From all out weird to the ultra polished, club-ready to armchair gems, here are the finest electronic albums of 2025, as selected by our columnist Jaša Bužinel

2025 was an odd one. The electronic music scene, at least a considerable part of it, reaffirmed its position as one of the most politically vocal cultural spheres. Amid the genocide in Gaza, political discourse about boycotts, Israeli artists and institutions partnering with the rogue state largely overshadowed conversations about new music. Global macropolitics were mirrored in the culture war that splintered the scene. On a positive note, many artists did use their platform to voice their criticism, while some naysayers and piss-takers under the “politics and music don’t mix” banner ultimately realised they are on the wrong side of history.

I missed the proverbial hype reserved by the press for at least one phenomenon per year. In truth, there was no year-defining genre, one that would make the headlines. Latin American club styles, sample-heavy club edits and hard techno, staples of the post-Covid era, started losing momentum and other styles finally stepped to the fore, though none to the centre. The one sound that kind of had a moment was trip hop/downtempo, be it in pop or the underground, from Addison Rae and FKA Twigs to James K. While DJ circles catered for heads, proggy trance and house seemed most omnipresent; a jump down the Bandcamp rabbit hole reveals hundreds of soundalikes. Lots of producers are harking back to the psychedelic strains of mid-to-late-90s house and trance, yet most lack any flavour. As is also true for the majority of new UKG, it is a very copy-and-paste niche. While I enjoy such “revivals” myself, coming across stuff that transcends hackneyed fodder is no easy task.

In bass music, I noticed a new appreciation for deeper, more atmospheric, explicitly dub-indebted expressions. Perhaps this was a reaction to last year’s overproduction of fist-pumping “Hipster bass”, which faltered into an overused template. Other artists started pivoting towards a more techy and minimal aesthetic. Tech house, a genre that was long off-limits for the bass crowd, now boasts some of the most novel tracks around, with producers working their way around noughties moulds with contemporary studio tools. As you will see in my top 20 list below, the results are impressive.

By all means, it was a good year for techno, though I only picked up the more visible stuff. Apart from albums included in my list, favourites include Surgeon’s psychedelic trip Shell~Wave, Regal86’s hardgroove masterclass Overdrive* *and the epic 37-tracker Lost In Dreams by the cult Giegling-affiliated producer Irini (Traumprinz). While producers like Carrier, Sa Pa, Paul St. Hilaire and Mark Ernestus kept alive the spirit of dub techno with their solid releases.

It was also the year of lengthy compilations. While long tracklists could be exasperating, they also rewarded patience. With shorter and darker days ahead, V/A compilations you should check out include:

• Wisdom Teeth’s* Pattern Gardening *(minimal tech house)
• Soundway Records’s Road Fever* *(instrumental riddims from St. Lucia, Dominica and Guadeloupe)
• Tectonic’s Tectonic Sound (earth-shattering club weaponry)
• Subglow’s* Sub-Alchemy *(an eclectic assortment of club music)
• Planet Mu’s 30th anniversary compilation (footwork, IDM and experimental)
• TraTraTrax’s No Pare, Sigue Sigue 4* *(cutting-edge club mutations)
• Tresor’sANNEX and Ostgut Ton’s Klubnacht 01* *(quality techno and electro)
• Timedance’s 10th anniversary treat (first-rate soundsystem music)

At least we did experience one epoch-making, mass cultural moment – Yousuke Yukimatsu’s Boiler Room performance, which flooded the internet. His ‘per aspera ad astra’ backstory, high energy selection and explosive stage presence made him an overnight DJ superstar of Solomun proportions. Despite helping create a new sensation, Boiler Room – along with Sónar and other institutions – was regularly under fire due to its ties with the KKR conglomerate and their affiliation with Israel. Considering recent news of substantial layoffs at Boiler Room the boycott proved that even seemingly untouchable brands can suffer from such grassroots actions. Props to the activists for pulling thousands of people on their bandwagon and making a difference. The power of persuasion!

