Heya, so here we are, the end of 2025. Good riddance I say.
As is traditional, this is a DJ mix – almost 2 hrs, with a bit of speaking at the front. It’s pretty strange, this one, although there’s a lot of dance music. There’s also a lot of detours and oddities, but that’s what UFog is about, so I hope you enjoy!
You can also stream the mix on SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/frogworth/utility-fog-best-of-2025-mix
Perera Elsewhere, Andy S – Fuck Le System [Friends of Friends/Bandcamp]
I loved Sasha Perera aka Perera Elsewhere‘s 2022 album Home, an album of “doom-folk”, but actually experimental electronic pop songs. The following year she put out an album of remixes with some excellent contributors, and now there’s finally another album, Just Wanna Live Some. Her musical net is cast wide, mixing UK soundsystem culture in with music from different parts of Africa, Indonesia and Europe (she’s based in Berlin). The first double single features two tracks with Ivorian MC Andy S, rapping (mostly) in French over infectious beats.
Harry The Nightgown – Bell Boy [Leaving Records/Bandcamp]
A band that call themselves Harry The Nightgown are just gonna be an art pop kind of affair, right? For their debut album the LA band were engineer/producer Spencer Hartling aka tp Dutchkiss and sound engineer/singer/guitarist/etc Sami Perez, but they are now joined by Luke Macdonald, who tours with one of Perez’ bands, Cherry Glazerr. There’s no way of telling who played or programmed what, but the first single from Ugh (an album with a title for the times if ever there was one) is complex & melodic, skippy junglist beats with a sped-up funk bassline and lopsided maybe-sample, skittering into groovy synth chords that could come from an early James Blake track. It’s glitchy, catchy and super-cool.
N-Type & Kromestar – Don’t Be Afraid ft. Sgt Pokes & Breezy Lee [Wheel & Deal Records/Bandcamp]
I don’t play a lot of dubstep on the show these days, simply because it doesn’t always fit in, and the same goes for grime “as such”, although I love those genres. So unfortunately this lovely song that melds trip-hoppy r’n’b vocals, grime and dubstep, wasn’t played during the year – but here it fits nicely in this space between electronic pop and dub. Both N-Type & Kromestar go back to the early days of dubstep, and the voice of Sgt Pokes has been heard at many a dubstep night. Breezy Lee also has been associated with the UK bass scene for a while, as well as jazz & cabaret, and she brings just the right amount of soulfulness to this tune.
Modeselektor featuring Paul St. Hilaire – Movement [!K7 Records/Bandcamp]
We’ll get back to Paul St. Hilaire in a minute, but I have to confess I’ve always had a soft spot for Modeselektor. They are essentially a Berlin take on bass music and techno, and through their long career have often found great collaborators to join them on their albums and mixes. It’s nice to see them doing what’s surprisingly their first DJ-Kicks mix, inserting a good quantity of experimental stuff, and of course there are some exclusive tracks. “Movement” is a thudding, bouncy piece of bass techno, and the echoing voice of Paul St. Hilaire (fka Tikiman) provides great atmosphere to what’s really a skeletal track (which is all it needs to be).
Kvedarkvintetten – Brest [Heilo Records/Bandcamp]
Tagal is the latest album from Norwegian vocal quintet Kvedarkvintetten, featuring music composed by Jorun Marie Rypdal Kvernberg. The title translates as “to keep silent” or “mute” or “wordless”, so these songs feature almost no text. The quintet’s previous work was primarily based around their interpretations of the traditional vocal music of the Hallingdal region of Norway, so even though Kvernberg provided musically notated scores, the group brought their own interpretation. This is highly melodic music, performed with dedication and emotion.
Simon Henocq – CONCOURSE A [Carton Records/Bandcamp]
French record label Carton Records gregariously supports artists across just about all genres, and many of their releases have the genre-free je ne sais quoi of Simon Henocq‘s We Use Cookies. Henocq is a sound-artist, producer and self-taught musician who also convenes French collective COAX, a gathering-together of musicians of all genres along with dancers, visual artists and more. I would loosely define Henocq’s album as noise, but it coalesces into a kind of industrial techno often. At other times you’ll get a fizzling, crackling tone that slowly grows into a snarling miasma.
Paul St. Hilaire & Gavsborg – Confidential [Kynant Records/Bandcamp]
Until about 2003, the Jamaican vocalist Paul St. Hilaire was known as Tikiman, under which name he collaborated with many experimental electronic musicians including The Bug and Tarwater, but most famously Berlin techno heads Mark Ernestus & Moritz Von Oswald of dub-techno labels/projects Basic Channel, Chain Reaction and Burial Mix, particularly under their Rhythm & Sound alias. These releases were ground zero for minimal techno and dub techno, quite unlike anything else heard at the time. While many 12″s featured Tikiman on vocals, there were others, and eight tracks with eight different vocalists were collected on Rhythm & Sound w/ The Artists. So that’s the starting point for Paul St. Hilarie – w/ The Producers – nine tracks here, with ten producers from the dub & techno worlds, channeling (by and large) the Basic Channel template. It’s really an excellent album, but among the highlights was the track from Jamaican producer Gavsborg, of the experimental crew Equinoxx, whose track is utterly stripped back. Also notable: Eora/Sydney DJ & producer Cousin (aka FBi’s Jackson Fester), who keeps things beautifully smooth and minimal, supporting St. Hilaire’s repeated phrase “Back Inna Business”.
gyrofield – Vegetation Grows Thick [Kapsela/Bandcamp]
If you know the music of now-Utrecht-based Hong Kong producer Kiana Li as gyrofield, you’d know her as an insanely talented jungle & drum’n’bass producer, whose earliest Bandcamp tracks are from when she was 15. A scant few years later she was being released on labels like Critical Music and Metalheadz. But with that head start, it’s not too surprising that since the age of about 21 she’se been branching out from drum’n’bass into mutated forms of other genres – and given that, Objekt‘s new label Kapsela is a good place to be stretching forms. Each of the four tracks on Suspension of Belief is a different kind of weirdness. Opener “Vegetation Grows Thick” juggles backmasked vocals with pulsating bleeps and skittery hi-hats before the thumping kick drums enter.
