Forty-nine tracks crossed the blog this week. DnB and house tied for the biggest pile, dubstep brought the property damage, and trance arrived with six records and zero shame. End of August, apparently everybody had something to say.
Track of the Week
BOP - Rumination
I’ve gone back to this one more than anything else, and it isn’t close. Deep liquid dnb built from a warm pad, a lonely piano figure, and a rolling break that breathes more than it hits. The gaps between the notes are where the whole track lives. I’ve had it on for late-night writing three nights running and it turns a dark room into a calm one. Listen →
The New Drops
Drum and Bass (10 posts) — DnB ate this week. Liquid dominated: BOP and Makoto carried the warm end, Anaïs & Olivia Rose stacked harmonies until the room felt twice as wide, and Rudimental remembered they used to be fun. On the darker side, The Upbeats built neurofunk that paces behind you in a dark room and REAPER made the genre sound like the walls closing in. Friction put IRAH’s voice dead center of the mix with barely any reverb on it, and IMANU kept bending bass in directions your ear can’t predict.
Dubstep / Bass (9 posts) — Half of these tracks exist to make a speaker cone reconsider its career. Doctor P is still running the same trick he patented a decade ago and it still works on me every time. Seven Lions and Kill The Noise paired weepy trance-soaked melody with actual dubstep violence and the seam between those instincts is all the fun. Zero put out a riddim track with one bass note and one idea and I sat through it nodding. NGHTMRE got Jordin Sparks herself back on “No Air” and somehow kept the heartbreak intact inside a festival drop.
House (10 posts) — Widest genre spread of the week. Klangkarussell made something that stopped me mid-stride in a café doorway. Melé brought Latin-house swagger with RIA half-smiling through the hook. A live rework of Moby’s “Natural Blues” landed with Jacob Lusk singing the Vera Hall part live, and that sample still hits after twenty-six years. Flava D stitched UK garage swing onto a dubstep low end and kept the whole thing bouncy. RUZE & Chesster’s Ranger Trucco remix made a Tuesday feel like a Friday, and Oden & Fatzo found the cheat code for turning brains off again.
Trance (6 posts) — Trance rolled in with a full delegation and no apologies. Scorz had the slow-burn moment of the week, a breakdown that reaches in and grabs you right when you’re about to tab away. MaRLo went harder and dirtier than his usual stadium mode. Yomanda’s “Synth & Strings” got rerecorded for 2026 and landed a quarter-century of serotonin straight in the chest. Inner City’s “Good Life” got a LOSTBOYJAY rework — I involuntarily smiled at a stranger on a train, which is a lot for a Tuesday commute.
The Rest (14 posts) — Big room brought three festival weapons, including Chase Maverix flipping “Bette Davis Eyes” into a drop that didn’t quite earn the classic it borrowed. Cephas Azariah and a project called “josh and sam who are twins” made the most fragile, beautiful thing on the blog all week. MAYETRIX built trap out of punched-out bass notes and empty space. No Mana made a synth lead that sounds like a modem having a religious experience. The NCS pipeline kept doing its thing — gateway drugs for the next generation of heads who don’t know they need this music yet.
Also Banged This Week
- Klangkarussell & Tailor - Drifter — stopped me in a café doorway before I knew what it was. Listen →
- Friction & IRAH - Lead Dem — vocal dry and close, giving orders in the room. Listen →
- Moby, Jacob Lusk, BLOND:ISH - Natural Blues (TECIE) — the rare legacy rework that earns the audacity. Listen →
- IMANU & A Girl Named Sue - All U Need — weightless and crushing inside the same eight bars. Listen →
- Flava D, Casey Club & DRIIA - Revival — heavy enough for a warehouse, friendly enough for a barbecue. Listen →
See you next week. Coldplay still sucks.