Yearly Favourites Week is done, and I’m a few weeks into my new job at Bad Medic now, so I can finally get properly back on my reviewing game.
This one is written, in part because I wanted to get this edition - which covers some of 2025 - out quicker than others, and only writing takes a lot less time than writing, filming, editing. But I'm also doing it because I love writing, and I wanna make it a part of this Patreon where I can.
The February, March, April and May editions will be filmed unless you’d like me to do written versions for some of them too. The June edition I’ll be getting your suggestions for in a few days.
18 reviews, covering December ’25 and January ’26. ENJOY 💙💙
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Apashe - Hymns Of Resilience EP
Whilst I don’t think the Bass / heaviness content of this EP is that great, it’s undoubtedly moving in light of the context it was created within. All of this material was written by Apashe whilst on his travels in war-torn Ukraine, gathering input and influence from everything he encountered there. The vocals and strings give the project a richness, and almost divine feeling, that elevate it far beyond the vast majority of music currently coming out of the Bass scene. It’s only 8 minutes in length, yet still leaves a big impression. It may feel underdeveloped in several notable ways, but for what it represents, it’s undeniably special.
Au5 - Beyond Light EP
This EP came out in December and still placed in my Top EPs of 2025 list, which says a lot for how much I enjoy it. Beyond Light isn’t Au5 in full flow on the drops front, but beyond that - with his renowned scenic, melody-driven, rollercoaster ride Colour Bass style - he’s more than strutting his stuff here. The centrepieces might not grab your attention in the way others of his do, but the surrounding environment is on hand to enchant you throughout. The main melody from ‘Into Ascension’, and entirety of ‘Astralize’, are the best examples of this. Plus, the heaviness is still good, it just isn’t his potential level of outrageously good. I listen to this and think “You’re a wizard, Au5!” because not only does the music sound magical, but he’s also an incredibly skilled producer. When will people start ranking him alongside Xilent, I wonder?
Casey Club - Borehole EP
Might Casey Club need to switch things up a little bit? It’s great that he has a distinctive sound, that you can recognise a track of his from a mile away - even if many are trying to copy his style at the moment. But I fear there’ll come a point soon where many people say “Really, this again?” regarding his music. These are all solid tracks, and there’s variety in flow here, but he isn’t gonna beat the “one-note” allegations if he doesn’t branch out beyond gurgle-y 140 Dubstep for a significant stretch of releases. It eventually gets to a point where telling the difference between individual tracks becomes more and more difficult, and from there listener disinterest only grows.
Digitist - PRECURSOR II
Music like this confirms to me that Digitist is one of the very best producers in the underground of modern Dubstep. The drops are engaging and well-made, the atmosphere is consistently haunting, and perhaps most importantly there’s great conceptual range here too - Breaks, Noise, mellow approaches and more beyond the vintage acidic, twisted Dubstep. This EP genuinely feels like the soundtrack to taking a trip through hell. What’s great is that I haven’t heard the album this is a precursor to yet - if it’s a continuation of this, that’s great! My thoughts on that will, of course, be in the May roundup.
Disinety - DEMON EP
This is one of the more characterful projects to come out of big room Tear Out in the last few years. Unfortunately, the sub-genre’s gotten to a point of feeling quite stale, so to hear some life injected into it by Disinety is refreshing to say the least. Who could’ve known lighter forms of percussion, thinned-out and intricate break moments, and the odd vocal feature/sample would have such an effect? When a style of music generally becomes mindless, the material with a bit more awareness in its direction tends to shine through - and that’s exactly what we have here.
Getter - DOOM EP
I have to be honest, this is probably my least favourite of Getter’s various Dubstep styles. I love that he’s back in Bass business, and tying Rap into his music-making is probably where he feels most comfortable - important as he makes his return in the scene. But I can’t see myself going back to this EP much. It sounds very distinctly Getter which is great, and taps into a section of his past discography that made many fans fall in love with his project. It just feels sonically swamped out to me, and creatively far too simple, given what we know he’s capable of. He captures this particular Bass / Rap crossover style well, though it’s far from the excitement I think most Dubstep fans would associate with Getter. A second-half pace-switch in the penultimate tune of a 5-track project isn’t quite enough to really get me going, I’m afraid.
grape milk - medium LP
On top of grape milk’s classically abstract, avant-garde approach to Bass music production, this latest album presents arguably his catchiest material yet. At points his music has felt whacky enough to be incomprehensible, but here that “lost in colours of every kind” (‘pulse’, Track 4) delivery is rooted in a clear catchiness that gives this LP replay factor unlike any other from him previously. Melodies, vocals, sound choices and more make this project that bit more relatable than others of his, which is important for bringing in a wider fanbase. That’s something he deserves as one of the most forward-thinking artists in Bass music right now.