Sebaas – No Plastic [unreleased on Sebaas.Waveform Bandcamp]
Amsterdam-based producer Sebaas has a couple of releases under his belt, which he describes as “multifaceted floor-groove”. Seems about right – percussive bass music, whether techno or on a more 140 tilt. “No Plastic” is based around a sample of Spanish singer Nathy Peluso rapping “I’m a nasty girl, fantastic / este culo es natural o no plastic” (found here), switching up the minimalist reggaeton for high-energy bass-heavy breaks. I received a promo of this and it doesn’t seem to have ever come out – perhaps copyright issues.
Mac Seldom – ILUVU [Hotflush Recordings/Bandcamp]
Hotflush Recordings was founded by Paul Rose aka Scuba in 2003, at the very cusp of dubstep’s advent, but it always featured pre-dubstep sounds like UK garage, and increasingly the dub techno that Rose as Scuba was hybridizing into his own dubstep. Gradually the label has turned its focus more to techno & other 4/4 genres, but I still follow for the gems. Newcastle Upon Tyne producer Mac Seldom spent years making music for film in Berlin, but Dance W/ Me collects three tracks of pristine uk garage/bass house stuff with heaps of bounce and syncopation.
Kalabash – Major ft. Jelani Blackman (Radio Edit) [Tropopause Records/Bandcamp]
UK singer and rapper Jelani Blackman brings out the grime in this new track from London-based collective Kalabash, who planned to release their Decompression Tapes Vol. 1 in 2025, but it hasn’t eventuated. In any case, Blackman’s lyrical prowess is on show here, over a high-paced beat and production that seems to draw from all over. Also noting that their 2-track single from earlier in March showcases two other sides: “Decompress” is tough jungle-techno with a cinematic interlude, while “Concrete” is a tense 4/4 number.
Muskila – JAH NAM (INTRO) [YUKU/Bandcamp]
Bass music here, YUKU-style, from Muskila, who was born in Copenhagen with North-Kurdistani roots. The percussive backbone to all the rhythms here, and Muskila connects with Nigerian rapper Aunty Rayzor, and remixers from Cairo (Hassan Abou Alam) and Jordan (Toumba). Low-slung and minimalist, these tracks have a strong sense of style.
Vier – VAI PULANDO [Machinedrum Bandcamp]
Some kind of dance music supergroup here… Travis “Machinedrum” Stewart here teams up with Thijs “Thys” de Vlieger of Noisia, Dutch producer/academic Salvador Breed and Portuguese DJ/producer Miguel “Holly” Oliveira. This is intensely soudn-designy bass music, but also very ravey and dancefloor-friendly. Two of the quartet are Dutch, so they named the group “Vier” (four). “Vai Pulando” is Brazilian Portuguese on the other hand, and means “Keep Jumping”. I concur.
Pushlock – Scarecrow [XCPT/Bandcamp]
Over to Italy now with the XCPT label, which last year released an excellent album from Naarm/Melbourne’s Barking. Here’s adventurous Italian bass music producer Pushlock with his third album on XCPT, Stuck in a Cell. It’s a good example of how bass music styles are mixed’n’matched by a lot of producers these days – jungle breaks slipping in & out of the mix, with a general dubstep feel. It’s not slow-fast either, but rather uses signifiers from multiple bass music styles. If you’ve been listening to this show for any amount of time, you’ll know that’s exactly how I like it.
Sacred Lodge – Wa Wa Ke Wa Wa Yi (Feat. Sara Persico) [Avon Terror Corps]
Out through Bristol collective Avon Terror Corps is the second album from Paris-based Matthieu Ruben N’Dongo, under the alias Sacred Lodge. Ambam comes out of his ethno-musicological studies into the Fang people of Central Africa, from whom he’s descended via his father. On top of his dubstep-influenced beats, his own voice is central: he “uses the scream as a vocal act of liberation in the face of oppression”, joined on a few tracks by guests, including Sara Persico and Cairo-based producer El Kontessa. Elements from Equatorial Guinea, horrorcore rap and bass music come together powerfully on this album – just as exciting as the African metal/bass music fusion of Lord Spikeheart. On this track, Sara Persico adds distorted yelps and auto-tuned interjections. Intense(ly good).
Shugorei – Water Music [4000 Records/Bandcamp]
In September Meanjin/Brisbane duo Shugorei finally released their album Memories of Magic—魔法の記憶—Mahō no Kioku after a brilliant series of singles, starting in late 2024 with the ’80s-pop-meets-hyperpop of “Roboto”, moving through contemplative electro-acoustics with Mindy Meng Wang 王萌, and gorgeous post-classical pop with Shêm Allen‘s voice & renowned classical guitarist Karin Schaupp. With frequent guests on cello & violin as well, this album conmfortably straddles the worlds of classical, traditional Japanese and electronica, throwing in breakbeats and field recordings, live percussion and glitchy production. Seriously so great, don’t miss it!
Matmos – Changing States [Thrill Jockey/Bandcamp]
If you’re one of the lucky few who got to see Matmos performing at Phoenix Central Park in August 2024, you would have seen the pair duo sampling not just from destroyed Bread records but from metallic objects of all kinds – cymbals, ball bearings, pots & pans (as I recall). I’m lucky to have seen Matmos quite a lot, and from as far back as 1999 (when I saw them twice, in Edinburgh and then in New York), their performances have always been based around live sampling and a good quantity of humour. But both Drew Daniel and M.C. Schmidt are also deeply thoughtful individuals and excellent musicians, and that performance was bewitching as much as it was hilarious. They are also a couple, and they celebrated their 25th anniversary with the Plastic Anniversary. In 2025, that would make them 31, but it’s not a stretch to imagine that Metallic Life Review was conceived and created around their 30th anniversary. Like the plastics of that earlier album, this one is built around the sounds of metallic objects, extending into the pedal steel of the sadly recently-departed Susan Alcorn, among other guests. They are well aware of the genre connotations of “metal”, as much as they are of the accuracy-or-not of their music as musique concrète, found-sound or field recordings, but something I always note with pleasure is that they can’t but help express their musical roots in ’90s experimental electronica – as much as the proto-folktronica, postrock and Americana found on the beloved 1999 EP The West and 2003 album The Civil War. When you’ve been together for 30 years, as life partners and creative partners, certain themes would tend to repeat while others would be turned away. So raise a stainless steel tumbler to one of music’s greatest couples, and enjoy listening to Metallic Life Review.
