August started and the genres split the week dead even — DnB, dubstep, and house each pulled seven posts, trance and trap held their corners with three apiece, and the rest landed across a wide sprawl of electronic that runs from future bass to big room to whatever Slow Magic is doing. Thirty-six tracks, no clear winner. Good week.
Track of the Week
Ninajirachi, Porter Robinson - WannaCry
Named after the ransomware, and yes, that’s the kind of title choice that tells you exactly what you’re getting. Sugar-rush synths and pitched vocals that land as actual emotion, kept weird by Ninajirachi’s production refusing to smooth anything over. There’s a breakdown where everything drops to a single vocal and a heartbeat kick, and it’s the part I keep going back to. This sounds like how the future used to sound, before it got optimized. Listen →
The New Drops
Drum & bass (7 posts) — DnB keeps winning weeks. Fred V is writing actual melodies under his breaks, the kind you could hum without the drums. Pola & Bryson built a liquid track sad enough to convert skeptics. Hedex and Voltage handled the jump-up at full volume, IYRE x Makoto went liquid-sunshine, and Delta Heavy and Tantrum Desire rounded it out from opposite ends of the energy dial.
Dubstep & bass (7 posts) — The Widdler landed two remixes in the same batch. Ternion Sound turned Echo Chamber into something cavernous and patient, Boogie T dragged Zero G somewhere grimier. Hypho and company went deep on Low Down Deep, longstoryshort & Skybreak swung hard, Dabin x William Black went melodic with Audra Miller, and Tape B closed the week with Dani King on vocal duties.
House (7 posts) — Full family dinner. Mau P’s On Again got the Butler remix treatment, Bruno Furlan hammered tech house the way the title Overdrive promises, and Calcou played a live set from Leipzig that felt like a city at 4am. D.O.D and Luvstruck brought dance-floor vocals, BEANIE brought the groove, and Renaisshouse drifted progressive.
Electronic & the rest (9 posts) — Widest lane of the week. Dyro x Dannic went full electro throwback. Slow Magic played real drums on an electronic track and it sounds obvious in hindsight. Ninajirachi and V. Christie both worked the future bass angle. Small Town Kid and Kisnou & Blure went quiet and melodic. Dirty Signal and Kevin D’Angello covered big room, Conrad Taylor sat between electronic and pop with Alessia Labate.
Trance (3 posts) — Oakenfold and Ferry Corsten dropped a collab that sounds like 2026, not 2001. Omar Duro went uplifting, Xoro and James Hurr brought ILIKERiCO for Reload.
Trap (3 posts) — Kendrick’s Money Trees got a RemK flip that had the nerve to work. Acyan punched with PISTON, BAGG kept it moving with a BLAME IT flip.
Also Banged This Week
- The Widdler - Echo Chamber (Ternion Sound Remix) — deep dubstep where the silence between sounds is doing half the work. Gets lower every time you reach for the volume knob. Listen →
- Fred V - Vortex — the drop melody has been stuck in my head for two straight days. If it holds up without drums, it’s a real song. This one holds up. Listen →
- Paul Oakenfold x Ferry Corsten - Metaverse — two trance legends who refused the nostalgia lap. Also survived naming their track after the dumbest buzzword of 2022. Listen →
- Hedex, Travy, XTEN & Overlook - Ok Ok — four names on one jump-up tune, nobody in each other’s way, pure bratty room-shaking glee. Listen →
- Kendrick Lamar - Money Trees (RemK Remix) — you do not touch this song unless you mean it. RemK meant it, and had the taste to leave the vocal alone. Listen →
Volume up. Coldplay still sucks.