For those not in the know, Dust Car was a discord server created in 2020 during the height of the pandemic. It featured regular competitions where musicians were given a topic and had only 14 days to create a new piece of music based on it, very similar to the toastbeard competition from early fandom history. The server functioned as its own underground music scene—a place where both newcomers and veterans alike could experiment with making music and make friends along the way. The discord peaked in popularity around 2021, but continued operations into 2024. In total, 100 competitions took place and 1,200 tracks were made!

Today marks the one year anniversary of Dust Car – Lap of Honor, the final album put out by the musicians in that community. Keep reading after the break for a run down of all the tracks

• The opening track, “Blueshift” by Direct Current starts as ethereal mix with didgeridoo and Direct Current’s signature layered vocals before transitioning into a bouncier, jingly section. The name is a nod to one of Direct Current’s earlier tracks, “Redshift” from the album The Rest of Our Lives, which was one of the inspirations for the dust car project. It is quite fitting to see it referenced on the final dust car album.
• “Diffusion” is a bouncy and lively electronic track from MiniMic which includes some fun throw back samples like Rainbow Dash’s “louder” and Fluttershy’s “yay”.
• Toga’s “Twilighting” takes on a darker tone with its glitchy effects and industrial-like sound. The sound design is super creative and takes many interesting turns – you never know quite what to expect when listening to it.
• “Never Mean It” from Foozogz adds some hyperpop flare to the album. It’s a catchy tune, and both its lyrics and chord progression evoke a beautiful and fitting sense of nostalgia
• Fetlocked and Toasterless team up for the first collab of the album in “Toasty Beards and Dusty Cars”. The track mashes together a lot of fun ideas and styles, even throwing in some ‘Rainbow Factory’ references!
• Candy Yunagi teamed up with sally six for a lovely track playing on the friendship letter concept as is evident by the title, “Dear Princess Celestia.” There’s also a fair amount of 8bit sounds, giving it a nice video-game like feel.
• “Lines of Purple” by ~ Avery ~ brings a splash of rock to the album with its guitars and drums, fused with bright and chirpy electronic synths to form a truly unique texture. It even scratches that pony chop itch with the track sampling G4 songs like “You’ll play your part” and “B.B.B.F.F.”
• “bye song” by sb<3 continues the album’s experimental streak by starting with a more ambient electronic vibe only to shift into an EDM bop and concluding with here signature G3 chops.
• Ashes & Atomic team up for a nine-minute pluderphonics masterpiece, “TYDC” (Thank You Dust Car). The track uses dozens upon dozens of samples, including dust car originals like “What’s Going on Luster Dawn” and “Fuck Georgia”, and features a lovely tribute section in the middle with many regular attendees saying “Thank you Dust Car”. It’s both sincere in its thanks while also not shying away from controversy and drama (you know if you know). As a whole, it captures the chaotic experience of past dust car races and stands as a wonderful contribution to the album.
• bramble likes card games
• For the final track, Maddie and Kingsley pair up to deliver a gorgeous track, “Ready for the Weather.” Its bird chirp samples evoke a sense of peace and harmony, and the march of its snare drum captures a sense of finality and moving forward, on from dust car to whatever comes next.