Sicaria – Rhassoul [Tectonic Recordings/Bandcamp]
When Rob Ellis, aka (DJ) Pinch, founded Tectonic Recordings in 2005, he cemented Bristol as the second home of dubstep after South London. As well as release some of the most classic early dubstep tunes, Tectonic released a series of iconic compilations, beginning with Tectonic Plates Vol. 1 in 2006. More than anything, it’s the callback to these great compilations that made me excited to discover that Pinch is revitalising the label with the 2CD (and 6 vinyl boxset) Tectonic Sound. The label boss opens the proceedings with the album’s title track, which shudders between OG dubstep minimalism and vocal snaps & busy percussion. Across the compilation there’s a whole spectrum of 140bpm, from the rolling percussive house (yet still dubstep) on dubstep mainstay V.I.V.E.K‘s “Gone W3st” to the percussive dubstep heard here from London-based Moroccan DJ Sicaria, a rising bass music star. Elsewhere there’s eerie electro-acoustic minimalism from Flora Yin Wong (which also manages to still be dubstep), the distorted crunch of dubstep legend Distance, and the methodical dubstep-dub from Bristol legend Rob Smith aka RSD. If you have any interest in 140bpm bass music, this is essential listening.
The Bug – Bury Dem (ft Logan) [Relapse Records/Bandcamp]
The Bug – Buried Dub [Relapse Records/Bandcamp]
When Kevin Martin aka The Bug put out his series of five Machine EPs from late 2023 into 2024, they were rough & ready scuzzy dub/dubstep tools for testing the intensity of his Pressure soundsystem. But a riddim’s always in search of a deejay, so he’s enlisted Logan and Magugu to flip them into vocal tunes. Thus “Buried (Your Life Is Short)” becomes “Bury Dem (ft. Logan)” and “Drop (Machine Sex)” is “Deep in a Mud (ft. Magugu)”… But then Martin can’t help but re-dub these, so we get “Buried Dub”, which is considerably different from the original “Buried”, and you can hear fragments of Logan’s voice echoing through the machines.
clipping. – Change the Channel [Sub Pop/Bandcamp]
A new clipping. album is always an event. Daveed Diggs may be very busy with his acting career, but he’s a serious rapper and lyricist and clearly dedicated to this very weird band. Weird because the two musicians who complete the trio are both noise artists, William Hutson tending to the more cerebral, and Jonathan Snipes also well-known for his irreverant hardcore/rave shenanigans with Captain Ahab back in the day. clipping.’s music absolutely works as hip-hop, and Diggs is a masterful rapper; but they also draw on avant-garde contemporary composition, glitch, noise and – absolutely – jungle & rave. This all goes to show that a concept album on cyberpunk suits them just as well as their two horrorcore tributes, and their space opera before – all masterpieces.
Dead Channel Sky is named for the first sentence of William Gibson’s Neuromancer, an ur-text of cyberpunk: “The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel” – which in 1984 of course meant a staticky grey, later on could mean blue, and now probably just prompts confused looks from the post-Gen Z generation. I haven’t listened closely enough to the lyrics yet, but it seems less of a through-narrative than Splendor & Misery, but as a series of snapshots it depicts the way that we are careening head-on into a not-unfamiliar form of the grimy, ultra-capitalist dystopias depicted in cyberpunk since the mid-1980s. That the music mixes jungle and industrial, while glitches and other sonic manipulation echo the various discarded technologies that inspired the genre, goes to show that clipping. are the band to do this right.
And yet… why does my CD now seem to be missing tracks? It’s because as of September, Dead Channel Sky Plus is in town, baybee! I love clipping., but I hate these insta-deluxe reissues that the digital age has brought us. I mean fine, the additional tracks are rad, but you just released the album 6 months earlier in various physical formats… and one of the best tracks is “Night of Heaven”, featuring both the brilliant Counterfeit Madison & Kid Koala, and yeah it’s not on my CD (I played it in my Best of 2025 Part 1). But I should note: clipping. did a brilliant Tiny Desk Concert late in the year, with electro-mechanical percussion, harmonium and Sharon Udoh (the aforementioned Counterfeit Madison) on piano and vocals, and while every rendition is a highlight, “Night of Heaven” is the second-last track, and Kid Koala hops up on the turntable too!
A.Fruit – What Is This [A.Fruit Bandcamp]
It hasn’t been the biggest year for releases from the ubiquitous, mega-talented Anna Fruit, but there have been tracks here and there, and in January the Somnambulism EP. She’s a great producer (you can get production tips on her Patreon) and is a master at creating experimental bass music that draws from jungle, footwork, dubstep, techno and more, often in the same track. This is a hypnotic piece of pulsing techno at the edge of your subconscious.
ltfll – Nested Skins [irsh/Bandcamp]
It’s been a while since we’ve heard from Cairo label irsh, the label founded by DJ Rama and genius producer ZULI in 2020. They released two compilations of rad experimental electronic music from Egypt, did you mean: irish and did you mean: irish vol. 2, and George Farid’s ltfll (that’s a lower-case L at the start) appeared on both. With nested skins, his new EP released on irsh this year, Farid makes intricate bass music with rhythms from Egypt and the Arabian Peninsula, experimental but firmly aimed at the dancefloor.
Lila Tirando a Violeta, sideproject – Ostrich/Ñandú [Unguarded/Bandcamp]
The 2025 album from Uruguayan producer Lila Tirando a Violeta came via Berlin label Unguarded. Apparently Dream of Snakes comes from a recurring dream of Lila’s, literally about snakes, somehow mixed in with her experiences moving from the Netherlands to Ireland, which despite the subject matter was strangely comforting. I’m not sure if the same can be said of the album, which continues the producer’s work in post-industrial, post-IDM bass music, mashing up Latin rhythms with the breakbeats and drum machines, with irruptions of vocals within synthscapes and sample collages. One of a few collaborations on the album, Ostrich/Ñandú is just what you’d expect to get when crossing Icelandic IDM collective sideproject and Ireland-based Uruguayan producer Lila Tirando a Violeta – percussion-soaked frenetic beats, with even the backing tracks mostly jittering along in rhythm. It’s the futuristic music of the present.
Mantra – Ruffhouse [Ilian Tape/Bandcamp]
Indi Khera aka DJ Mantra is a dedicated and influential drum’n’bass & jungle DJ, who co-founded Rupture London with her partner Double O in 2006 as a club night for d’n’b, jungle & breakbeat vibes, and six years later founded the RuptureLDN label with the same ethos. In the last few years, she’s finally started releasing her own productions, with all the rhythmic & tonal smarts you’d expect. Here she is for the second time on Munich’s Ilian Tape, with four tracks running from breaky dub-house to dubby garage, dubstep-techno like this track and kind of dreamy jungle-techno.
