2025: Top 20 Songs

20)

The Ocean Is Fake

Flume, JPEGMAFIA

Perhaps one of the strangest collaborations of the year - though it's not the first time these two have worked together, believe it or not - is Flume and JPEGMAFIA's collaborative EP, We Live In A Society. And though much of the EP was very memey (I will never recover from the music video of Track 1) the two do finally settle down and make a reasonably normal track with The Ocean Is Fake. 

Honestly, even despite being the most "normal" track on the record, this is a fantastically written track. Peggy's melodic singing voice - something we don't hear much of - is muffled by swathes of melodic production from Flume to give its first half a fantastic sense of progression, that finally moves into a more typical, abrasive rap performance from Peggy himself. It's his only full-blown rap on the whole EP, but he picks up Flume's beat uncannily well.

19)

Spirals Unfold

KOAN Sound

On account of a mini boycott of streaming platforms, KOAN Sound have been relatively quiet this year, but the one track they did let loose was Spirals Unfold. For KOAN Sound standards, you could even argue this is pretty standard, but it seemed unfair to measure this one by those standards, because this track definitely still deserves a spot on this list.

KOAN Sound dial down their basses to sound less intimate and more detached, allowing them to power this house cut with punchy basslines and shuffling beatwork, as opposed to their typically very engaged sound design style. It's still very clearly KOAN Sound, though, considering the near-perfect production value and very natural songwriting flow, just with a tighter hand on the reins to guide Spirals Unfold to a much more powerful stance, particularly with the slamming drops and the dubstep switchup.

18)

Stay With The Tempo

Flux Pavilion, Habstrakt

Speaking of brilliantly clean bass house, modern bass juggernauts Habstrakt and Flux Pavilion teamed up to release Stay With The Tempo, and this one went down very well. Flux Pavilion's rich synthwork propagates the whole thing from front to back, and Habstrakt takes charge of the track's flow - bass house is his forte, after all. And this track has really got it all: the brash, energetic, hype-up sample that repeats over the whole thing; the relentless bass stabs that dominate the drops; the bounce from the house beat and its interaction with the quasi-atmosphere these two build wherever possible. It might not be the most flashy song of the year, but it makes this list because it's infectious and undeniably high-quality.

17)

Starflame

Au5

Au5 has had quite an active 2025, with three whole EPs added to his discog, each one different to the last. Starflame is a 7-minute monolith housed in his second EP of the year, Emberwake, and whilst his third EP of the year might have been stronger holistically, this specific track is definitely his strongest individual performance of the year - a drawn-out, hard-hitting glitch hop magnum opus.

After detours into pop and transcendental ambient, tracks like this one make it clear that Au5 still, after all this time, retains the crown of bass music. Ever the sound design wizard, he wields recoiling basses and springy synths, warping them continuously for 7 minutes in funky, engaging, mind-bending ways that are just as impressive of a feat of songwriting as they are of sound engineering. Au5's own vocal section is just the cherry on top.

16)

Cultus

Screamarts

Screamarts' debut on Monstercat was, naturally, a bit of a surprise, but that surprise was short-lived. That's mostly because Cultus is an awe-inspiring, neurofunk-adjacent drum n bass track with a meticulous attention to detail. Despite the name, this track is surprisingly melodic, propelling a rich synth lead through the jagged stalagmites of Screamarts' unique sound design. It's also got a surprising atmospheric sensibility - that same synth lead flutters across an echoey soundscape, all the way into the second drop, a second drop that poses a strange, unique beauty to it, with the liquidy drums and submerged synth runs, as if it was produced in an underwater cavern.

15)

Whiplash

Crankdat, SOFI

Whiplash was a favourite for anyone who watched a Crankdat set, and it finally saw a release this year. Unsurprisingly, it generates hype of tremendous magnitude even outside a show setting, not by complex buildup structures or overly eager songwriting, but by pure energy and punch.

SOFI's vocal is a big part of the reason that Whiplash is able to clock in at #15 on this list. She rides the wave of the beat amazingly well, practically rapping over Crankdat's production in a fashion that manages to be both spirited and catchy. Crankdat himself puts in a big shift though, too, and his hard-hitting bass house is the turbocharged petrol Whiplash needs to whizz through its runtime, even through its crushing heavy dubstep second drop.