A DJ who had his own ability to persuade people to join him on his bumpy rides was JD Twitch, whose premature death devastated the scene. On a brighter note, it was moving to read all the party anecdotes cementing him as an all time legend. That such a niche selector would leave such a profound impact on so many electronic music lovers is not to be taken for granted. Indeed it was artists with a uniquely sensibility, artists who unapologetically forced us to submit to their artistic vision, that most defined the year. Blawan’s SickEliir is one such example – and also the strongest contender for electronic album of the year. Though Aya’s Hexed! (tQ’s overall album of the year), OPN’s Tranquilizer, Djrum’s Under Tangled Silence* *and Los Thuthanaka’s self-titled masterpiece also represent monuments to this inner drive. They have landed and will probably land on even more year-end lists, so I did not include them on mine. There are, hopefully, other EPs and albums that you have yet to discover.

From the all out weird to the ultra polished, from the club-ready to armchair gems, here is the Hyperspecific best of 2025 list, featuring 20 releases presented in no particular order.

Facta’s *Gulp *is a beaut, but if I must pick one Wisdom Teeth 2025 release, it is Kuning’s flawless mini album. This is what I mean with innovative tech house! His zigzaggy, wiggly, gently psychedelic tributes to the minimal tech tradition are ideal for whimsical moments in the club when everyone lets down their cool and turns into a sprightly tot.

An originator of the visceral “bruxaria funk”, DJ K catapulted politically charged dance music into new heights. Radio Libertadora!, a surreal, horrorcore-indebted broadcast simulation, is bound to provoke panic attacks while booty shaking. Its abrasive, tense soundscapes echo the violence-stricken streets under dictatorial repression. He transfixes the listener with unnerving bursts of gunfire, sirens, ghastly announcements and corroded broken-beats.

Call it minimal UKG, dubby tech, micro house whatever, K-Lone showcases his vision* *d’auteur at its most mature on his third LP – a personal journey reflecting on the loss of his dad. His lush melodies and discreet sound design ornamentation evoke a sense of a shared intimacy. Though mainly home-listening tuneage, some tracks show potential for dancefloor epiphanies at sunset and sunrise.

The past half decade has seen a new wave of US artists injecting their local sensibilities into previously UK-centric, testosterone-driven genres, few more impressively than LA talent Introspekt. Her debut for the dubstep institution is an immaculate love letter to the soundsystem music of the past 25 years, bringing forth formidable, brazenly sensual UKG and 2-step tunes, hefty on the low end.

Lisbon’s best kept secret proves it pays off when you dare to be weird. His unorthodox, occasionally sinister blend of kuduro, batida and tarraxo is constructed from muddy textures, organic-sounding percussion, baffling offbeats and peculiar vocal chops. Like in chopped and screwed hip hop, DJ Narciso’s intoxicating beats appear to be fractured, leaving you in a woozy, psilocybin-like state.

Joyful UKG became more popular than ever with Sammy Virji’s US invasion. On the opposite end – dark, sweaty, basement-ready – this Hessle Audio debut proposed a more sinister twist. The only way to fully appreciate the massiveness of these two tracks, both gold standards for a deep banger, is hearing them alongside other decent tracks. They will strike you as unproportionately huge.

Beatrice M truly elevated their game, carving their own niche in the UK techno/dubstep continuum. Weighty subs, intricate percussive workouts and dubby chords are all there, though it is the soft edges and floaty vibes of their productions that are becoming signature. Heady treats for early clubbers who get to hear the most interesting selections.

I initially misjudged *Dream Horizons *as techno-y IDM fusion when it is in fact a standout techno record. Lindsey Wang stretched Detroit-via-Berlin sensibilities like a rubber to their farthest edges, conjuring a sound so particular, stylistically malleable and tempo-bending you can hardly draw parallels. Braindancey, indeed, but most tunes will also galvanise any dancefloor at peaktime.

This album is the equivalent of that arthouse film you’ve had shelved for a long time. A bit slow-paced and bizarre, you hesitate putting it on. When you finally do, the impact is far flung. A hyperspecific, Baroquely extravagant, multi-genre collage that he describes as ©Meaningful Music, it resembles the unpicking of Ploski’s subconscious. Being Julek Ploski, if you like.