Ancestral Voices – Annwn [Samurai Music/Bandcamp]
Liam Blackburn made bass music for years as Indigo, and with Joe McBride aka Synkro formed the precision-tooled experimental bass machine Akkord. Ancestral Voices was his project to move away from typical drum’n’bass/dubstep forms into ambient and percussive music influenced by ancient Celtic culture. One of my favourite Indigo EPs, Storm came out on Samurai Music some 12 years ago, so it’s nice having Ancestral Voices back on the label with Nemeton, his most drum’n’bass-coded release in a long time. It’s still epic and deep and not always focused on the beats. The beats are often percussion-oriented rather than breakbeat-oriented, and it won’t all work on the dancefloor, but in fact it’s kind of thrilling hearing music so cinematic and different that’s nevertheless deeply informed by drum’n’bass.
Pol100 – Pastel Clouds [YUKU/Bandcamp]
Italian producer Pol100 had a great 2-track EP earlier this year on Turin label early reflex mutating jungle and techno into strange new shapes, between drumfunk and electro. However, this track comes from the FIFTH of FIVE compilations put out by the ever-energetic Prague-based bass label YUKU celebrating, as they say, Five Years in the Wild. The label is both prodigious and high quality, always worth a watch – or you can subscribe on Bandcamp for about 250 CZK a month, which at $18 is admittedly a commitment.
Kendu Bari – Main [Who’s Susan/Bandcamp]
When Amsterdam-based drum’n’bass producer Sam Young switched to using Kendu Bari for his productions, it was part of widening his focus to all forms of bass music, something that also underpins his label Sann Odea. All four tracks on his new EP Drink For Your Machine are dominated by bass, combining dubstep’s throb with techno and breakbeat, and on this track jungle influences.
Igorrr – ADHD [Metal Blade Records/Bandcamp]
Gautier Serre has been mashing up genres for his whole career. His albums – with Whourkr and as Igorrr – have alternately been released on breakcore/idm labels like Ad Noiseam (RIP) and metal labels like Crucial Blast and Metal Blade Records – but along with the breakcore/drill’n’bass/glitch and the death metal there’s been a hilarious operatic aspect to Igorrr. Not surprising that Igorrr and the recently-featured Ruby My Dear made an EP together about 11 years ago. So, the new Igorrr album, more explicitly a full-band affair, is at first glance more of a metal/opera thing. But it’s called Amen, and yes, there are outbursts of crazy breakcore drum programming and surreal… er, well, everything’s kinda surreal? It’s an Igorrr album. So fun.
Overcast – Wolfe [IR77/Bandcamp]
Mark Newlands is a key person in Australia’s hardcore scene, as founder of the highly influential Bloody Fist label and one third of Nasenbluten, and he’s also an accomplished turntablist as Mark N. It’s been yonks since he’s released anything under his jungle/hardcore alias Overcast, so here’s one side of his new 12″ on IR77 / Iridium. Eagle-eared listeners will note that the classical sample is from Arvo Pärt’s Fratres.
Sun People – Herbie’s Delay [All Things Records]
Austrian producer Sun People has released some creative and hard-hitting jungle & drum’n’bass that hybridizes with footwork and techno. His All Things Records provides an avenue for music of all kinds, so his new LP Look Within isn’t tied to any tempo – faster or slower than 160bpm, with a few beautifully-produced beatless tracks too. But as with “Herbie’s Delay”, there’s still some creative, syncopated jungle/d’n’b to be found too.
Will Glaser – Bees [Not Applicable/Bandcamp]
London-based drummer Will Glaser is very busy in the London jazz & experimental scene, appearing on records or live with the likes of Yazz Ahmed, Kit Downs, Sly and the Family Drone, Ruth Goller, James Allsopp, Alex Bonney and more. Prior to this release, the only solo works Glaser has released are the all-drums Some Drum Sounds and the mostly-drums Some Drum & Other Sounds (both of which are excellent mind you). However, on October 24th his first major solo work as auteur was released, the name of which is hard to even fit into a sentence: Music Of The Terrazoku: Ethnographic Recordings From An Imagined Future is about as sci-fi as you can get, imagining a musical artefact from sometime in the late 21st century, after the oncoming climate collapse. Glaser’s drums/percussion and electronics are accompanied here by brilliant musicians including Ruth Goller, Agathe Max, Tara Cunningham, James Allsopp and Alex Bonney (I’m mostly listing people whose work I know). The album claims influences as wide as Harry Partch, Tom Waits, and even Justin K Broadrick among others, and there’s no dearth of electronics there too (appropriately for the avant-garde Not Applicable label, co-run by both members of Icarus among others). It’s super weird and great – the titular Bees of this track most certainly make an appearance!
Carrier – The Fan Dance (feat Gavsborg) [Modern Love/Boomkat]
So Guy Brewer has been creating incredible post-d’n’b enigmas as Carrier for some years now, following a successful career making stripped-down techno as Shifted. Indeed, early on he was a member of drum’n’bass act Commix, and when he shifted to the Carrier alias, the minimal drum’n’bass influence has been palpable despite the beats never quite reaching the complexity of obvious syncopation of drum’n’bass. It’s an interesting balancing act, one that I think a newer generation of producers is working on very creatively, but I think it’s also interesting how the Photek vibes are balanced by a kind of murky Basic Channel/Rhythm & Sound atmos. In fact, the Carrier name is a reference to this Rhythm & Sound EP (here’s the track). Carrier released the brilliant full album Rhythm Immortal this year on the Boomkat-operated Modern Love, but the album was preceded by this slab of half-time d’n’b, with skittery beats flickering over the bassline while contemporary Jamaican legend Gavsborg (of Equinoxxx et al, heard earlier on production duties) informs us not unconvincingly of his sexiness.