14)

Withdrawal

Chime

The B-side of his first release as a newly anointed UK dubstep producer, this track represents Chime's "withdrawal" away from his previous colour bass work.

Chime is something of a legend in colour bass circles. He coined the term, after all, and his vibrant, sound-design-forward style drove the genre to grand heights. Seeing him move away from colour bass is a little saddening, but, to be completely honest, if this is the tradeoff we get, I'll happily lap it up.

Withdrawal embodies the melancholic side of UK dubstep. Its energy-off, atmospheric approach to the genre harkens back to the likes of Burial, but with a fresh modern twinge to the whole thing - a twinge driven by Chime's digital sound design and the tense lead he slowly stacks higher and higher as the track progresses. Backed by gritty yet reflective bassline work, Withdrawal's ambience is impactful without feeling the need to be intense.

13)

ANDY

Skrillex, Dj Smokey

From Skrillex's generational mixtape comes what can arguably be called its title track, and Skrillex takes it upon himself to sample literally everyone he can think of, from Bibi Bourelly to DJ Khaled and Beyoncé, to the point where the credits for this song look like the beginnings of a movie credit roll.

Clearly, though, it payed off and more. ANDY chops up all these samples and blends them into a whirlwind of a track, that, despite being just under 2 minutes long, crams an incredible amount into its runtime. It opens with a hurricane of roaring dubstep and DJ Khaled's song Top Off, along with Dj Smokey's iconic producer tags, before quickly petering into a more introspective section spearheaded by Bibi Bourelly, and then expanding out again into a melodic, almost colourful final movement. ANDY is dense, chaotic, polished, and an absolute blast to listen to.

12)

Music

underscores

Hyperpop has been steadily gaining in popularity ever since Charli xcx dropped the BRAT bombshell on the world last year. One of the scene's most established figures is underscores, who released Music somewhere in the middle of the year, and it was an instant hit. Her playful songwriting and lyricism is immediately visible from the first line, backed by a pounding, reverberating sub-bass that pulls you along with it. The voice modulation that is so typical of hyperpop feels more subtle, more polished - though very much still present here - allowing the other elements of the track to shine until its climax about midway through. At which point it strips back and rerolls for round two, pushed by a catchy autotuned hook into a dense, maximalist second movement, cementing Music as a fantastically written piece of, well, music.

11)

This Way

Space Laces

This Way is just a high-quality Space Laces track. Realistically, I don't need to say anymore, but I'm going to anyway. Somehow this man manages to strike a perfect balance between extremely aggressive dubstep and crystal clear mixdowns every single time. 

The thunderous sustains and crackpot bass stabs completely ravage any possible beauty the soundscape might have held, leaving only a wasteland Space Laces calls his kingdom. And yet, the drums still thrive, crisp and unrelenting. Between them, they construct flows so mesmerizing and so clean that the wasteland seems more like an eternal fall through the dungeons of hard dubstep, using the vocal sample for tension in a way only the sound design of Space Laces really could do. This Way is definitely not for the faint of heart, but those that can handle it will quickly understand why it has climbed this list to secure the #11 spot.

10)

ORATORES

Vladimir Cauchemar, Apashe, Ruti

Though Apashe and Vladimir Cauchemar are more than accomplished producers who have worked together extensively in the past, it's really Ruti who completely steals the show. Her operatic, elegant voice is impressively grand and expansive, dominating the orchestral soundscape with a voice that paints lyricism that is almost vulnerable, almost inquisitive, yet somehow, always in control. 

Let's be clear, though. ORATORES is a very dramatic track, and dramatic is Apashe's bread and butter. Ruti steals the limelight, but Apashe and Vladimir Cauchemar are the track's silent racehorse, galloping through rhythms and dictating the songwriting. Their production creates the environment Ruti is able to thrive so well in, their drums lend her voice that added impact, and their compositional work is the reason the track twists and swells into its final, vast climax, in which the gilded synthwork finally shows its true colours.

