Level Select

On October 1, 2023, and 10 days later across all streaming platforms, Level Select was released with no official prior announcement, being ToxiPlays' sophomore album and the first ToxiPlays album to appear on Spotify and other services like it. The album is mostly solo but includes two guest verses from Livr and Clinomaniac*, a sampled chorus from Leonii on Volta’s “Dreams”, and a resurgence of familiar alter egos such as ​hypertoxicated and the well-awaited ​h1d3out—who originated from the buildup to Rewind & Remix, Toxi’s debut album. With the exception of “Cold Case” and “CHILD OF GOD!”, ToxiPlays and GoVyral claim sole production credits for the entirety of the project.

Level Select is unique in that, in respect to the Arcade Cabinet collective, hosts (such as the at-the-time familiar Julie) were disallowed from contributing to the album in a major fashion. Rather, each track holds a different “level” curated by a completely different member within the collective—the likes of which are broken down on the Spotify canvases. The now iconic and sole single for the album, “Pingin' Home”, for instance, was solely created and presented by Kero. This concept of “one-member-gets-one-track” is likely where the congregated sophomore project gets its name from.

In contrast to a lot of the rest of the ToxiPlays discography, Level Select sees the collective contributing to a plethora of different genres and styles within—that being said, electronic music and rap/hip-hop, two staples of the ToxiPlays sonic identity, remain audible influences throughout. A clear example can be King’s “Asclepius”, a ballad-esque slow track which greatly contrasts the production on Flake’s “Lights Out”.

Aside from during a vaguely-promotional Instagram live 43 minutes before the album’s initial release alongside the featured Livr, sampled Leonii, and “MISSINGNO” mastering engineer ​isdamenok, the release of Level Select was completely unannounced. For ten days, the album was also exclusive to SoundCloud, BandLab and Bandcamp due to distribution conflicts, finally arriving to other platforms on October 11, 2023.

If I may grasp everybody’s attention in here, I have an announcement that I can finally make. If you check the link in my bio—don’t go on Spotify. You will be disappointed if you go on Spotify, do not go on Spotify. If you click the link in my bio, you will see that, presented by the Arcade Cabinet, the sophomore ToxiPlays album—Level Select—is out. Not now, but in 15 seconds… I’m gonna end the live when that happens… SoundCloud, BandLab, Bandcamp; we are vibing. Let me know what y'all think.