Mark Van Hoen – I’ve Got To See The Light (Featuring George ‘Tony’ Subratie) [Mark Van Hoen Bandcamp]
In June Mark Van Hoen dropped his second album in 2 years, The Eternal Present – and shortly after, he was back with a new EP, Only Me. The title track is from the album, but the rest are additions. I’m gonna recycle what I said about the new album, mostly:
Sometime around 1997 maybe, or 1998, I was introduced (by Seb Chan, no doubt) to the 1995 album Truth Is Born Of Arguments by Locust, the sometimes-used pseudonym of Mark Van Hoen. I guess I would’ve known some of Seefeel‘s work already, so I knew Van Hoen had been part of the lineup early on, and some of the vocal samples on that album were from their singer Sarah Peacock. But the massively overdriven beats, which stopped and started and shuddered with fragments of female voice and very sparse electronics, were enough to blow my tiny mind – not to mention the weird world-beat and disquieting ambient found elsewhere on the album. It’s still an album I happily go back to anytime I get an excuse. For some time (at least 6 years, maybe more) Van Hoen has had a subscription available on Bandcamp with heaps of exclusive music, some of which leaks out as Bandcamp-only releases (and then slips back behind the wall), including really early experiments, live performances, and essentially demos of tracks that later appear on “proper” releases, like the two recent ones on Dell’Orso label: The Eternal Present and last year’s Plan For A Miracle (and for folks like me there’s now a double CD collecting both albums).
Van Hoen has an interesting background, born in Croydon to African-Jamaican and Punjabi Indian parents. These influences are mostly indirect on his own music, but this new EP has a lovely remix-cum-cover of a 1970s reggae/dub single by the late George ‘Tony’ Subratie.
Julien Mier – Ciel [Lapsus/Bandcamp]
On his first album for Barcelona’s Lapsus, Eora/Sydney-based Dutch musician Julien Mier has chosen to use his birth name rather than Santpoort. Gradually is a highly personal album in three parts, each representing a part of Julien’s background: his French heritage, Dutch upbringing and his life now in Australia. “Ciel” is of course in the French section (it means “sky”), and it never fails to make me smile – it’s a sunny track with glitchy loops heading into a funky halftime feel with jazzy keys that have a lovely nostalgic feel, and gradually the beats turn into jungly IDM before slipping back into halftime and ending with a percussive breakdown. This is a lovely album, deeply thought-out, as forward-thinking as it is backwards-looking. Massive recommendation.
Joaquín Cornejo – Garúa [YUKU/Bandcamp]
Cap I Cua from Ecuadorian producer Joaquín Cornejo is one of the prettiest releases YUKU have ever released. It doesn’t eschew complex beats at all, but they’re there more as hints at jittery IDM and footwork, with very little sub bass. It’s beautiful from top to bottom, and when you settle in, the rhythmic elements dance around you, like the skittering hi-hats in “Garúa”.
Earl Grey – Doss House [YUKU/Bandcamp]
As mentioned above, YUKU turned five this year and released five compilation albums of exclusive tracks from label-related artists. Here longtime junglist hero Earl Grey takes us into the opium-drenched haze of a “Doss House”, with no beats except the creepy sound of a phone ringing unanswered, while sub bass pulses throb, discordant drones float and pink noise bubbles up. Perfect mid-mix malaise.
bonnie cooth – out of my mind [cooth interactive studios]
With a spooneristic pseudonym only fans of Fawlty Towers will likely appreciate, the duo of electronic artists who make up bonnie cooth make music that’s part ’90s IDM throwback and part lo-fi hyperpop & ’20s breakcore revival. Their second album is, of course, titled bonnie twooth and like the first, it comes with the conceit that it’s actually a late ’90s (I’m guessing) or early ’00s video game. So yeah, nice melodic electronica vibes, not quite chiptune, not quite breakcore, and occasional computer songs. I think I might be the only person to adore this song, but I do, from the enthusiastic vocals to the slippery tempo changes and the joyous melodic breakcore. Dig.
Max Cooper – My Choices Are Not My Own feat. Tawiah, May Kaspar [Mesh/Bandcamp]
Good ol’ Max Cooper‘s a bit of an oddity to me. There’s a significant proportion of his stuff that I always love, because he’s definitely into his IDM, drum’n’bass and the like. It’s just that he still has this commercial sheen that I can’t quite figure – I don’t think his music’s commercial? I think I just don’t quite know where to place him. Anyway, happy he continues to release stuff – this year brought the reliably eclectic On Being album, which was a kind of collaboration, in which Cooper encouraged his online community to respond to the question “What do you want to express, which you feel you cannot in everyday life?” The responses were surprisingly moving; the words sung by Tawiah on “My Choices Are Not My Own” were written by contributor May Kaspar, which is why she doesn’t otherwise have an online presence I can find. Later on Cooper brought us a remix album with some excellent junglist, technoid and bassy takes on some of those tracks.
EYDN – Gold (feat. Rainy Miller) [Fixed Abode/Bandcamp]
In September, the now-Belgium-based duo EYDN, made up of Emma van Os (Bobbie Orkid) and Thomas Parigi (Tumy), released their debut EP As Can Be via Rainy Miller‘s Fixed Abode & SUPERNATURE. The first single “Gold” was adorned with extra vocals from Miller, with a breakbeat and fizzly hi-hats dropping in and out around an acoustic guitar loop. It’s a swirly piece showing that contemporary trip-hop is finding its own sound – and fits beautifully into more jungle/d’n’b sounds.
Chewlie – Wallflower [YUKU/Bandcamp]
Back to YUKU, and in fact back to 5 Years in the Wild V, we join Swiss producer Julia Häller aka Chewlie for a piece of IDM-infused bass chaos, with acidic bass gestures and beats that slowly build up out of drum machine patterns and crashing jungle breaks. It’s pretty unhinged.
enduser – Movement [enduser Bandcamp]
In the early years of the show, Lynn Standafer’s enduser was a key artist, making musically sensitive, dark drum’n’bass, jungle and breakcore, frequently with well-judged use of indie rock and pop samples (check it: This Mortal Coil, Björk, Lamb, Lush, Tasmin Archer) as well as tuff hip-hop and ragga samples (if you can identify the sample used both here and here I won’t be the only one grateful!) Standafer’s still at it, more on the d’n’b side perhaps than breakcore, and “Movement” is a highlight from 2025, with yearning synth pads and crisp drums.