Galaxy 2 Galaxy’s concept of hi tech jazz, avant-garde aleatoric music practices and mechanical instruments are used in a previously unheard way on this pioneering effort. *Stochastic Drift *presents some of the most technically advanced electronic music in recent memory, though it’s striking how accessible, classy and elegant it is. Another benchmark for the Berlin-based innovator.

A combination of leftfield techno and free jazz may sound counterintuitive, but on *Suspension Of Belief *pieces immediately fall into place. Tangled rhythm programming and psychoactive production tricks weave together, pulling you into their spell. Gyrofield’s shift from Metalheadz-indebted junglism into more elastic, hypnagogic techno mutations with a hint of jazz holds abundant promise for the future.

Priori has been on fire, from collabs with Avalon Emerson, Cousin and B. McQueen to his evolving live set. Still, it is the Jump Source project with production partner Patrick Holland that felt most momentous. *JS06 *is all earworms, particularly the diptych ‘On’ (ft. Martyn Bootyspoon) and ‘Get It Done’ (ft. Frankie Teardrop), two contrasting, complementing iterations of a single idea.

Wootton upholds his title of mage of esoteric industrial dub rituals. While still indebted to dubby UK techno, ghosts of Goa trance and obscure 80s industrial acts haunt his productions. He pushes them further into uncharted territory, particularly with polyrhythmics, sounding more like a dub outfit with a four-piece percussionist unit than a guy at the console.

The reinvention of Ploy from bass innovator into a tech house mutator is one for the books.* It’s Later Than You Think *is a quintessential case of dance music that is both unabashedly functional and geeky in its sound design: alien-like shrieks and exploding frequencies that cut through the spearers while riding on seductive grooves for the waft crowd.

By transposing time-tested French house and bloghouse tropes into the club of the future, the versatile Frenchman opened a treasure trove of ideas. It is exciting to see Cell embracing his French roots and exploring a new trajectory. His production prowess works magic on bangers like ‘Circuits’. Also, who needs a Labubu when you have a mascot like FL Louis?

A manifesto for antiformulaic soundsystem music and left-of-centre techno, the inventiveness of this multidimensional “mini album” only reveals itself through many repeated listens. The studio craftsmanship is extraordinary and the arrangements informed by quirky choices that add character. And, the best thing, it is not trying to emulate any established aesthetic. Although rooted in the Timedance family, Cleyra’s musical trajectory is completely their own.

We all love James K’s *Friend, *but another New Yorker (also known as Physical Therapy) has put forward his own reimagining of gauzy dream pop and downtempo. Iridescent melodies, folky guitars, oceanic vibes… It kind of takes me back to my uni years, the chill music era. Daydreaming material, almost chillwave-like. Not your average Hyperspecific pick, but definitely the most relaxing release I’ve enjoyed all year.

I hope more techno artists take a similar direction in 2026. The debut release from the new Berlin label by the Ilian Tape affiliate makes my head go dizzy, finding a sweet spot between familiar deep grooves typical of early 00s techno and psychoacoustic textures entwined with field recordings that trigger core memories from psychonaut adventures. Somewhat old school, yet very ahead of the curve.

Cracked MIDI guitar feedback, cascading synths, ring-modulated and pitch-shifted textures too intense to be considered soothing… Gajek’s music arises from his childhood memories of life in pre-unification East Germany and fragmented impressions of a transitional period now lost to history. His autobiographical experimental pop with a knack for the trippy and the abstract charms you like a faded sepia image.

Along with Rosalía, Addison Rae and FKA Twigs, I reckon this belongs to the pop essentials of 2025. *Through The Wall *is a no nonsense hit parade that reeks of authenticity. Jordan’s seductive R&B vocals intertwine with uplifting house and bumpy club beats that would also function as instrumental DJ tools. Why it has not yet spilled over into the mainstream proper, I cannot grasp.