2 Years of Failure by C418 (Review)

If you’ve played Minecraft, then you’re familiar with the music of Daniel Rosenfeld. Recording under the C418 moniker, Rosenfeld composed the game’s lovely, playful-yet-melancholy soundtracks (Volume Alpha, Volume Beta). In addition to creating music for Minecraft, he’s released numerous albums of atmospheric electronic music. Which brings us to 2 Years of Failure.

Described as “a collection of failures, unpublished works, rescued broken song files and things that I simply cannot sell,” 2 Years of Failure is a collection of odds and ends that explore different facets of the C418 sound. All self-deprecation aside, 2 Years of Failure is a nice, even delightful collection of tracks. Considering the album’s origins, it’s not too surprising that it skips around a bit, from anthemic techno (“90s_tripverse”) to video game action themes (“90s_management”) to soft ambient soundscapes (“house_loneliness”). There’s even an orchestral “remix” of the Akira soundtrack (“kaneda”) and a nice take on the Stranger Things theme (“stranger_think”), to boot.

The random, scrapbook-ish nature of 2 Years of Failure does make for a hit-or-miss listen, but even Rosenfeld’s weaker pieces have something enjoyable about them, be it clever melodies or a spritely, impish tone.