Abstract Drumz – Alone (2025 Remaster) [Abstract Drumz Bandcamp]
Adrian Walmsley aka Abstract Drumz is perhaps Wales’ greatest purveyor of modern jungle, and he’s not un-prolific, but some tunes still end up on the cutting-room floor. This year he popped out two EPs collecting tracks that have been sitting on his SoundCloud for years. Both are great, but Unreleased Drumz Pt 2 featured a track called “Alone” that has personal relevance to him, coming out of a difficult period that he doesn’t want to revisit. But it’s well-loved and you can see why – it’s a sensitive reworking of Dinah Washington’s beautiful song “This Bitter Earth” (actually written by Clyde Otis) which some of us will know from Venetian Snares’ Moonglow EP. Walmsley completely resets the vocal with a heart-pulling synth string arrangement – hugely imperssive.
Wrecked Lightship – Delinquent Spirits [Peak Oil/Bandcamp]
Adam Winchester and Laurie “Appleblim” Osborne debuted their haunted future as Wrecked Lightship in 2022 with the Drowned Aquarium album, where the wreckage – of raves past & future – seemed distinctly underwater. New album Drained Strands – their second for Peak Oil – is their best yet, with dubbed-out, deconstructed jungle/drum’n’bass/dubstep taking you into outer space.
Sheba Q – Asterix (Dub One Remix) [Over/Shadow/Bandcamp]
Jungle DJ & vocalist Sheba Q comes out with her own solo EP on 2 Bad Mice‘s Over/Shadow label. The original of “Asterix” was co-produced with Newcastle junglist Nectax, and it’s got a blissful, nostalgic feel. But on the flip, Dub One drops us into darkstyle rave hell, mid-’90s style, with possibly the drop of the year. All three tracks are quality.
Hello Psychaleppo – Al Wa6an | الوطن [Fake Lines/Bandcamp]
The first release from non-profit label Fake Lines has launched itself with a mega compilation – 36 tracks over 3 vinyl LPs – called Fake Lines: Sono Levant (the fake lines are countries’ borders drawn up by colonial powers as a way of instilling regional instability). It’s packed to the brim with excellent music, gregarious with genre – it may lean towards electronic music but there’s folk, hip-hop and rock of a sort. There’s an emphasis on Levant artists, but the tracklist also reaches further afield to other MENA countries and more. Montreal-based Syrian DJ Hello Psychaleppo contributes some stuttering samples and bass heft, but I do recommend checking out this very varied compilation.
Bios Contrast & Nilotpal Das – ap0calypse 42 [Infinite Machine/Bandcamp]
The May 2025 issue of The Wire featured an interview with Kolkata-based electronic producer Nilotpal Das, who is variously named as Bios Contrast, under his own name, as DJ Nilo… and frequently as “Bios Contrast & Nilotpal Das“. He makes super-complex beats with dense sound design, which he’s dubbed brahmancore. In 2025 he released his album SSAC42 through Mexican label Infinite Machine, and hoo-boy those beats are insane. There’s a kind of breakcore in here, kind-of footwork and jungle, but mostly it’s percussive sounds programmed into jabbering rhythms, possibly interacting with some bass elements, or not. Mind you, there’s plenty of older and newer stuff on his Bios Contrast and Brahmancore Bandcamps.
Bleakcore / Ester – Sermon [Khnum Crew]
From Adelaide, on the stolen land of the Kaurna, comes the classical/breakcore-melding sound of Ester – previously/also known as Bleakcore, unleashing an updated sound under this new moniker. With Ester, he’s combining the gabber-speed breakcore madness with a mixture of high-quality string & piano samples and some live violin. It might initially seem like random splattercore, but on many tracks you can hear how the beats are in conversation with the piano melodies. He released the Augmented Torment EP via Brazil’s Khnum Crew, and also the To Bask in the Absense of Silence release with Eora’s 200+.
The Young Gods – Tu en ami de temps [Two Gentlemen]
Swiss industrial band The Young Gods formed in the mid-1980s (they are named after the Swans’ second EP, which gave its name to their label too) with the idea of playing only electronics. They had massive guitar riffs, but they were all made up of guitar samples “performed” on sampler. Then they discovered how great live drums sound like alongside drum machines and synths, and that’s been the basis of their sound ever since – although to be fair, they’ve evolved a lot. I like the glitchy production to this track, pushing it firmly into Utility Fog’s universe, and I like that it’s sung in French (for some reason I often forget that French is one of the official languages of Switzerland).
Hence Therefore – Elite Panic [All Centre/Bandcamp]
Eora/Sydney’s Hence Therefore has settled into the non-pattern of just releasing music every so often, but when he does it’s worth immediate attention. His one release in 2025 was the two-tracker Elite Panic, his second on the excellent UK left-of-centre dance label All Centre, with two tracks of snappy, fidgety 170bpm beats, somewhere between footwork and jungle-techno.
Tutu Ta – Papillon Riddim (Ft. Feral Is Kinky) [Tutu Ta Bandcamp]
Tutu Ta is a UK producer otherwise known as “Nomad the Shadow Dancer”, and nothing more identifying as far as I know. His(?) music is often dub or dubstep/grime/jungle based, but just as much can float towards some kind of arcane folk or postpunk jazz thing. An 8-track album, Pepper, was one of his 2025 releases, from which we heard this quasi-grime post-dancehall track featuring English ragga toaster Feral Is Kinky aka Caron Liza Geary.
Giulio Aldinucci & Matteo Uggeri – I Felt I Deserved More than That [Fluid Audio/Facture Bandcamp]
So pleased to be including something from the second collaboration between these two Italian musicians: the prolific Matteo Uggeri is an inveterate collaborator, and his projects like Open To the Sea create music that sits between classical, folk, ambient and electro-acoustic; Giulio Aldinucci is a master at creating moving drone music from choral samples. Moreso than their previous album together, The Promise of a Threat blends their two styles, creating something exquisitely new. Uggeri isn’t averse to using beats, so we find a dulled but noticeable slow rhythmic cycle to these electro-acoustic pieces, with Aldinucci’s ghostly choirs floating in the ether. This really is one of the loveliest drone/sound-art albums I’ve heard recently, and I’m particuarly pleased to feature it in the depths of this dance mix.