Interval Audio (VA) - You Must Not Know… comp
Interval Audio are truly back and doing their thing, though this is something notably different for them - an entire compilation of Trap music, from the wobbly to the new age, coming in at just 14 tracks and 34 minutes of run time. Time and again, I have loved Interval Audio’s output but cried out for something a bit easier to digest, and this very much delivers on that front. They keep it trim with this collection, with many of the tracks feeling short-lived, but YMNK definitely adds another string to the Interval Audio bow in my opinion. It’s good to have a contrast between comps like this and the longer-form material - multi-artist projects with different kinds of energy on the label. A lot of this is very impactful as well, my top two picks coming from Wasteurself and kaito. Long live Interval Audio!
Killin’ Void - EVERYTHING THE STARS TOLD ME EP
When I listen to this EP, my main thought is that Killin’ Void is one of the best singer-producer artists in Bass music at the moment. His style sounds same-y at points across this project, consistently reaching for that screechy, high-end DnB sound as specks of welcoming brightness flicker into our peripheries. Some variety to break up that approach would’ve worked well for the collection. But the good we get here is very good - frenetic, melodically sound, vocally rounded Drum & Bass that is as accurately mapped-out as it is euphoric. It’s a cliche to say X artist is ‘one to look out for’, but I truly believe that with Killin’ Void.
KLAXX - Where Everything Collides LP
If you imagine Porter Robinson through a new age Trap lens, that’s what you get with this new KLAXX album. It’s like walking through the dandelion-laden Nurture fields fuelled by the bounding energy of RL Grime, frosttop, RemK and more. For a while, in my opinion, KLAXX has been one of the best songwriters in Bass music, factoring in drops, melodies, vocals, song structures and more. It’s always incredibly impressive to me when an artist can make Bass music sound like Pop music over the stretch of an entire album - see Knock2 and Fox Stevenson for further examples - and KLAXX more than succeeds at that here. There are times the production doesn’t fully pull through, but its relentless pursuit of the electrifying makes it easily one of the most exciting Indie-Bass fusion projects in recent memory.
MONTA (VA) - MONTA [COMP3]
Another end-of-year, another good MONTA compilation. In the last few years, Boombox Cartel and his team have come through to cement this imprint as one of the very best that Trap has to offer. In fact, could anyone argue they’re definitively below Sable Valley and Quality Goods Records at this point in time? MONTA could very well be the best predominantly-Trap label around at the moment. The quality level is consistently high release-on-release - incorporating other invigorating kinds of Bass along the way from Bass House to 140 Dubstep to Breakbeat - and this collection very much adds to that. That being said, there aren’t a boatload of stellar drop ideas here - the very best is drowned out within the 22 cuts we get. But my favourites come from Lizdek, Siik & Fraxy and RIVN & NVPVLM.
Nikita, The Wicked - BLINDED BY VANITY EP
Similarly to the Au5, this EP also came out in December but placed in my Top EPs of 2025 list, making a big impression on me within a short amount of time. It kicks off with one of my favourite tracks from the whole of last year in ‘DOOM’, and carries on in that vein with some of the most infectious 140 hybrid music in recent memory. All 6 tracks here are memorable in one way or another, whether through peppy, catchy vocals, drum touches, or even flickers of sub bass that instantly latch onto your mind. The project could’ve done with some variety, running with a particular kind of structure, presentation and energy throughout. But he perfects that style to keep it engaging across the EP - the percussion provides one hit after another of some of the cleanest Bass of last year. Nikita, The Wicked is one of my favourite Bass producers at the moment, plain and simple.
Overview Music (VA) - Epitome II comp
Overview Music just know how to do compilations. Whilst this isn’t the roaring success of their Boundary 1 project - a superb venture into 140 Dubstep that placed 3rd in my Top Compilations of 2025 list - it’s a very accomplished 10-track collection, with oodles of personality from start to finish. A multitude of supremely catchy vocals (Rockwell, Klinical), basslines (Molecular & En:vy, Pythius) and melodic patterns (Tom Finster) adorn this compilation, with there hardly being a dull moment - I mean that - across the 10 tracks and 36 minutes. They are, for me, the most consistently brilliant Drum & Bass label around at the moment, slightly edging Noisia’s VISION Recordings. If you’re not familiar with the label, get learnt!
Peekaboo - Are We Dreaming?