9)

Pleasure Model (ring noord 172 mix)

Noisia, Former, ring noord

Noisia and Former's "Pleasure Model" was, in my humble opinion, the best track off of Noisia's final album Closer. To see it remixed by none other than ring noord - the collaborative project between Former and Sleepnet (a former member of Noisia) - was truly a treat, considering it's essentially the original creators themselves reenvisioning what was already a visionary track. The "ring noord 172 mix" was one of two mixes, the other being the techno-based "ring noord 150 mix", but I would call it the easy highlight.

The techno of the 150 mix wasn't particularly compelling, though it was aptly eerie. But this 172 mix opts for a ferocious drum n bass route, opening up with quite a spacious, consistent atmosphere before deepening the vocal sample to oblivion. ring noord don't mess around with the power of their idea, warping and twisting and forcing the neuro bassline through the drop with a cold, calculated, yet fervent demeanour. Where this remix lacks the cinematic strengths of the original, it makes up for it with absurd songwriting and sound design.

8)

Blood in the Water

Protostar, Laminar, imallryt

Back to back heavy DnB! This one sees seasoned DnB producers Protostar and Laminar team up with accomplished vocalist imallryt, and the result takes the best from each of their worlds.

"Blood in the Water" thrives off of pure, unbridled impact. imallryt's vocal performance is amazingly well done, holding itself smooth and steady, reflective and artful enough to explode into a yearning bellow when the drop comes. And the DnB production from Protostar and Laminar is layered and all-encompassing, employing sneaky synth runs and the fiery rush of a bassline across the drops. This is not a track that relies on any one person, but rather it's the height of the combined artistic power of these three. Sure, it's not a groundbreaking, revolutionary track, but it's one that takes itself seriously and understands how to exploit its tension.

7)

Second Sleep

Magdalena Bay

Magdalena Bay made a serious splash in the pond with their critically acclaimed 2024 album Imaginal Disk, and they've followed that up with a slew of double-sided singles to fill up this year. Whilst these double singles have contained a lot of gems between them, it's actually the A-side of the very first one I find myself coming back to the most. "Second Sleep" is compelling in all its aspects, whether that be Mica's comprehensive vocal performance or the powerful production that envelops the track in its entirety. A prog rock group at heart, Magdalena Bay hoist a guitar that permeates the climactic progression right through to the maximalist final movement - but, at the end of the day, this is an ethereal synthpop outfit, and the impeccable usage of glassy synths proves that Magdalena Bay aren't quite done with the synthpop scene yet.

6)

Momentum

PROFF, Diana Miro

Believe me when I say that "Momentum" fought tooth and nail with Magdalena Bay's "Second Sleep" to secure the #6 spot, but of the two ethereal pop-leaning tracks, it's PROFF's melodic house that takes the cake. PROFF is a master of sound design, a veteran of electronic music, and "Momentum" is textured and layered meticulously. For a Monstercat Silk track, "Momentum" is incredibly detailed, with its shimmering soundscape and supernatural attention to detail - particularly with the diverse drum work and lapping basslines on display here. 

The sound design is simply breathtaking in its beauty. But the songwriting is equally breathtaking, as PROFF executes a progression that is as subtle as it is masterful, raising the song higher and higher whilst never breaking its pristine atmosphere. Diana Miro's celestial, breathy vocal must also be commended for this effort - it's the final piece of the puzzle that makes "Momentum" truly transcendent.

5)

Hyperstrike

Lizdek, Atura

Thumping kicks and wiry basslines burst open the door to this list's top 5, and the sound unmistakably comes from Lizdek and Atura's "Hyperstrike". This is a sly, cunning tune, prone to twisting and turning at a moment's notice whilst still sounding reasonably subdued for bass house. It's not got the same rip-roaring energy as some of the other bass house cuts on this list did, it's not got the beauty of some of the chiller house cuts on this list, but "Hyperstrike" is punchy and very unique. Unique primarily for its experimental progression, hurtling the main airy lead through powerful kicks and amazingly intricate percussion until the two producers eventually stab it to death in the final drop. With the constant "attack the dancefloor" sample propagating the otherwise stampeding energy of the whole thing, "Hyperstrike" is spirited and bouncy, but it insists upon its uniqueness at every turn.