Stefan Schultze, boxn – CV RMX [Stefan Schultze Bandcamp]
German composer & pianist Stefan Schultze has a background in jazz, having studied in Cologne and New York, but his interests extend from improvised jazz into extended techniques – prepared piano, microtonality, AI tools and gestural interfaces to control electronics alongside acoustic instrumentation. In November he released a quartet of works based around piano: Tides features prepared piano and un-prepared piano improvisations, welcoming unexpected moments and making use of silence as a musical gesture. Black MIDI Ballet on the other hand is one 16-minute composition for human-played piano alongside an electronically-controlled one, channelling Conlon Nancarrow & others’ handmade player piano reels to create clusters and sweeps impossible for a human to play. And then Glitch God (Come Hither) pulls in everything from Schultze’s years of research, including preparations, automated pianos, microtonality and of course samples and digital edits. The electronic intensity there is finally brought into a new context with the help of Switzerland-based producer boxn, remixing material from Schultze’s 2018 album System Tribe – glitched samples edited into frenetic rhythmic patterns, beatless IDM/jungle/footwork. Exhilarating.
Ship Sket – Vendetta’s Theme (ft. Charlie Osborne) [Planet µ/Bandcamp]
Josh Griffiths aka Ship Sket is newly arrived to the Planet µ label with a banger of an album summarising the Planet µ sound with references to contemporary bass music & pop through distortion and glitch. InitiatriX was released in October, with one single being “Vendetta’s Theme”, with vocals from UK multimedia artist Charlie Osborne just about audible through the chaotic mix. Throughout there are classical samples, odd time signatures, and a kitchen sink’s worth of genres referenced and swiped away.
Hyperfocus – Sentinel [Machinist Music/Bandcamp]
For his fifth release (in two years!) on Canadian drum’n’bass master John Rolodex‘s Machinist Music label, Hyperfocus brings beats precision-tooled in the Machinist Music labs with evocative atmospheres and restless basslines. This is where the jungle revival bleeds back into the d’n’b mainstream, and I’m here for it.
Chris Inperspective feat. Charlotte Koolhaas – Pictures (OK Well) [The Jah Rich Project]
Leon Mar – Unity Dub [The Jah Rich Project]
The Jah Rich Project is a gathering of drum’n’bass and jungle producers to raise some money for JahRich, admin of the Jungletrain forums, who’s battling cancer. There’s a good array of contemporary productions, with a few standout highlights. Chris Inperspective samples the voice of Charlotte Koolhaas to build a loping rhythm that’s clearly drum’n’bass without referencing any typical breaks. Also notable is Leon Mar, the not-quite-real name (he’s Noel Ram) of the producer behind the storied darkcore alias Arcon 2.
Infinity Knives & Brian Ennals – A City Drowning. God’s Black Tears. ft. The Lil Black Oxen Émile Joseph Weeks, Nicolas Ratany [Phantom Limb/Bandcamp]
Tariq Ravelomanana is not your usual hip-hop producer. A longtime fan of experimental music, he blends any and all styles into his Infinity Knives project. This combined with Brian Ennals‘ unbridled political & personal raps makes for an unconstrained body of work akin to clipping., even if the artistic connection is tenuous. The stunning vocals from the male gospel choir “The Lil Black Oxen” on their new album’s title(ish) track do put my mind to clipping.’s “Long Way Away“. But Infinity Knives & Brian Ennals’ ambitions here are different, both musically and lyrically, taking in acoustic guitars and metal riffs, anti-colonial politics and mental health. And it’s an album worthy of its ambition – dive in!
Insignio – Everytime (A.Fruit remix) [Yanked Beats/Bandcamp]
Afonso Silva aka Insignio is one third of Portuguese label Yanked Beats, and his new album Lost keen is jungle/d’n’b with a marked footwork influence that doesn’t always rely on breakbeats. The excellent A.Fruit remix came out as a single at the very end of last year, but it’s also on the album.
Ruby My Dear – Grosse Hyène [PRSPCT/PRSPCT Bandcamp/Ruby My Dear Bandcamp]
Julien Chastagnol named his breakcore/idm project Ruby My Dear after a Thelonious Monk tune, and Monk is one of the many jazz artists he’s sampled over the years, as well as scads of classical music. For his new album he’s gone to the beach for a jam… Confiture à la plage is classic Ruby My Dear, a demented confusion of joy and lightness, creeping horror and discombobulation. But really, it’s a delight, with sunset beach strums making left turns into 7/8 breakcore, and classic Satie turned into IDM – yes “gross hyène” (big hyena) is a pun on “Gnossienne“.
Kuntari – Kerak Terusi [99CHANTS/Bandcamp]
Indonesian duo Kuntari refer to their genre as primal-core, and you can hear them tapping into deep seams on their new album Mutu Beton, released on David August‘s never-predictable 99CHANTS label. Originally Kuntari was the solo project of Tesla Manaf, whose musical career began in classical music, broadened into jazz and then electronic music, but he’s now swivelled back to acoustic instruments, from the length and breadth of Indonesia and further afield. In Kuntari he’s now joined by percussionist Rio Abror, and together they reference but dismantle Javanese gamelan. You can hear saron and various other metallophones, xylophones, glockenspiels and marimas, plus wind instruments like the cornet and hulusi, and rhythmic percussion like the thumping Rebanam – but they’re as interested in Indonesia’s storied metal scene or twisting trance rituals into technoid pulses. And it never doesn’t sound like Indonesian music, which is a joy.
Rutger Zuydervelt – House of Strength [DRONARIVM Derde Series/Machinefabriek Bandcamp]
House of Strength is the fourth collaboration between Dutch composer/sound-artist Rutger Zuydervelt (aka Machinefabriek) and Netherlands-based dancer & choreographer Roshanak Morrowatian. On this stunning album, released through the Netherlands-based Russian ambient label-in-exile DRONARIVM, Zuydervelt underlines the ritualistic qualities of the work with slow-burning pieces using Iranian percussion alongside sounds from the club and glitchy production.
This year Rutger also released the latest of his compositions for circus/dance duo Marta & Kim, entitled FLUX, a collaboration with cellist Lucija Gregov replete with extended cello techniques, drones and melodies. Also wonderful. In any case, I’m glad once again to sneak some Machinefabriek into my dance mixes.
Los Pulpitos – Cubozoa [Crammed Discs/Bandcamp]
Berlin duo Los Pulpitos released their new EP Octopean Union on Belgian mainstay Crammed Discs, mostly bouncy electro but with this track, “Cubozoa”, which is skittery almost-jungle redolent of the 1990s.
POD & Tamen – Dolphin [Echo Chamber Sound]
In May, Naarm/Melbourne-based jungle/dub/bass label Echo Chamber Sound released the three-track Lek EP from Eora/Sydney producer POD and Naarm’s Tamen. POD broadly makes techno, and Tamen is best known for his jungle productions, including many collabs with Pugilist on many great labels. Breaks are thrown around in unconventional ways, with some dub techno influences, but “Dolphin” is probably the most straight-up jungle track.