Given Peekaboo’s standard, which we’ve all loved his project for over the last 7/8 years, I can’t help but think this 13-track album falls pretty short. I love that he’s put out another LP’s worth of material, it shows how prolific he is as a producer by now. Moreover, he took that 2nd album step where many others in the scene have refrained out of fear of it not performing well enough, a brave thing in itself. There’s welcomed Latin energy across the collection (very much taking a leaf out of Skrillex’s book), he shows - unsurprisingly - that he can make Garage very well (‘Party Time’) and there are undoubtedly great tracks here (‘Pump It Up’ with Scruffizer stands out as a particularly good flow).
However, I still don’t feel like I learn much new about Peekaboo’s style going through this album. It feels bereft of ambition, like we’ve heard most of these tracks before from him - I get to the end of most of them just thinking “that’s fine”. The tip of the iceberg is probably ‘6 Million’ with Skrillex, a near-comical collaboration that hardly feels like a result of their combined powers at all. It almost tips over into not being able to take it seriously for how simple it is. There is good here, because it’s Peekaboo and within a stretch of 13 cuts you’ll find at least a couple of bangers. But overall, Are We Dreaming? errs far more on the agreeable side than the attention-grabbing one, and doesn’t push the Peekaboo alias along in the significant way that it perhaps should have.
Seven Lions - Asleep in the Garden of Infernal Stars LP
I must admit, within a post of this kind, I’m in multiple different minds about this album. Is it even a Bass LP? Is the majority of this collection of music driven by heavy electronic Bass elements? If it is, and had come out earlier in the year, would it have placed in my Top Albums of 2025 list? The answer to that is 'almost definitely, yes'. I’m finding myself enjoying it more with each listen, mostly in thanks to several vocals (‘Breaking Me’, ‘By the Light of the Moon’, ‘Cold as Snow’, ‘Past You’ and more) and for Seven Lions’ exploration of Metal drums (opening title track, ‘From Beyond), which I’m not sure we’ve heard much of before from him. We learn new things about his style, but there’s also a lot of vintage Seven Lions material on show.
Again though, does the darkness of it make up enough of the project for it to even be discussed here? Regardless, I can feel it growing on me in a big way - besides the consistently brilliant vocal work, any album with 10-or-so tracks and a 40min+ run-time is gonna provide a story of sorts to get invested in. There’s a lot of good songwriting here, and I can see this placing in an albums of the decade video once 2029 comes around. If I decide it’s a Bass album by that point, that is …
Subtronics - Fibonacci Pt 2
I don’t like any of these 10 tracks in their entirety. There are definitely moments, such as the opening minute of ‘Anxious’, or the cute first half of ‘Nothing Between’, the DnB flurry on ‘Antidote’. But he just can’t keep away from that overly-metallic, high-octane Dubstep stomp approach, and most of the time it’s too much for my ears to handle. What’s more, even if some ideas are welcomed as diversions from said Dubstep style, they’re hardly memorable, more just there. He’s hardly progressed his sound much at all over the years if we’re being honest, the majority of tracks deliver the same structures over and over. Oh, and lob yet another Grabbitz feature in as well, whilst you’re at it. I’ve loved a lot of his tracks, and still do, but with many artists it seems that magic production touch goes once you get incredibly big, and churning music out at a certain rate becomes more important. In coupling this with Part 1, Fibonacci makes for quite the underwhelming project overall.
Vorso - Holomony (Remixed) EP
This placed in the Honourable Mentions of my Top EPs of 2025 list with good reason. This, in my eyes, is what a remix EP should be - not too many tracks, remixing a selection of cuts from the original artist, with a world of variety and talent on display. Each edit supplies its own dose of bright, intricately-crafted Bass - some sharper, others more guttural - to keep the collection engaging across its run-time. My instinct is to single out certain remix individuals here, but doing so feels wrong given there’s so few of them - and they’re all great! It’s projects like this where you realise how much incredible music lies beneath the surface in the Bass scene.
1985 Music (VA) - Fragment / 2
It pains me to say that I hardly enjoyed this compilation at all, to the extent it might be my least favourite comp 1985 have dropped so far. There are bangers within the 12 cuts: Cesco and NINA’s ‘Rigid Lord’ was just ousted by the former’s ‘Flump’ for my Top Singles of 2025 list, HLZ’s ‘Slither’ has a magnetic DnB meanness to it, and Two Swords’ ‘Wasp Nest’ reflects its title with some aptly needly sound usage. But beyond that, I find the collection to be quite plain, with a few big names not delivering in the way you’d hope they would. Don’t get me wrong, these are all good, solid, quality tracks at a base level. But how many of them are making me wanna hear them again? Not enough for a 50min+ project of music, I’m afraid.
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More Extra Nawties content to come very soon! ✨