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Proceeds from this compilation will be donated to Musician's Foundation. https://www.musiciansfoundation.org/

All submissions have been archived and are available for listening at: hit-em.net
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The Tabula Rasa Record Company is proud to present the release of “Thank You, Dream Girl”, the 27-track official “hit em” compilation, curated by Machinedrum (Travis Stewart) and Drew Daniel, one half of Matmos.

“Had a dream I was at a rave talking to a girl and she told me about a genre called “hit em” that is in 5/4 time at 212 bpm with super crunched out sounds. Thank you dream girl.”

It began with Drew Daniel’s now-infamous tweet, inspired by a dream involving an imaginary genre, a dream girl, and a grave covered in slime. Sparking virality, the tweet prompted thousands of DAW screen-recordings on Twitter, as musicians eagerly took on the challenge. In response, Daniel announced a compilation was in the works with Machinedrum, in collaboration with San Francisco-based experimental dance music label, The Tabula Rasa Record Company. Soon after, hit em exploded into a sensation, gaining coverage from The Guardian, VICE, NPR, and Stereogum. What began as a playful discourse quickly proved itself as a legitimate music phenomenon. Pitchfork lovingly describes the niche enthusiasm for hit em “as a subconscious wish for a radical new style to flip our collective wigs, a sound that might supply the same kind of rush that footwork did, or dubstep, or jungle, the first time you heard it”.

Inhabiting a liminal space between viral joke and conceptual provocation while offering a snapshot of how a formal challenge can trigger creativity from the very online, hit em embodies the tension between artistry and the pressures of algorithm-driven visibility, turning a tweet’s open-ended template into a fully realized sound and scene, with distinct microgenres (shared touch points include drill n bass IDM, frenetic breakcore, and hardcore rave, alongside melodic nods to hyperpop, wave, trip-hop and jazz) and its own accelerated discourse (see: “should half-time beats technically at 212 beats-per-minute count as hit em?”).

Handpicked by Stewart, Daniel, and Tabula Rasa Records, “Thank You, Dream Girl” brings together 26 tracks from a global roster of artists from both underground and established circles, capturing the spectrum of hit em in all its experimental, online-driven energy. Although diverse, “Thank You, Dream Girl” captures a sound that teeters on the brink, its pulse and structure almost disintegrating under its own weight yet somehow always holding together.

Tracks like Portland-based producer Eprom’s “The Search”—an ominous, acid-laden deconstruction of rave and west coast bass—provide a sonic jolt, while Clearcast’s ‘Weightless Hit Em’ serves as a surprising oasis within the frenzy, embodying the more meditative side of hit em’s sonic spectrum. Tracks like galen tipton (appearing as dj galen)’s “electric wasp nest mix” push hardcore techno to its limits, an electrified blitz that feels like a mad scientist’s fever dream, while Matmos’ “A Grave Covered in Slime” offers a frenetic, collage-like journey through electro-acoustic textures, equal parts power electronics and itchy punk. In a softer contrast, Oneironaut, a collaboration between Drew Daniel (as The Soft Pink Truth) and Machinedrum, drifts through lush, IDM-influenced soundscapes, melding dreamy jazz elements with a nostalgic warmth that lingers amid the chaos."

The compilation isn’t bound by conventional structure; some tracks hit with a dancefloor crunch, while others feel more like jazz-inflected jams or open-ended sound experiments. This variety is best captured in the saxophone-led “Plugged” by Dehm and RamonPang’s ‘You Were the Sign,’ which channels new age and smooth jazz amid glitchy, IDM grooves. Throughout, artists embrace a playful subversion of genres, from a J Dilla-esque beat reinterpreted in 5/4 to the common vocal-call of “hit em”, being used to varying degrees.

hi. the tabula rasa record company is not a record label.

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