgrounds in 2016.

Topic Two: 2023 Projects

If all goes to plan, 2023 is expected to be the biggest year I have had for projects since 2018/2019. I have a lot to bring to the table to meet the expectations for the projects I have planned next year.

Part One: Continuing Projects

1. Mind of Kyser

I actually started on this very late in 2021, with almost half of the project in 2022. As of this news post, I have half of the entire album completed! Also, I am sticking to the plan of 20 tracks.

2. Kysertron, Part 3

Now, I can't say what Part 3 of my titular EP will be called, but I do have a few ideas pinned. Not much is planned for this one, but more will be planned as time progresses

3. Year 22 EP

This will likely be the same of the prequel Year 21 with 4 VIP tracks. (Most people have caught on about the tradition of the VIP EPs that I do around these exact dates.)

4. (NOT CONFIRMED) The Universe, Volume 3

Sticking to what I said last year, I honestly do not know what Volume 3 will be, if I ever do it.

Part Two: New Projects

1. HELL (EP)

This is an EP that may be the sequel to Judgment EP to some, and they are absolutely right. This EP will be a challenge for me to explore the much darker areas of EDM, and it may be the most interesting experiment I have ever done.

2. Theia (SINGLE)

I actually started this project now, but it will not be ready for quite a long time (my definition of "long time" differs from the usual... let's say "2-3 months", give or take a couple weeks). I don't want to spoil anything, but if you don't know what Theia (the planet) is, I would suggest researching about that as it is something that has been of interest to me for a long time.

Topic Three: Post-500 Thoughts

I wanted to specifically designate this portion of the news post to talk about the whole conundrum of having 500 songs on Newgrounds despite the declining frequency of songs.

Part One: Why did you want to make 500 songs?

Honestly, if you were to ask my old self (let's say, as late as 2018), I would probably tell you that 500 would likely never happen and is just a big "IF". There is not many people out there who have even made 200 songs in there entire discography, much less 500.

Part Two: Why did your output slow down?

Simple answer: I changed the way I made my music. While you can still hear my old self in a lot of my songs, the mixing is what I aim to be as best as it can. My 2018's output was so high, but the quality was so subpar a lot of the time that the output almost didn't even matter compared to now (realization hit me in late 2019/early 2020).

Part Three: Do you plan to make it to 1,000?

This question is more likely on if I am making music for that long. It is more likely than not if I will make it to 1,000 songs, but it would still be a huge accomplishment in itself if I even did (and that is a big "IF").

Part Four: Has your decline in output already stopped?

As of right now, it is too early to tell. However, it is possible that the decline will not be there in 2023. Furthermore from my second big question (Part Two), the decline can also be explained by my further experimentation on styles that I either have not mastered or have not explored.

Topic Four: Final Thoughts of 2022

With even less tracks than 2021, 2022 was my least active year as far of the amount of music I've released. However, sacrificing the high quantity of tracks is the price for much better production. Regardless, 2023 will likely be more active than 2022.

Anyways, that is my 2022 end-of-year post. Let 2023 bring many good things you all, and I hope you have a Happy New Year! :D