4)

Starry Eyed

YMIR, NOMIS.K

All the way back in March, YMIR dropped what is arguably one of his strongest tracks to date. And YMIR's a highly accomplished vocalist and producer, he's got a lot of good songs in his catalogue, but something about "Starry Eyed" warranted that little extra quality. Of course, YMIR's silky smooth, somewhat depressing, yet inexplicably somewhat mystical voice is the anchor by which "Starry Eyed" operates, but the heavy-handed bassline work frames it uncannily well. NOMIS.K's hip-hop verse in the middle is pretty nice - nothing crazy in a vaccuum, but it drives the song's composition nicely, allowing the production to bounce off the different sections into a final movement where everything ultimately slams down in a particularly satisfying manner. It's not the flashiest song on this list, but YMIR's excellent vocal combined with the way the composition constantly shifts pushes "Starry Eyed" to the #4 position on this list.

3)

Rise Higher

ARE WE DREAMING (a.k.a Brian Tyler)

The more astute among you might be thinking, wait a minute, isn't the name 'Brian Tyler' a little familiar? You'd be right. Brian Tyler is a celebrated film composer, having written and produced scores for the likes of Avengers: Age of Ultron, or Transformers One, or Fast & Furious, or even the F1 theme tune. If you've been even somewhat tuned into culture from the last decade, there's a good chance you've heard at least one of his works.

How on Earth did a guy like Brian Tyler get into dubstep, I have no idea. But ARE WE DREAMING is what he calls his "completely immersive audio-visual experience", and "Rise Higher" is only the third release from the alias, and boy is it a good one. Though its debut at F1 live was met with... mixed... reception, it received a couple of edits and was later (somewhat secretively) released on streaming platforms. And despite its cheesiness, I think Tyler has struck gold with this track. It's a 7-minute-long journey, welding together entwined basslines with cinematic synthwork, alongside strong rap performances and writing credits from Scruffizer and Bok Nero, and an ethereal female vocal sample to top it all off. It constantly shifts, it hits hard and fast, and it manages to hold your attention entirely through its long runtime.

2)

Victory Lap

Fred again.., Skepta, Plaqueboymax

Fred again.. embraces the UK dubstep revival with grime scene veteran Skepta to produce "Victory Lap", the hip-hop anthem of the year. This is a link-up that has absolutely no reason to work this well, and absolutely works well anyway.

Fred's UK dubstep beat is chunky and motors with strength behind Skepta's aggressive rap, with a staunch drum and a rumbling bassline. And Skepta himself is an easy highlight - his flow is nothing short of impeccable, interacting with the dubstep and the Doechii sample exceedingly creatively - and in a different way every time. To be completely clear, the standout feature of "Victory Lap" is neither of these individual performances, but rather, it is the insanely high rhythmic standard the track holds itself to - consistently - leaping from verse to verse rapidly whilst never letting up even once. It's a rhythmic standard that can only really come about by raw synergy between producer and rapper, and it's pretty clear that Fred and Skepta had a total blast putting this one together. Very rarely do we see this kind of potent rap-beat coalition, combining precise production with absurdly good flow.

In fact, the flow was so good it warranted five separate versions to form a massive posse cut in "Victory Lap Five" - which is also worth checking out - as well as a full EP between Fred and Skepta - which is also worth checking out.

1)

Need You Now

ALLKNIGHT

It's been a wild ride of a list this year, but ultimately, we come to its conclusion. And after a top 5 packed with growling basslines and stampeding beatwork, ALLKNIGHT's "Need You Now" settles down and cleanly scoops up the very top spot, the very zenith of 2025's electronic output.

"Need You Now" features on her Should've Known Better EP, which is ALLKNIGHT's first project as a singer-songwriter, doing the vocals and arranging/producing the whole package from scratch. If this is the standard we're looking at, then I very much look forward to the future of this alias.

Unlike the rest of the EP, which resides firmly in melodic house territory, "Need You Now" opts for a composition of liquidy, progressive breaks. And, in short, it's beautiful. Crisp, punchy breakbeats fuel the track, providing it a rhythm that sets it apart from the other melodic house tracks of the EP, but the true power of this track lies elsewhere. Part of it is the synthwork - rich, buttery, lush synthwork like a comfortable veil over the breaks - and another part of is is ALLKNIGHT's well-established vocal style, intimate and familiar and beautiful over an equally beautiful soundscape. And when you put them all together, you get the reflective, yearning artistic statement that is "Need You Now".