Noneless – Apocalypse [Noneless Bandcamp]
Late in 2023, I was stunned to hear a brilliant breakcore album with classical overtones from a local artist, released on the rather exclusive anybody universe label run by Japanese IDM/breakcore artist Laxenanchaos. Noneless had previously been known as elfaether, but their return with A Vow of Silence debuted this new alias. Originally from Eora/Sydney, they’re currently based in Oxford, UK, whence they have gifted us this new EP, Delicate Sin, mixing mournful piano samples and their violin with intensely mashed breakcore beats. Just like the doctor ordered. (It’s me. I’m the doctor. I order you to listen to this.)
Djrum – Three Foxes Chasing Each Other [Houndstooth/Bandcamp]
Felix Manuel aka Djrum is also a reliable producer, although what he can be relied upon for is surprise: constantly changing things up, from jazzy/classical piano, cello and wind instruments to techno, jungle, dancehall, dubstep and anything in between. While Under Tangled Silence represents a kind of renewal for Manuel (not least because the first version of the album was lost in a hard drive crash), it’s really got all the elements established on his early 12″s and previous brilliant album Portrait With Firewood. With Djrum “more of the same” is the highest of praise – and nothing is ever quite the same with him. This one is one of those rhythmic-illusion pieces where the beats are constantly shifting around, from drum’n’bass and footwork to techno. Even the melodic sounds are bells or steel drums. It does indeed convey the energy of “Three Foxes Chasing Each Other”.
r hunter – Intra [Absorb/Bandcamp]
New music doesn’t come often from Naarm’s r hunter aka Asher Elazary, and when it does it’s an event. In November Absorb released his latest album Yield and it’s what you’d expect if you know r hunter – abstract beats to cry over? Following Djrum above, you’ll similarly find bustling rhythms that you can’t quite pin down, and absolutely intense sound design. Pretty inexplicable, better listen again & again.
Blawan – Creature Brigade [XL Recordings/Bandcamp]
In the last few years, Jamie Roberts aka Blawan has released some of the most forward-thinking, fucked-up bass music around. From 2021’s Woke Up Right Handed, the bass rumbles and throbs, and the beats syncopate and shuffle but hit haaaard. In 2023, Dismantled Into Juice went considerably left-field, with a couple of tracks featuring vocals from Monstera Black. And if last year’s BouQ veered back towards the dancefloor, it’s no less experimental for that. Notably in the meantime he also paired up with longtime collaborator Arthur Cayzer aka Pariah for two albums of industrial grindcore & noise rock (with hints of bass music) as Persher. This all now culminates with the full-length album SickElixir, which is seriously messed-up bass music, sick to the core. Club music for fucked-up times.
Eli Keszler – Speak For Me (Eli Keszler Version) [LUCKYME®/Bandcamp]
The remarkable new self-titled album from Eli Keszler was released on the 2nd of May, the day I left for 6 weeks in UK & Europe, and it got lost in the flood of… stuff… It’s a wonder, even among Keszler’s many brilliant releases, and eventually I played something off it. Keszler’s earliest material used his skills at fast-paced, complex percussion to experimental ends, but he’s also a longtime collaborator with Oneohtrix Point Never and Laurel Halo, among others. His 2018 album Stadium, released by Shelter Press, heralded a change in focus along with a move to Manhattan. Here, the skittery beats resembled IDM and jungle, and came along with electronic textures and small melodies. This has continued to be Keszler’s modus operandi, but with LUCKYME® as his more recent home, more pop elements have crept in, evoking trip-hop and noir jazz, with various guest vocalists but I think also Keszler’s own voice. On December 10th, the four-track Eli Keszler Remixes was released – too late for me to play before this best-of show, but that gives me the perfect opportunity… All the reworks are top tier, especially Tim Hecker’s, but Keszler’s own beefs up the beats and the weirdness on “Speak For Me”. Brilliant.
Phillip Golub – Loop 7 [greyfade/Bandcamp]
New York pianist & composer Phillip Golub released his Loop 7 early this year, extending his interesting “loops”, repetitive pieces for piano which don’t engage technology but rather ask the listener to hear the inconsistencies that come from a performer’s interpretation. Already then I knew I’d want to slip it into a DJ mix. On 2022’s Filters you can hear how these pieces are informed by Eric Satie’s Vexations as much as John Cage’s musical theory, and Philip Sherburne is right (in his review-comment) that Federico Mompou’s Música Callada feels present in the work too. Well, Loop 7, released via Joseph Branciforte’s greyfade label, is an extended take on this in the sense that it’s 28 minutes long, but also in that it explodes this idea into a group format, the piano augmented with subtle electric guitar, vibraphone, and electronics. But it’s also… extended inwards, so to speak – and this is where it gains both its uneasiness and its otherworldly beauty, because the “piano” here is a pair of Yamaha Disklaviers – physical pianos that can be electronically controlled – that are tuned in a 22-note per octave system. This lends the cycling chords a deeply weird out-of-tuneness, and allows the harmonies to shift downwards in ways that our ears – attuned to Western equal temperament – can perceive but can’t quite pin down. Helpfully there’s a gorgeously shimmery octave-like gesture at the beginning of the loop, allowing us to feel like we’ve arrived back home each time the harmonies descent far enough to shift back in place (it’s constructed a bit like a Shepard Tone so that the lower notes slowly disappear and higher notes are added back, giving the listener the impression that it’s in a never-ending descent while strangely remaining static). The ideas behind this might be fascinating, but the music works because Golub’s sense of how to harmonise in this tuning scheme is so sensitive, and the additional instruments add an almost imperceptible timbral tingle to the sound. It’s a real trip.
T3AL – Weightless (Om Unit‘s Sunrise Dub) [Spiritual World]
In 2024, sisters Ashleigh & Melissa Ball released their debut EP as T3AL, Bluish Green, on Toronto label Spiritual World. It was an un-pigeonholeable amalgam (typical of these postmodern times), hinting at trip-hop’s soul-meets-dub, but leaning ambient, and with flutes. This is a little cheat as the remix itself came out in December last year, but in January 2025 the Bluish Green Remixes was released on vinyl, sporting among others, not one but TWO Om Unit remixes. His “Sunrise Dub” is a lovely piece of sunny (yes) dub techno.