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Is there a microgenre name for these sorts of shortform breakbeat-driven quasi-jungle tracks, usually with heavy reference to internet culture, anime, and gaming? I’m not slighting the stuff, some of it is great, but it really feels like it’s definitely a thing, and I don’t have a name for it. I guess this is sort of what I imagine kids who would have been making breakcore 15 years ago are doing instead (some of them are definitely still incorporating breakcore). And I’d also guess this is kind of close to the world that gave birth to legit stars like PinkPantheress. Calling this internetcore feels too broad, since my experience is that encompasses much more than what I’m trying to describe.

I really like these three tracks I got in the mailbox from ERRx. All three short and sweet slices of this genre I don’t have a name for, none longer than two minutes. I know nothing about this artist — their twitter location is listed as ‘not here’, and their bio on all socials is:

c r i t i c a l ERRx d e t e c t e d @ criticalxerrorx E̶̪̺̖̗͍̠̖̲̭̲̜̘̊͝R̶̨̜͍̳̙̪̭̽̎̀͠R̸̛̝̤̬͓̻̫̩̣̳̀͒͒̌͂̓̾͂͊̐͝͠x̷̛̰̲͛̿̾̈́̐̎̄̓̕͜͝͝͠ ̸̣͍͚͍̭̙̝̬̀̔͐̓̒̋̚

I even tried to do some sleuthing by seeing where their spotify listeners are concentrated. Almost evenly distributed between London, Santiago, LA, Melbourne, and Paris. You can’t get much more worldwide than that. Or I guess the operative word is online. Maybe we can just call this microgenre ‘online jungle’?

No bandcamp for ERRx, so follow their soundcloud, or stream them all over.

ERRx – “I miss having LAN parties” (sc)
ERRx – “I made an error” (sc)
ERRx – “who are you” (remix) ft. Brooke Elise (sc)

Gryr – Drift

Cloudy electronica from Gothenburg-based Gryr (Jonatan Josefsson). The A-side, “Drift,” is music perfect for driving through foggy tundric expanses—it evolves deliberately, its rhythm and chords cruising steadily in a trance. The B-side, “Sand,” is slightly more propulsive but no less aerial– its lilting melodies tumbling through many of the same lofty spaces as the first one, but with a touch of low-end tug. These are the first set of singles from Gryr’s upcoming Hymn EP. No bandcamp for these, unfortunately, but you can grab them below or find them for streaming all over.

Gryr – “Drift”
Gryr – “Sand”

Brecon – Angular

Following a similar thread is a new song from Brecon (Will Brown), the Welsh artist whose excellent collaboration with Verity Standen I covered last month–and which has been a real favorite of mine in the time since. As was the case with that one, this new one marries a gentle, reflective introductory melody with an eruptive peak: cascading, theatrical melodies set against a wall of synth and drums. Gorgeous stuff. No bandcamp for this yet, but Brown was kind enough to let me share with you the mp3 below. You can also find this for streaming.

Brecon – “Angular”

ERRx – golden hour

Finally today is a new one from ERRx, the nameless artist whose work I’ve covered a couple of times before–including in the first post in which I coined the lazy term online jungle to describe the breakcore-adjacent microgenre of frenetic, melancholy, short-form songs, all heavy with breakbeats and drenched in big pads. This new song from ERRx takes that same formula and notches up the optimism for sunny day walks and thinking about your crush. The beautiful Windows critical error sound is there too. I’ve also included a song I’ve posted in the past, with a new housier remix by ERRx themselves (together with an artist I can’t find any information about, WALKDONTRUN). I know I describe this stuff as within a microgenre, but as is often the case with online subcultures, they have a way of infiltrating the mainstream. The original of this has generated over 100m views and plays and has been included in ad campaigns by the likes of Fanta. You can grab all these on bandcamp, or find them for streaming. ERRx was also kind enough to let me post the mp3s of a couple of these below.

ERRx – “golden hour”
ERRx – “breaking down”
ERRx – “breaking down” (Remix)

I’ve got so much good stuff coming in all the time, and I don’t always have the bandwidth to cover as much as I’d like. So, in the interest of not letting too many gems fall through the cracks, I’ll occasionally be collecting a handful of recent contributions into a new From the Mailbox feature.

Nikolas Thompson – On The Sure (Waiting For Me)

Wonderfully idiosyncratic club music from Perth’s Nikolas Thompson. I love when a song feels totally built for purpose, like it was produced by a DJ just to fill a specific hole in their set. Grab the mp3 so it can serve that purpose for you too. Thompson seems full of personality, zeal, and good ideas, so I’d keep an ear out for more from him.

Nikolas Thompson – “On The Sure (Waiting For Me)” (mp3)

Dr. Sepi – IceDrop

Next, it’s more dancefloor frenzy from Norway’s Dr. Sepi. This time it’s breakneck triplet carioca syncopation meets 170bpm breakbeat fury. DJ’s: grab the mp3 for free below (and don’t miss that last one I posted too).

Dr. Sepi – “IceDrop” (mp3)

ERRx – breaking down

Finally, another slice of ambient breakcore / online jungle vibes from ERRx, who I’ve covered in the past. Two pristine minutes of flow state music.

ERRx – “breaking down” (sc)

More of that internetcore-adjacent online jungle I was on about a couple of months ago. This time it’s this very playstation roller from miiinty, who I know nothing about except that they’re [maybe] from the UK. Besides the song’s bloodshot title, the only indication of miiinty’s inspiration is the following statement: “born to uwu forced to thug it out tbh.” Like any good loading screen song, this song’s appeal is immediate and it remains engaging throughout, in a way that could probably go on forever before you’d notice the game had frozen.

Not on bandcamp, but you can find it for streaming anywhere you’d think to look.

miiinty – “playing spyro on a ps2 emulator gave me a hit of dopamine!!!” (sc)

More of that dreamy online jungle/y2k breakcore I’ve written about a few times previously. This time from producer shiro12, who I don’t know much about except that they describe themselves as “home-bound.” I assume they’re located in Japan, but I’m not actually sure about that either. Again, as is the case with this strain of revivalism, what’s probably most important is that they’re online, and their music is too.

No bandcamp, so stream away.

shiro12 – “Afterimage / 残像” (sc)

shiro12 – “カレイドスコープ” (sc)

This is another example of the kind of stuff I was writing about yesterday. But where I hesitated to call yesterday’s tracks internetcore, this one fits that bill much better.

We’re still in the same universe I was describing, heavily reliant on the building blocks of jungle: chopped amens and short, round, 808-like bass hits. But here cupsy (an artist based in Colorado Springs who also releases music under the name Dream Entact) and cybersona888 (who I can’t find any info about) definitely do head much further down the breakcore rabbithole. There’s also a marked attempt (conscious or instinctive) to incorporate elements of other internet genres. There are moments full of evil reese and post-gabber kick fills that–in this context–manage to function like a reprieve from the breakbeat mania. Large portions of the track also include a layer of [probably] memphis rap acapella that sits low enough in the mix to be mostly indecipherable, but clear enough to be a nod to the Russian drift phonk that ruled TikTok and Reels for a while a couple of years ago (I’ve got a soft spot for that stuff).

There are a lot of ingredients in this pot, but it all works together nicely. No bandcamp for this, but find it for streaming all over.

cupsy & cybersona888 – “GNGSTA” (sc)